Chapter 3 - Blood on the Ledger
""Did you kill him?"" The question slipped out of my mouth before my rational brain could stop it. In the three years I had worked for Moretti Enterprises, I had maintained a clean, deliberate barrier between what I handled—spreadsheets, contracts, mergers—and the quiet, violent undertow of the business that Dante kept buried beneath layers of corporate shell companies. I knew what he was capable of, but hearing the confirmation up close was a different beast altogether.
Dante pulled the guest chair close to the mattress, sitting down with a controlled grace that made the small hospital room feel suffocatingly small. He unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled his sleeves back twice, exposing forearms lined with corded muscle and faint silver scars.
""He is alive,"" Dante said, his voice dropping into that chilling, gravelly register. ""Death is too fast for someone who put his hands on your face. He is currently resting in the sub-basement of the river district, discovering what happens when someone breaks my explicit decrees.""
""Dante, the police—""
""The police received an anonymous tip regarding an illegal weapons cache in Cicero,"" he interrupted, completely unbothered. ""Chief O'Malley is busy holding a press conference about the biggest weapons seizure of the fiscal year. He doesn't have the time or the inclination to look at what happens in an abandoned industrial park.""
He reached out. This time, his hand wasn't gloved. His warm, calloused fingers gently brushed against my forehead, pushing back a stray strand of dark hair that had stuck to the dried blood near my temple. The contrast between his absolute brutality and this sudden, exquisite tenderness was dizzying. My breath caught in my throat, my pulse jumping on the heart monitor behind the bed.
A tiny, knowing smirk touched the corner of his lips, vanishing almost instantly.
""You should be resting, Harper,"" he whispered. ""Not interrogating your employer.""
""My employer is currently risking a full-scale turf war because someone stole an encrypted laptop,"" I challenged, though my voice lacked real bite. The warmth of his skin against mine was making it terrifyingly difficult to think straight. ""The Castiglione faction isn't working alone, are they? Julian told me they resurfaced.""
Dante's eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous flicker dancing in the hazel depths. ""Julian talks too much. I will have a conversation with him about discretion.""
""Leave Julian alone. I'm not a child, Dante. If people are hunting me down in parking garages, I have a right to know who is holding the gun.""
Dante leaned in, his gaze boring into mine with such raw, unadorned possession that the room seemed to lose all oxygen. ""Nobody is holding a gun to you ever again. Tomorrow morning, you are being discharged. You will not return to your apartment. You will not return to the office.""
Panic spiked through my chest, overshadowing the dull ache of my cracked ribs. ""What are you talking about? I have work. The mid-quarter financial audit begins on Monday—""
""The audit is postponed,"" he commanded flatly. ""You are moving into my estate in Lake Forest. You will have a private medical wing, round-the-clock guards, and whatever you require. But you will stay within my gates until every single rat carrying the Castiglione name is buried six feet beneath the concrete.""
""I can't live with you!"" I protested, attempting to push myself higher against the pillows, only to gasp as pain flared viciously along my side.
Dante's hands were instantly on my shoulders, firm yet impossibly gentle, guiding me back down against the sheets. ""Do not fight me on this, Harper. You are the only thing in my life that does not come with a hidden price tag or a hidden knife. Do you think I will let them use you as leverage against me?""
""I am not your weakness, Dante,"" I breathed, looking straight into his eyes, refusing to look away even as tears of frustration pricked the edges of my vision.
May you like
His gaze softened by a fraction, his thumb tracing the unbroken line of my collarbone just above the hospital gown.
""You are not my weakness, little bird,"" he murmured, his voice so quiet it sounded like a confession. ""You are the only reason I bother keeping this city standing at all. Now close your eyes. I am staying right here until sunrise.""
