Seven Years in a Dream, Awake at Last Chapter 04

Seven Years in a Dream, Awake at Last Chapter 04

Alessandro’s POV 

ran out of the anniversary party. My mother grabbed my arm. “Alessandro, what’s wrong? Where are you going?” 

“Home. I need to get home.” 

“But the party-” 

Camilla appeared beside her. “Alessandro, please—” 

shook them off. My phone wouldn’t stop ringing as I got in the car. I ignored them all. 

I broke every traffic law getting to the house. The fire trucks were already there, flames pouring out of every window. 

“Sir, you can’t-” A firefighter grabbed my arm. 

I shoved him off. “My wife is in there!” 

“Sir, the structure’s not stable-” 

I didn’t care. I fought past them, got maybe ten feet before two more firefighters tackled me to the ground. 

“SLOANE!” I screamed her name. “SLOANE!” 

They held me down while the house burned. I watched the roof collapse. The walls crumble. 

Everything turning to ash. 

She can’t be dead. 

They found a body three hours later. I couldn’t tell who it was. 

“We’ll need DNA,” the fire chief said. “But based on the location…” 

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Everything around me felt muffled except the noise in my head. 

Then I saw it. A glint of gold in the rubble near the front door. I pushed past the investigators and picked it up. 

The wedding ring I’d put on her finger five years ago. 

The one she never took off. 

And next to it, half–buried in ash, her phone. 

The DNA results came back two days later. 

“Alessandro, the body… it’s not her.” 

“What?” 

“The DNA doesn’t match. Whoever died in that fire, it wasn’t Sloane Moore.” 

Relief didn’t come. Only panic. 

“Then where is she?” 

“We don’t know. There’s no hospital records, no Jane Does matching her description, no credit card activity, no phone records after that night. She’s just… gone.” Gone. 

I grabbed her phone from my desk. The screen was cracked but it still worked. 

Unknown number. A video from the night of our anniversary. 

The video showed me in the nursery. Holding the 

twins. Camilla asking about an anniversary party. 

I scrolled up. More videos. More messages from Camilla. 

Then I found the one that stopped me cold. 

A photo of Sloane on our doorstep, covered in blood. Timestamp: the afternoon of the anniversary party. 

Rage flared up in my chest, how the hell could they do that to her? 

But right after the anger came this cold, creeping fear. 

she knew everything now. 

All the weird stuff she’d been doing lately suddenly made sense. 

My heart was pounding faster and faster. 

Where the hell was she? 

I called my mother. She answered on the first ring. 

“Alessandro-” 

“What did you do?” I could barely get the words out. What did you do to Sloane?” 

Silence. 

“What did you do?” 

“She tried to kidnap the children,” my mother said. ” 

We had no choice-” 

“She would never.” 

“We have proof! The kidnapper confessed…” 

“I don’t care about your proof!” I was screaming now. “What did you do to her?” 

“We… we disciplined her. Twenty strikes. Alessandro, she needed to learn-” 

I hung up. 

I found Camilla at her parents‘ house. She smiled when she saw me. 

“Alessandro! I was just-” 

I grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall. 

“Did you have fun?” I asked quietly. “Tormenting her? 

Sending those messages?” 

“I don’t know what you’re…” 

I showed her the phone. 

“You took everything from her,” I said. “Her marriage. 

Her life.” 

“She was in the way!” Camilla clawed at my hand. 

She didn’t belong in our world-” 

“Sign it.” 

I threw the divorce papers at her feet. 

She stared at them, then at me. “You can’t be serious.” 

“Sign. It.” 

“Alessandro, think about the children…” 

“They’ll be taken care of. From a distance. You’ll never see me again.” 

“My father will destroy you!” 

“Let him try.” 

She signed with shaking hands. 

I took her to the estate basement. The same place where they’d beaten Sloane. She needed to understand what she’d done. She needed to feel what Sloane had felt. 

When I was done, I left her on the street outside her father’s house. 

Two hours later, I got word that Sullivan had disowned her. 

I spent two weeks searching. Every hospital, every morgue, every shelter. Nothing. 

$loane Moore had vanished. 

Then an invitation arrived. 

[You are cordially invited to the inauguration ceremony of the new head of the Lucchese family.] 

Lucchese. I knew that name. Everyone in our world knew that name. They were the largest arms dealer on the East Coast. 

But what did that have to do with Sloane? 

I went anyway. The ceremony was held at a mansion that made my family’s estate look like a cottage. 

I stood in the crowd, searching for any sign of why I’d been invited. 

Then she walked in. 

The room went silent. 

She wore a black dress. Her hair was different, styled in an elegant updo. Diamond earrings that caught the light. She belonged here. I could see it. 

Sloane. 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer’s voice rang out, “may I present the new head of the Lucchese family, Miss Lucchese.” 

She walked to the front of the room with her head held high. I froze. This was Sloane. My Sloane. 

“Sloane!” I pushed through the crowd, not caring who 

I shoved aside. “Sloane, wait!” 

She turned. For a second, just a second, something flickered in her eyes. 

Then it was gone, replaced by ice. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice perfectly polite and completely cold. “I think you have me confused with someone else.” 

“It’s me. It’s Alessandro. Sloane, please!” 

“My name,” she said slowly, each word deliberate, “is Lucchese. Not Sloane. And I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced, Mr…” 

“Gambino. Alessandro Gambino.” 

“Ah.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m 

afraid I don’t do business with the Gambino family. We have standards.” 

The crowd around us went silent. 

“Sloane, I know you’re angry, but please, just let me explain-” 

“Security,” she said calmly, not even looking at me. 

Please escort this gentleman out. He seems to be confused.” 

Two men appeared at my sides, grabbing my arms. 

“Sloane, please!” I fought against them. “I’m sorry! I‘ m so sorry! Please, just listen.” 

She turned her back on me.