Chapter 10
DANTE
I changed my mind at the last minute.
Viktor arranged everything like I told him to—the private jet to Portland, the pickup, the flight back. He was supposed to handle the airport pickup alone while I waited at the estate, maintaining distance and control like I always do.
But I couldn’t.
The closer it got to the landing time, the more I needed to be there. I needed to see her face when she stepped off that plane. I needed to see the reaction in her eyes when she realized I was waiting for her.
So I called Viktor an hour before they landed and told him I was coming with him.
“Change of plans. I’m joining you at the airport.”
There was a pause, but no questions. “Alright, boss.”
Now I’m standing next to the black SUV with Viktor beside me, two of my men in suits flanking us, watching the private jet taxi to a stop.
Against my better self, I anticipate seeing her again. See the little female that has tormented and plagued my head for six years. I want to see what she looks like and know how she turned out.
The door opens and she appears at the top of the stairs, and for a second I forget how to breathe.
Six years. Her dark hair falls past her shoulders now, longer than I remember, pulled back in a ponytail that shows off her face. She looks older, more mature, but those green eyes are exactly the same.
Then I see the child beside her and everything stops.
A boy. Dark hair. Small for his age but sturdy. He’s holding her hand tightly as they descend the stairs.
They reach the tarmac and start walking toward me, and that’s when I see his face clearly for the first time.
The moment I see those grey eyes staring back at me, everything else ceases to exist.
My eyes. Looking at me from my son’s face.
The rage that floods through me is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Hotter than fury, colder than hate. It’s something primal and violent that makes my hands shake with the effort of keeping them at my sides instead of wrapped around her throat.
The boy is definitely mine. Whatever doubts I had earlier have all been taken away by looking at those eyes. Eyes like mine are rare, and it will take only my chromosome to replicate something like them so expressly.
The boy is still looking at me with those eyes that are mirrors of my own, and something in my chest constricts painfully. He’s standing here staring at me like a stranger because his mother decided I wasn’t worthy.
I force myself to stand up slowly, carefully, keeping my movements controlled even though every muscle in my body is screaming to lash out. To grab Scarlett and demand answers. To shake her until she understands exactly what she’s stolen from me.
But I can’t do that. Not in front of him.
“Five and a half,” I say quietly, after he tells me his name and age, and my voice sounds strange even to my own ears. “That’s a good age.”
I look at Scarlett and make sure my expression is completely blank. Make sure she can’t see the violence swirling inside me that wants to break free and destroy everything in its path.
She knows. I can see it in her face. She knows that I know and she’s terrified of what comes next.
Good. Let her be fucking afraid.
“We should go.” My voice comes out emotionless. “It’s not safe to stay out in the open like this.”
I turn toward the SUV before she can respond, before I do something I’ll regret in front of the child we created together.
The drive back to the estate takes thirty minutes and I don’t say a single word. I don’t trust myself to speak without unleashing everything I’m feeling. My hands grip the steering wheel so tight my knuckles have gone white and I can feel Scarlett watching me from the backseat.
Let her watch. Let her see exactly how badly she’s fucked up.
Let her wonder what I’m going to do when we’re finally alone.
Every few seconds I glance in the rearview mirror and see Luca looking out the window, completely oblivious to the bomb that just went off in both his parents’ lives. He’s humming something under his breath, swinging his legs because they don’t quite reach the floor.
He has my eyes. My hair. Even the shape of his face is starting to show signs of Moretti features that will sharpen as he grows.
There’s no denying he’s mine.
The rage builds with every mile, every minute, every breath. By the time we pull through the gates of the estate, I’m holding onto control by a thread so thin it’s practically transparent.
I park in front of the main entrance and kill the engine, then sit there for a second trying to get myself under control before I get out.
When I finally step out of the SUV, Rosa is already at the door waiting. She takes one look at my face and her expression shifts to concern, but she’s smart enough not to ask questions.
“Rosa.” My voice is carefully controlled. “This is Luca. He’ll be staying in the guest wing with his mother. Show him his room. Get him some food. Give him a tour of the house if he wants. Just keep him occupied.”
“Of course, Mr. Moretti.” Rosa smiles warmly at Luca. “Come with me, sweetheart. Are you hungry? I bet you’re hungry after that long flight.”
Luca looks up at Scarlett for permission and she nods even though I can see the reluctance in her eyes. She doesn’t want to let him out of her sight, but she doesn’t have a choice.
Not anymore.
“Go ahead, baby,” she says quietly. “I’ll be right here. I just need to talk to Dante for a minute.”
A minute. She thinks this conversation will take a minute.
Once Rosa and Luca disappear into the house, I turn to Scarlett and grab her arm. Not rough enough to hurt, but firm enough that she can’t pull away.
“We need to talk. Now.”
“Let go of me.” She tries to twist out of my grip, but I tighten my hold.
“My office. Move.”
“I can walk on my own. You don’t need to—”
“Then walk faster.”
I don’t give her a chance to argue further. I just pull her through the front door and down the hallway toward my office while she protests and tries to break free.
“Stop manhandling me! I’m not some—”
“You lost the right to make demands when you kept my son from me for five years.”
That shuts her up. At least temporarily. That woman is too sassy to stay shut up when asked.
I shove open the office door and pull her inside, releasing her arm only after I’ve closed and locked the door behind us with a decisive click.
She immediately puts distance between us, backing away until she’s standing near my desk with her arms crossed defensively over her chest.
“You can’t just drag me around like I’m some kind of prisoner!”
“Can’t I?” I stalk toward her slowly, predatory, letting her see exactly how thin my control is right now. “You show up at my door after six years with my son—my son who I didn’t even know existed—and you think you get to make demands about how I treat you?”
“He’s my son too!”
“A son I knew nothing about.” I’m in her space now, close enough to see her pulse jumping in her throat.
Close enough to smell her perfume mixed with fear and something…
something I can’t place that makes the anger even worse.
“Five years, Scarlett. Five years of his life that I’ll never get back.
First words. First steps. Birthdays. All of it gone because you decided I didn’t deserve to know. ”
“You’re a killer!” She shoves at my chest, but I don’t move. Don’t even rock back on my heels. “I watched you murder someone in cold blood! You were going to kill me! What was I supposed to do, hand over my baby to a monster?”
The word hits like a slap, but I don’t give her the satisfaction of a reaction.
“That monster is his father. And you took away my choice to be in his life.”
“I was nineteen and terrified!” Her voice cracks slightly and her eyes are bright with tears she’s refusing to let fall.
“I was running for my life from people who wanted me dead and I found out I was pregnant with a stranger’s baby.
A stranger who kills people for a living! What choice did I have?”
“You had plenty of choices.” I lean in closer and she presses back against the desk, trapped between the furniture and my body. “You could have contacted me. Could have told me. Could have given me the option to be a father to my own child. But instead you made every decision alone.”
“Yes!” Her eyes flash with defiance even as her body betrays her by leaning slightly toward me instead of completely away. “I decided to protect my son from your world. From violence and danger and everything you represent. And I’d make the same choice again!”
The fury inside me reaches its breaking point.
I close whatever distance is left between us and cage her in against the desk with my arms on either side of her, my hands gripping the edge of the wood hard enough that I hear it creak.
My face is inches from hers now. Close enough that I can feel her breath on my lips. Close enough to see the exact moment her defiance wavers.
“Let me make something very clear.” My voice comes out low and cold and controlled even though inside I’m anything but.
“You and Luca belong to me now. You’re going to live in this house under my rules.
You’re going to tell me everything about my son.
Every single detail you kept from me. And there’s no negotiating. No running away. No escape.”
“I’m not your possession.” Her voice shakes, but she holds my stare. She’s fighting to keep that spark of defiance alive. “I’m a person with rights. You can’t just—”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want.” I lean in closer until our faces are almost touching, until I can see the individual flecks of green in her eyes. “You came to me for protection. You put yourself in my territory. That means you play by my rules now.”
“Those aren’t rules, that’s prison!”
“Then you should have thought about that before you called me.” My hand moves from the desk to her hip, gripping hard enough to make her gasp. “Before you got on that plane. Before you walked back into my life with my son and no explanation.”