Chapter 6 - The Drawing on the Fridge
Later that afternoon, after a morning filled with boardroom briefings, shipping logistics reports, and security adjustments, Dante walked down to the main kitchen to pour a glass of water.
The stainless-steel refrigerator was usually bare, save for bottled water, espresso pods, and high-end protein drinks.
Now, affixed to the door by a small, strawberry-shaped magnetic clip, was a piece of white paper.
It was Lily’s drawing of the "bad man" with the black crayon body and the red slash across his chin.
Beneath it, someone—presumably Lily, using unsteady, blocky letters—had added a new line of text in blue crayon:
MR. DANTE IS A GOOD GUY.
Dante stared at the paper for a long moment. A strange, foreign warmth flickered somewhere beneath his ribs—the same unfamiliar sensation he had felt when the rusty laugh had escaped him in the library.
May you like
He reached out, tapping the strawberry magnet with his index finger.
The penthouse was still a fortress. It was still protected by cameras, coded elevators, reinforced glass, and fourteen armed men. But as Dante turned away from the refrigerator, walking back toward his private study, he realized that for the first time in thirteen years, the fortress felt a little bit like a home.
