It has been thest day of our vacation and Dante was determined to make the most out of it. This morning, a light breakfast was had before the three of us headed out to the beach along with an ample basket of snacks packed courteously by the chef.


    Hayley was all smiles and talkative the entire drive to the beach seeing as Dante had bought her a whole bag of beach toys that she was eager to make use of. We entertained he rmaj questions all through out the drive there and once we had found a spot at the beach, Dante had taken her in to the water.


    They swam for nearly an hour with Dante teaching her swim and even taking a little deeper in to the wavey water on his back. I watched them closely, my motherly instinct not willing to look away from Hayley for even a second. It was probably the first time for her swimming at such a pace. The handful of time I had taken her to the beach before, she mainly yed in the sand and at the water’s edge. This was the first time she had been experiencing the ocean immensely and, by the look of it, she was having the time of her life.


    She trusted Dante and that was easy to see by the way she let him show her different strokes and tricks in the water. a few moments before they had emerged from the water, they just hung out at the calmer side of the water and spoke to each other.


    Dante was surprisingly good with her and he was also an amazing swimming. Not some thing that I was surprised about at all. His b*dy had cut through the deep blue ocean like an expert and when he had emerged from the water, he’d run his hands through his hair to get it away from his face but droplets with still slide down over his face making a slow trail down his defined n*eck and even more muscr torso before it met with the sea of water beneath.


    I, on the other hand, had chosen to enjoy the sun and watch from the shore as I tanned up before returning back to routine and the hustle and bustle of daily life. The view wasn’t bad either but it did make unthinkable, heated thoughts cloud my mind but I was alright with that. They were my thoughts. It wasn’t like Dante could read them but a part of me also suspected that he was giving me a show especially when he had emerged from the water.


    His hair was swooped back, the sun had shined at a perfect angle hitting his b*dy in such a way that it entuated ever contour of his b*dy. It was a good thing that I had worn a pair of sun sses so he wouldn’t be able to catch me watch him in all of his seductive glory.


    “Mama, can I have some thing to eat please?” Hayley asked once they had gotten closer and I dug in to the pic basket and handed her a sandwich which she took.


    Dante and her spent some time drying off before Hayley had dug in to her toy bag and experimented with then all on the sand telling me how much of fun she had had in the water.


    “I am going to build a sand castle.” She announced right before she packed sand in to the bucket.


    Dante nced at me before reached for a bottle of water from the basket. “The water is great. You should have joined.” He said and I removed my sun sses and ced it over my head..


    Dreame


    |||


    PREE


    <


    11:31 Fri, 8 Mar R Bu·


    The tide looked good but I wasn’t much in the mood to swim today. I enjoyed the sun.” I said gently.


    His eyes did a sweep of my b*dy that only had a two piece on with the lower half covered by a


    wrap.


    “I see the sun has caught your skin nicely. Heplimented me and something with in my subconscious felt satisfied.


    85%


    “I might as well make the most of it before we head back.” A sense of dread settled in my stomach the moment I had said that.


    I only realised then just how much of a good time I was having and how this was the most rxing week of my life in a long long time. Had it not been for Dante, I wouldn’t have ever taken a break let alone considered it.


    “Yeah, you should rest up before the big meeting.” Dante reminded me with a small grin and I raised a brow at him.


    I knew about the meeting. I hadn’t forgot about it at all in since the date was issued for it to be held. We both know what he had meant for each other should one of us lose but Dante’s smug confidence had set me of a little but making me doubt the oure.


    “I’m well rested and the meeting isn’t a worry. I am quite confident in my skills and my team.” I said holding my chin high and my shoulders squared.


    “Of course. He said closing the topic before one of our mood had soured over it.


    A few minutes of silence past and a breeze blew by. The sky was beginning to lose its brightness as the morning dipped tote afternoon.


    A thought had ured to me about the ident that Dante and I had been in when I realised that we hadn’t made any discovery about it yet. It definitely wasn’t a coincidence and I had been meaning to ask Dante about it but it had sl*pped my mind.


    “Hey, Dante.” He looked away from the crashing waves and to me.


    “Yes?” He looked at me seriously.


    “Has there been any discovery about that incident that happened?” I tried to be as vague as possible since Hayley was right there between us.


    Dante frowned looking at me for further boration. I darted my eyes to Hayley. “You know, the one with the ck SUV that ured a few months ago when you were taking me home.” I kept my tone light as I reminded him of exactly which incident I was speaking about but Hayley was. engrossed in her sand castle.


    Understanding dawned upon him and his face had grown serious almost angry at remembering. I knew from just that look on his face that he had known some thing that I was yet to discover.


    Dreame


    2-85%


    Dante’s jaw clenched tightly enough that I saw some thing, like a tendon, click from the pressure before he rxed it. He ran a hand roughly through his hair and when he spoke again, his voice was entirely different. More grave and taut than it had been before I asked my question.


    “There has been a huge discovery which I was meaning to inform you about but I didn’t get that chance. I should have told you sooner but I didn’t want to rm you especially since it’s mostly taken care of” My brows raised in intrigue wanting to know what he had found out about the


    ident.


    As far as I knew, it definitely was not a coincidence or merely an ‘ident. Whatever that had been, it was intentional. That SUV had rammed in to us enough for us to had plummeted in to the valley leaving us for the unthinkable to happen.


    Dante was hesitant for a few moments before he sighed like he was just going to get this over with. “That SUV that you speak of was driven by a man named Demitri Toretelli. He rented it then totalled it and didn’t return it back.” He said with a bitterness and anger coursed in to his words.


    That name never ring a bell and I don’t think I have heard it before. Why would some one I had no idea of would want to attack me? unless it was an attack on Dante and I was just caught in the middle.


    “Demetri Toretelli? I don’t believe I know who that is let alone heard that name before. Is he some business partner of yours?” I admitted crossing my legs and wrapping my arms over my chest to diminish the coldness from the breeze.


    Dante shook his head immediately looking offended that I’d assume Demetri was in any way associated with him.


    “No, definitely not affiliated with me in any way. The man is a criminal who had just been released from prison not too long before the ident.” Dante paused to take a breath before he looked at me with a careful look in his eyes. “He is a rather close and personal friend of Phoebe’s. She was the one who orchestrated the entire thing through Demetri” He exined and I gasped in utter shock. Of course, Pheobe was linked to all of it.


    I knew that Pheobe was bitter, cu nning, and a bi ch but I would have never expected her to stoop to such a lowly level in which Dante and I could have lost out lives but then I scoffed thinking about how she was heartless enough to try and harm Hayley while she was still forming in my belly.


    “You see, this is why I kept certain things away from you. For this very reason and I’m d that I did. I looked at Hayley then referring to her. The woman knows no bounds or limit. She just acts. out on her impulses as she wishes with out thinking.” I was furious by hearing this and my blood boiled thinking about how terrible she was.


    Dante didn’t agree with my reason to keep secrets from him but he went on. “Anyways, as for Demitri, he is on the run again but I have men working hard to track him down. It won’t be long before they trace him.” He said wistfully but I looked away from Dante and at the crashing waves.


    I wondered then if that was the reason that Dante had broken of the engagement. After finding out that she was responsible for the ident, Dante probably wanted nothing to do with her and broke


    Dreame


    11:31 Fri, 8 Mar RG.


    Chapter fil


    it all off but why did he even propose to her in the first ce. No, Sophia, that is none of my


    business.


    “What is in it for him? Why is he serving as her Hench man? If he is newly released from prison, shouldn’t he want to keep himself out of it?” I still looked at the waves and noticed that the sky had grown darker than before.


    “Maybe she promised to split some money with him that she nned on getting from who knows where. It doesn’t matter any more. I haven’t heard a peep from Pheobe in weeks.” He sounded ufortable now and when I looked at him he did not meet my eye but I let it go.


    It still didn’t make sense why this Demetri was willing to get imprisoned for Pheobe despite how close their friendship was. I mean no matter how close they could be, why would he risk so so much for her?


    The sky had grown darker than before and the light breeze that once existed had turned in to more of a distruptive wind. It was then that we decided to leave the beach and head back to the ind but not before Dante took many pictures of Hayley’s sand castle.


    色