Chapter 5 - The Desperate Question
Dante didn't care about the freezing water seeping into his expensive leather shoes. He closed the remaining distance, dropping directly to his knees on the hard, bloody cobblestones right in front of the five-year-old girl and the giant black dog.
The animal lifted its heavy head, letting out a low warning growl, but Ivy gently shushed it, keeping the beast calm.
Dante stared at the silver ring resting in her tiny palm. His hands were visibly shaking as he gently reached out, carefully picking up the piece of jewelry. The cold metal sent a shockwave of agonizing memories through his entire nervous system. The engraving on the inside band was perfectly intact: Eterna.
He looked up from the ring, his eyes locking directly onto Ivy's face.
His ruthless demeanor was entirely shattered by a desperate, agonizing hope. He stared at the girl's hazel eyes, the precise shape of her jaw, the dark brown curls. A sickening, mathematically impossible realization began to form in the back of his mind. Elena vanished five years ago. This child was exactly five years old.
"Where did you find that?" Dante demanded urgently, his voice thick with a raw, bleeding emotion that made his guard, Bosow, step nervously backward.
Ivy looked at him, completely unafraid of his intense proximity.
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"Mommy tied it to Argo's neck," Ivy answered, her voice soft but crystal clear. "She said if Argo ran fast enough, he would find the king in the big house to save us from the dark room."
👉 Dante’s entire universe tilted on its axis, but the arrival of the true villain was about to spark an apocalyptic rage.
