Chapter 10 - FIVE MINUTES, EVERY DAY
Raffaele was arrested three weeks later after the investigation uncovered the financial scheme and evidence connecting him to the threats against Claire and Sophie.
The case did not erase the past. It did not bring Lucia back or return the years Dominic had lost with his daughter. But it stopped Raffaele from controlling the future.
Dominic began restructuring the family businesses with independent oversight. He removed relatives from security positions and brought in professionals who answered to documented procedures rather than personal loyalty.
He also did something no one expected.
He moved his office out of the mansion's private wing and began spending evenings at home.
Not every evening. His world was still complicated. But when he was there, he was present.
He learned how Sophie liked her toast: lightly browned, cut into triangles, with the crust left on.
He learned that Mr. Buttons needed a blanket when the air conditioner was on.
He learned that bedtime required two stories, one song, and a glass of water that Sophie almost never drank.
Most importantly, he learned to ask before lifting her, to wait when she needed space, and to let her decide when a hug was over.
I kept my job for another month, then accepted Dominic's offer to help establish a small community bakery funded through a legitimate business partnership. The agreement was reviewed by an attorney I chose. I owned the majority share. Dominic's investment came with no personal conditions.
We named it Five Minutes.
Sophie chose the name.
“Because that's how long I asked Papa for a hug,” she explained.
On opening morning, she stood between us in a yellow dress, holding Mr. Buttons by his repaired ear.
The bakery smelled of cinnamon, warm bread, and coffee. Sunlight fell across the front windows. A small chalkboard displayed the day's menu in my handwriting.
Dominic arrived carrying a box of flowers.
“You didn't have to do that,” I said.
“I know.”
He placed them on the counter.
Sophie tugged his sleeve.
“Papa, hug time.”
Dominic crouched immediately.
“How long?”
“Five minutes.”
He opened his arms.
She climbed into them and rested her head against his shoulder.
I watched the two of them, remembering the first day in the mansion corridor. The guards. The silence. The little girl who had asked a feared man for something he had forgotten how to give.
Dominic looked up at me over her head.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“For letting me learn.”
I stepped closer.
“You're still learning.”
“I know.”
Sophie lifted her head.
“Mommy, you need a hug too.”
I laughed softly.
“Do I?”
She nodded with great seriousness.
“Everybody needs one.”
Dominic shifted, making room.
I leaned down, and Sophie wrapped one arm around my neck and the other around her father.
For a few seconds, the three of us stood together in the middle of the bakery.
There were still difficult conversations ahead. There were still scars that would take time to heal. I had not forgotten the years I spent alone, and Dominic did not expect me to.
But he had stopped asking me to trust promises.
He was building something I could see.
A safe home. A patient father. A life where Sophie did not have to wonder whether she was wanted.
When the five minutes ended, Sophie pulled away and announced that she wanted a cinnamon roll.
Dominic looked at me.
“Can I buy one?”
I smiled.
“You can buy as many as you want. That's how businesses work.”
He laughed.
The man who once made an entire hallway freeze now stood in a little bakery, waiting patiently while his daughter chose the biggest cinnamon roll in the display.
And when she reached for his hand, he took it as if it were the most important thing he had ever been trusted to hold.
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For Sophie, five minutes had been enough to begin.
For Dominic, it became a promise he kept every day.
