The Don’s Consigliere Charged Me By The Minute To Touch Him Chapter 06
Too Late to See
[Dante’s POV]
Valentina was still talking. Still performing her “professional analysis.”
“Divorce is the best move. Elena leaves with nothing. If she tries to fight it, I have ways to make sure she doesn’t survive —”
I looked at Valentina. And for the first time, I felt nothing but disgust.
In the beginning, she’d been intoxicating. Sharp. Different. She carried herself like she was above everyone else, and I was drunk on it. She was the only woman I’d ever considered worthy of the title consigliere — I shattered tradition for her. Broke every rule in the book.
Now? I saw exactly what she was.
No different from every other woman who’d thrown herself at me for my money and my name. Valentina was just better at packaging herself.
And I’d let her. I fed her greed one concession at a time until she thought she could ask for $500 million with a straight face.
But Elena —
Fifteen years together. From nothing to everything. She wore off-the-rack clothes, drove a normal car, and never asked for luxury goods. She never complained about how hard things were.
Even her mother’s heart donor — every time I made excuses, every time I brushed her off, she just quietly went back to waiting in line.
And what did I do?
I took advantage of her love. I brought Valentina into our home. I used “overtime” as a cover to fuck another woman under my wife’s roof.
I forgot it was her father who died saving my life. Six stab wounds. Bled out on the floor while I stood there, twelve years old and useless.
I forgot it was her mother who postponed heart surgery and gave me every cent so I could survive.
I forgot it was Elena — ten years, every single day — who poured her entire heart into me. And all I gave her in return was the title ‘Donna’ and a cheap ‘I love you’ to keep her chained to a marriage that was rotting from the inside out.
For years, I knew exactly who she was. I knew she’d never lie to me.
And still — because Valentina said a few words — I made her kneel. I made her slap herself.
And today — because of Valentina’s dog — I pulled strings to steal a donor heart that someone had waited years for.
But I made Elena’s mother wait five years.
…Wait, the donor heart.
I suddenly remembered Elena’s face when she walked into that room. Gray. Hollow. Dead behind the eyes.
And the way she looked at me — pure, bottomless hatred.
A terrible thought slammed into my skull. My knees buckled.
I grabbed Valentina’s arm mid-sentence. My voice shook in a way I barely recognized. “You told me you saw my mother-in-law at the hospital. That she was fine. Out in the garden, sunbathing. You’re sure about that?”
Valentina stiffened. Her eyes darted sideways — just for a second. “O-of course. I saw her with my own eyes. She was in the hospital garden, chatting and laughing with other patients!”
Lies. Written all over her face.
My heart slammed against my ribs. I shoved her away, pulled out my phone, and dialed the underboss. “Pull my mother-in-law’s medical records from the past year. Get a new heart donor. Immediately. I don’t care what it costs — I want an answer by tomorrow.”
I hung up. The door opened.
The doctor walked out. His expression was grim. “Mrs. Moretti is out of immediate danger. But the patient has almost no will to live. Whether she survives depends entirely on her.”
I couldn’t speak.
The doctor shook his head and left.
I dragged myself inside on legs that barely held.
Elena lay there with an oxygen mask over her face. So thin. So small. Like a gust of wind could scatter her.
I reached out — wanted to touch her — and pulled my hand back.
My voice came out low. “Lena, I was so wrong. I don’t want anything else. I’ve already sent people to find Mom’s heart donor. After surgery, we’ll bring her home. All of us. Together. We’ll never be apart again, okay?”
I pressed my face into her palm. “Don’t leave me. Please.”
Tears soaked into her skin. Every drop carrying the weight of everything I’d destroyed.
But this remorse — this late, pathetic remorse — I already knew.
She’d ripped me out of her heart by the root. And I deserved it.
I knew Valentina was watching from the doorway. Her face went white in a second.
For the first time, real panic flickered behind her eyes.
Something had shifted beyond her control.
She backed away slowly. Then turned and left the hospital.