Chapter 9 - The Ultimatum
Marina felt her heart hammer against her ribs like a trapped bird. ""Dante... you can't be serious. We come from two completely different universes. You are a king of shadows and syndicates. I’m a nurse from Morro dos Prazeres. The moment this world swallows you up again, there will be no room for someone like me.""
""Then I will burn that world to the ground,"" Dante said without a second of hesitation, his voice fierce, desperate, and overflowing with passion. ""You think I care about the syndicate? You think I care about shipping ports and dirty money? For eight months, I wanted to die because I thought power was the only thing keeping me alive.""
He stepped closer, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest so she could feel the thunderous, racing beat of his heart.
""You walked into this prison and slapped me back to life,"" Dante continued, his voice breaking with raw emotion. ""You took bullets for me. You bled for me. You looked into the eyes of a monster and saw a man worthy of being saved. I cannot go back to the darkness, Marina. Not without you.""
Marina felt tears spill over her eyelashes, hot and unstoppable. She pulled the white envelope from her jacket pocket and held it up between them. ""I took this job for the money, Dante. To pay off debts. To build a clinic.""
Dante grabbed the envelope from her fingers. Without opening it, he casually tossed the million-real check over his shoulder onto the study desk.
""Keep the money. Build ten clinics. Build a hospital in Morro dos Prazeres with your name on the front gate,"" Dante said, staring deep into her soul. ""I will fund every bed, every doctor, every medicine. But don't leave me here alone. I survived a car crash, Marina. But I won't survive losing you.""
Marina stared at the fierce, powerful man who had terrified an entire continent, now standing before her, trembling with the fear of being rejected by the woman he loved.
All her defenses, all her rules, all her clinical detachment evaporated into nothingness.
She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her fingers in his thick, dark hair. ""You're the most stubborn, arrogant, exasperating patient I have ever had in my life, Dante Montenegro.""
""Is that a yes?"" Dante whispered, a breathtaking smile breaking across his lips.
May you like
""Yes,"" Marina breathed against his lips. ""God help me, yes.""
Dante leaned down and captured her mouth in a searing, passionate kiss that washed away eight months of pain, blood, and loneliness. It was a kiss born of survival, forged in the fires of battle, and sealed with the promise of a future neither of them had thought possible.
