"Why didn't you answer?" Sienna asked in the car. Kids in the back. Headed home from the hospital.

"Because I don't know what to say," Dante admitted.

"The Council wants you back?"

"Permanently. Full leadership. Chair of the entire organization."

Sienna was quiet. Processing. "That's what you wanted. Before everything. Before us."

"It was. Power. Control. The ability to shape things. Make them better."

"But?"

"But it would mean going back. To that world. The meetings. The politics. The threats." He looked at her. "The danger."

"So you hung up."

"So I hung up."

They drove in silence. Leo humming to himself. Elena sleeping. Normal sounds. Peaceful sounds.

The sounds...