Chapter 15 - Dante
I told her not to worry and made her some tea, because that was the right thing to do. I watched her calm down as she sipped on the chamomile, but her face still had a distant, faraway expression.
While she thought, I did too.
She hadn’t trusted me with what she’d learned until I pried, and yeah, it stung.
“Alisa,” I asked when I walked her back to her room after the night turned late. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
She shrugged and turned to me, her hand on the doorknob. “What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey Dante, turns out my father’s trying to pimp me out to the mob’? I could barely admit it to myself.”
Fair point. I’d been the one to break her heart four years ago. Why would she trust me with something this devastating?
“How could he do this?” she mumbled, more to herself than me, as she opened the door to her bedroom. “He’s my father.”
My jaw clenched. “Some men don’t deserve the title.”
I meant what I said. Marc should never have used her and sold her off into a world she’d never even been a part of. His actions stole her innocence. How could he even call himself a father after pulling off a stunt like that?
She whipped her head back at me, and her eyes were anguished. “You don’t understand. He’s my father. He…he raised me. There has to be something happening in his life.”
I bit back what I wanted to say: that monsters often wore the mask of normalcy and the same hands that tucked her in at night had signed her away to God knows who.
Instead, I just took a step back.
“You should get some rest,” I said. “We’ll figure this out tomorrow.”
She nodded and turned her back to me. “Goodnight, Dante.”
I watched her close the door, but didn’t move for quite some time. My mind was racing with rage, and all I could think of was how to get my hands on that bastard. Marc Montes had made a grave mistake, and I’d make him pay for this absurd situation he put Alisa in.
***
Morning came with a decision that surprised even me. I watched Alisa push eggs around her plate, lost in thought. It became clear to me, from the circles under her eyes, that she hadn’t slept well last night.
I hadn’t either. I’d stayed up and let the anger turn from a tiny little thing to a massive, roaring fire. Marc Montes was an asshole. Whatever his reason was to do what he did, he should never have bartered up his daughter for an exchange.
No decent man would do that.
All night, I thought of what Alisa must have mistook for love. Her father ran through the motions of parenting, alright, but maybe she confused it for a real bond because she never had a solid example to compare her family to. In a real family, we put each other first.
All her life, she thought of her father before she did of herself, and I needed to do something to change that. I needed to put a smile back on that face, to show her normal, or some semblance of it, and let her hope that things could be better.
I knew what I had to do for her to see that, and I blurted it out before I could even rethink my plan.
“We’re going out tonight.”
She quirked an eyebrow in my direction. “Out where?”
“For dinner,” I shrugged. “My brother’s having a scene.”
She dropped her fork at the same time she dropped her mouth. “You mean… we’re going out for dinner with your family?”
“I believe so, yes. Unless you’ve got better plans?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Are you insane?” she hissed.
“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun,” I lied and flashed her a smile.
The truth was that I had no idea what I was doing.
My family didn’t even know she existed, let alone that she’s my wife.
But sooner or later, the truth was bound to come out, right?
And if her father truly did promise her to another family, I needed to warn mine before someone brought war to our door to reclaim their right and took my brothers by surprise.
I leaned forward. “Look, you might have fun at the circus.”
She blushed. “I never said your family’s a circu—”
“I know what you think, though.” I wiggled my brows at her playfully. “I’m telling you… It’s just to get your minds off things.”
She sighed and took a second to think before nodding. “Fine. But when they hate me, remember this was your idea.”
I grinned. “They won’t hate you. They’ll hate me for keeping you secret. And Alisa? Tonight, wear something nice, but nothing too fancy. Caspian likes to pretend he’s sophisticated, but we’re still just a bunch of criminals playing house.”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide her smile.
***
“You’re very quiet tonight,” I observed as we drove toward Caspian’s mansion in the suburbs. The whole drive over, Alisa had stayed quiet and stared out of the window listlessly.
“It’s just a pretty view,” she mumbled, without turning to me.
It was a beautiful view, no doubt, with the setting sun and sky painted in crimson and gold, but I knew her silence had nothing to do with admiring the view.
We drove in silence for a few minutes before I spoke again.
“My sisters will love you. Elena’s the oldest—she’s married to Gastone Ajello and they have two kids.
Beatrice is the baby of the family. She’s single and stubborn as hell, but we let it slide because she’s the best baker in all of New York. ”
At last, she looked over at me. “How many siblings do you have?”
I hid back a smile, not wanting to scare her off. She was nervous enough already, and something told me too much exuberance would have pushed her back into that shell of hers. But hearing about my family? It worked.
“I’ve got six siblings.”
“That must be nice.” She let out a small whoosh of air from between her lips. “I always wanted siblings growing up.”
I glanced at her, the light from the setting sun catching the slope of her cheek. “You didn’t enjoy being an only kid?”
Something about this conversation tugged at my heart.
Despite the past, despite thinking I knew everything there was to know about her, I was learning something about Alisa that I didn’t already know.
It felt jarring in a way—a reminder of just what little time we truly spent together and how I mistook it for a lifetime.
She shrugged. “Papa was always working, traveling, or out with clients. Even when he was home, he wasn’t home.”
I could feel the loneliness in her voice.
Her voice dropped lower. “And Mama… well, she… “
“Dead,” I said quietly. “I remember.”
“Yeah,” she whispered, but I heard the lump in her throat. She drifted away once again, and I let her.
I remembered the night she told me, after drinking too many glasses of wine. We’d checked into a hotel after a long flight, and I’d asked if she needed to check in with her parents. She’d cried in my arms all night. Back then, she told me something strange, something that never registered.
Her father never asked how she was doing after her mother passed. He simply told her she was gone, then got her a new dress for the funeral. A driver took her. She had been only eight.
Now I understood. The man had no soul. But Alisa? She still clung to the idea of a father who gave a damn—and it drove me insane.
A few minutes later, as the gates of Caspian’s estate came into view, I slowed the car.
“We’re here,” I said softly.
***
When we approached the front door, I took Alisa’s hand in mine and squeezed it. I felt her trembling beside me when we’d walked up the steps and sensed she was nervous. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. Usually, they’re all such a bunch of loudmouths, you’d have to fight to get a word in.”
“I hope so,” she muttered. “Because I have no idea what I’ll say to them.”
“Just follow my lead.” I squeezed again and rang the bell.
We both stood frozen on the spot—Alisa, because this was all too much for her. Me, because I knew I was about to get fucked.
It was too late to turn back now. Tonight, I had to come clean, consequences be damned.
Caspian swung the door open with a smile on his face, and I winced when his eyes landed on Alisa and narrowed, before they turned to mine.
“Dante,” he said in as neutral turn as he could muster. “You brought company, I see.”
“Oh, hello,” Alisa said sweetly, giving out her hand. “Alisa Montes.”
“Caspian Lebedev.” My brother shook her hand, but the whole time, I saw his jaw remain clenched.
Oh, he was pissed. He definitely recognized her. Damn his wretched memory.
Caspian let go of Alisa’s hand and moved aside, letting us both pass. I felt my heart race as we walked to the dining room, where I knew our family was gathered.
“So tell me, how do you know Dante?” Caspian asked Alisa.
“Dante?” Alisa looked confused, her eyes turning to me with wide-swept panic. “Why, he’s my—”
“Caspian.” I ripped off the bandage. “Stop interrogating my wife.”
The word ‘wife’ hung in the air like a bomb waiting to detonate.
“Your wife?” Caspian hissed, gripping my arm and pulling me to a standstill.
“Your family doesn’t know?” Alisa squealed.
I looked between them both and felt my neck redden.
I saw Caspian shooting darts at me, but much to my surprise, he straightened his shoulders and shot Alisa a smile. “I do now, and it doesn’t matter,” he said kindly.
“Now come.” His eyes flicked to me, promising a conversation later. “Everyone’s in the dining room. We were just about to start.”
We followed him through the door and were instantly met with the roaring sounds of laughter and conversation.
“Dante’s here,” Caspian announced as we entered. “And he’s brought his wife.”
The room fell silent instantly.
Time stood still.
And I noticed each shocked reaction.
My brothers stared at me like I’d lost my damn mind, while my sisters exchanged wide-eyed glances across the table. Gastone, my brother-in-law, leaned toward his sister Larissa, who was also married to my brother Gio, and murmured something under his breath I couldn’t catch.
“Wife?” Giovanni was the first to rise. “Is this your idea of a joke, brother?”