35. Sara #2
His grip tightens in desperation, but I don’t care if I end up with bruises.
Blood roars in my ears as I attempt to unravel my tangled thoughts, and hope blossoms in my chest. “I…how can you not know what I’m talking about?
I went to meet you at the apartment that night for our date, and you never showed up.
I found a photo of you online from a gala from the previous evening, dancing with a beautiful woman in a red dress.
The article speculated on your upcoming engagement. ”
His eyes squeeze shut. “Fuck.” When he opens them, they practically blaze.
“Amanda is just a woman I used as a plus one for public events to misdirect the Council. Amanda’s gay, so she used me to fool her family while she secretly dated another woman.
I promise you, there was never anything romantic between us.
The only woman I ever truly saw was you. ”
The vice releases my ribcage. Everything about the way our relationship ended hurt, but deep down, the images of him in bed with Amanda probably inflicted the most damage.
Learning that they were never involved or planning a life together helps soothe the pain that persisted all these years.
And I believe him. I can read him better now, and he couldn’t fake such a horrified reaction.
Besides, Dante has no reason to lie to me.
“What about ghosting me and changing your number?”
He uses his thumb to clear the dampness from my cheeks.
“Sara, that’s the night the men took me.
I was locked up in a cell. One of them must have deactivated my cell phone, because once I escaped and returned home, my old account was history, and I had to get a new number.
Marco and my father had no idea how that happened. ”
Now I’m the one drowning in horror. “That night?” I whisper.
“They abducted you that night?” I swallow a deep breath and fight to regain my composure.
The burning in my nose and fresh tears prove my lack of success.
“I was hurt and angry and cursing ever meeting you, and the whole time, you were being tortured?”
“Don’t. Don’t do that. You didn’t know. How could you? It’s clear that someone went to great lengths to tear us apart.”
“But—”
He places his finger against my lips. “Shh. You were manipulated by a master, and I vanished without a trace. Of course you’d believe I ghosted you. I don’t blame you for that.”
He may not, but I can’t say the same. Guilt continues to compress my chest. “You aren’t mad?”
He flinches. “No. How could I be when I also fell into their trap? They told me that you gave them your key to the Land Rover and information on my whereabouts in exchange for money.”
My eyes widen. “What? That key went missing from my locker at the hospital. I swear I never—”
Dante shushes me again. “I know you didn’t.
I figured that out on my own. But for five years, I believed them.
I plotted my revenge for five fucking years, and then imprisoned and humiliated you, and you never did anything wrong.
” Shock seizes me when he falls to his knees.
“I’m the one who should feel guilty. I’m the one who should spend the rest of my life apologizing.
The only thing I can say in my defense is that the torture messed me up, changed me.
I left that cell a different man than I was when I went in.
But even in the midst all my hate and rage, part of me must have believed that you didn’t do it.
I had all these elaborate revenge fantasies that I never enacted because the thought of hurting you like that ripped at my soul. ”
The bottomless devastation on his face steals the air from my lungs.
The sight of him groveling before me, pleading for forgiveness without shame, unravels another knot in my heart.
I tug on his hand. “Please, stand up. Not here. Dante Argento doesn’t get on his knees in public for anyone. In private, however…”
He rises with awed hope gleaming in his eyes. His throat works as he attempts to speak and only manages a raspy whisper. “Does that mean…do you think you could still be with a man like me, even after…?”
I stroke his jaw. “You’re the only man I’ve ever wanted to share my life with, and if the past five years are any indication, that will never change.”
Dante’s lips crash onto mine, and he kisses me until I grow lightheaded. Too many emotions to name flood me as I mold my body to his, both of us desperate for the close contact.
After pausing for a breath, Dante drinks in my face like he’s a dying man and then jabs a button on the panel. The elevator immediately jolts into motion, and I realize he must have stopped it at some point during our discussion.
The doors open, and I stride out. Wait, why are we in the basement? My cell, the one I occupied for weeks, looms ahead, and uneasiness crawls over my skin right as he snatches my arm in an uncompromising hold. “What are you doing?”
My dread multiplies as he marches us toward the cell block, but I don’t start struggling until we’re only a few feet away from my previous home.
No matter how much I writhe, I can’t escape his hold.
“Stop. This is for your own good.”
I plant my feet as he drags me across the floor, to no avail. His grip may as well be iron. “You don’t prioritize yourself enough to make a good decision, so I’m doing it for you.”
He swings the cell door open and uses a gentle shove to propel me inside. I stumble, and by the time I right myself and rush to the door, Dante’s already locking me in, the familiar beeping of the keypad a nightmare come true.
How? How could he do this, after the discussion we just shared? “I thought you were sorry! I hate you!”
“Hate me if you must, but your safety comes first, above all else. I’m the one who got you tangled up in this world, and if anything happened to you, I don’t think I’d survive.
I need to know you’re protected, even if that means you hate me.
” He pauses, licking his lips. “That would be a shame though, because I love you.”
On that note, Dante retreats down the hallway. I stare after him in stunned silence, struggling to process the events that transpired over the past few minutes.
That bastard. Only Dante would lock me in a cage and then confess his love in the next breath.
Once I escape and we rescue Jeremy, I am so kicking his ass for this.