Chapter 40
DANTE
A fter receiving a cryptic message from Christian, I leave my office in the club and head to my apartment where I find him waiting for me in the open-plan living room.
“I gotta go, yeah? Shit’s kicking off big time with Ettore, and I need to show my face.
She’s in the guest bedroom. She locked the door.
I didn’t point out that I could open it in less than ten seconds with a screwdriver.
Figured you could handle that. Might want to just go ahead and have all the internal doors removed.
Something tells me she’s going to be difficult. ”
My head swings left where the corridor leads to the bedrooms and then back to Christian, who is rising from the couch and checking his cell phone.
“She?”
He glances up, half distracted by whatever he just read. “Carmela.”
Cold sweat breaks out across my whole body. She’s here, in my apartment, alone, finally, without Ettore Gallo or any of his henchmen in sight. “That happened a lot sooner than I expected.”
“Probably won’t be able to speak again for a while…” He gives me a chin lift and grins. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”
He shows himself out.
As my entry door clicks shut on him, I roll back over the conversation.
Locked door…
Going to be difficult…
I should remove all the internal doors…
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t…
“Christian, what the fuck have you done?” I mutter. With my eyes still on the corridor on my left, I pull out my cell phone and call Leon.
“She’s here. Christian just left. Said shit was kicking off with Ettore.”
“That was sooner than I expected…”
“I said the same thing.”
“I can only imagine the magnitude of Ettore’s meltdown. That I would like to see… I’ll put our soldiers on alert… How is she?”
I huff out a breath, my eyes shifting to the closed door. “I don’t know. She locked herself in the guest bedroom.”
His chuckle is low and humorless. “Take the time you need. She’s been through a lot… and Chris isn’t exactly known for his finesse… I’m assuming he didn’t bring anything with her. I’ll ask Cherry if she can source some basics and send them up.”
“Thanks.”
“This goes without saying, but go easy on her, Dante. She used to play with Gia when they were kids. I’m going to remind you once again that I think of her as a sister, and I’m very protective of my sister.”
That stings. “Don’t preach to me, Leon. I’m not a complete dick.”
“I wouldn’t be here nor having this conversation if you were. Later.”
He hangs up, the asshole. Also, he’s right. Dark, uncivilized emotions begin coursing through me as I activate the childproof lock on the entry that the previous occupants conveniently fitted… just in case. No one, specifically Carmela, will be getting in or out of here without the code.
She’s alone in my home.
With me.
Trapped.
Dependent.
There is nothing but a locked bedroom door between us, which, as my brother just pointed out, is no barrier at all.
I can’t lie to myself—I like this a lot.
My footsteps carry me over to her door. My heart is beating double time, and my hand trembles as I lift it and knock.
“Fuck off!”
Not a great start. Maybe she thinks it’s Christian. “Carmela, it’s Dante. Let me in.”
“Get lost, Dante!”
I wince, sigh, and then stalk back to the built-in closet in the foyer, where I hope there might be a screwdriver… It’s not like I’m a regular handyman. If something needs doing, I call someone up.
At the back, behind cleaning equipment I have never once used, I find a brand new toolbox containing an equally new set of screwdrivers.
It takes me a hot minute to figure out how to unlock the door from the outside—I don’t want to linger on how Christian knows how to do this shit—and the mechanism turns with a soft snick .
A loud thud sounds on the other side, followed by footsteps.
I swing the door open swiftly in case she has any ideas of creating a barricade.
And there I stop.
Carmela. The object of my desire. The woman I’ve been waiting a year and more to make mine.
Broken and hauntingly beautiful. If her tear-ravaged cheeks and the dark circles under her eyes hurt my heart, the glimpse of yellowing bruises peeking out the collar of her sweater makes me want to go on a rampage.
I drop the screwdriver.
She turns and runs.
Fuck.
I catch her before she reaches the en-suite bathroom. Christian’s suggestion that I remove all the internal doors is disturbingly on point.
“Hush,” I say, fighting to contain her at the risk of her hurting herself. “It’s over. I’ve got you.”
“It’s not over! Let me go. LET ME GO, ASSHOLE. What is this? Why am I here?!”
I catch hold of her wrists and pin them to her waist. Her head swings back suddenly, and I narrowly miss the blow.
“I had to get you out of there. You’re here because I couldn’t leave you with him and his fucked-up family another damn second.”
“You can’t keep me, Dante. And I won’t stay!”
“You want to go back to Ettore?” I’m going to lose my mind if she says yes.
“No, of course not. But this is crazy. You can’t just kidnap a person.” The fight goes out of her. Before she can build up a fresh head of steam, I swing her into my arms and stride out of the room, heading to the end of the corridor, where I kick open the door.
My room.
Where she will be sleeping whether she’s ready for that shit or not.
“Wait?! Where is this? Is this your fucking room? Put me back in my own room!”
A fresh struggle ensues as I put her on the bed, but I’m ready this time, and I kick off my shoes and settle beside her, pulling her against my chest. Being next to her like this, in my arms, is setting off a riot inside me, but I need to stay controlled.
If I release the instincts that are clamoring at me, I’m going to fucking scare her—they’re certainly scaring me.
“I’m not going to leave you on your own.
And to be clear, you don’t have a room. This apartment and everything inside it belong to me.
If I say you’re sleeping here, you can bet you’re damned well sleeping here. ”
So much for staying controlled…
“You don’t get to own me, Dante. Not after you left me with him—with that monster!”
I deserve all her bitter recriminations and more, but that she’s mine is still the hill I’m prepared to die on. “I didn’t have a fucking choice.”
She curls into me, an agonized cry breaking from her.
I feel like the lowest form of scum, but I cannot let her go, even for a moment.
She’s still wearing my necklace. I can see the delicate chain against her throat and the glitter of the pink diamond. It’s like a beacon on a dark night.
It tells me she’s still mine.
At least she’s no longer fighting me, but feeling her trembling against me, so tiny, accepting my comfort, reduces my mental acumen to chaotic at best.
Eventually, she lifts her head from my chest and peers up at me. “Can I speak to my father?”
“No, not yet.”
“He’s going to think I’m dead. Or been kidnapped.”
“You have been kidnapped,” I say dryly.
“That’s not even funny. Christian came up behind me, put his hand over my mouth, and shoved me into the back of a van. I thought I was going to be tortured!”
I freeze. “He didn’t explain what he was doing?”
She makes a scoffing noise. “As if. I didn’t even realize it was him until he had already shoved me into the back of a van.”
“I’m going to kick his ass.”
“Get in the queue.”
Her sulky tone makes me want to smile.
“Your father will know it was us.” Or at least heavily suspect, after our last conversation with him. I will find a way to let him know.
“This is part of the plan? The one you made with Papa?”
“Yes.”
“And what about Jessica? She’s going to be upset. What if Ettore does something to them? What if he hurts?—”
“He won’t.” I cut her off. “He hasn’t seen your father as a threat in a long time, and he’s done nothing to present himself as one.”
“I disappeared after visiting him!”
“And your father is cooperating with Ettore and his men and is doubtless appearing visibly shaken. Jessica is a bright girl, and she will likewise do her part. Think about it. If you were really going into hiding with your father’s help or knowledge, the last place you’d choose to disappear would be while visiting him. ”
Her eyes are still full of tears, but at least she’s listening, and the edge of panic has eased its grip. “It’s been a terrible year, Dante,” she says softly.
She said those exact words to me when we met in the coffee shop.
At the time, she hadn’t been assaulted by Cosmo.
Had I known that was waiting around the corner, I’d have taken her then and there, consequences be damned.
“I know, and I hate the fact that, through my inaction, I played a part in it.”
“I know my father told you something important the day you visited.”
“He told me lots of things,” I hedge.
“Jessica found pictures and a report. She thought they might have to do with what happened to our mother. After you came, she found them burned in the fire.”
A weight settles over me as I acknowledge the magnitude of that information. There were many things her father should have handled better. Ettore Gallo features in every one.
“You know what it was about, don’t you?”
“No.” This woman is going to be my wife. I would protect her from everything, even her past.
“I don’t believe you, Dante.”
She uses my name like a weapon. The sound of it on her lips, spoken intimately close is a test of my resolve.
Her eyes search mine. “Don’t lie to me. Not today. If you want me to trust you, you can’t treat me like a child.”
My gut is churning. I run a fingertip down her cheek. “I definitely don’t think of you as a child.”
Her lips are trembling, and her eyes are glistening with tears. “No more lies. No more secrets. For better or worse, I deserve the truth.”
She does. If it were me, I would demand it. But the truth will only wound her, and she doesn’t need more pain. Her eyes hold mine, and I see a fire that takes me by surprise.
“Dante.”
“I know nothing about the pictures.”