Dante's Pov
The Cavalli estate slept like a beast with its eyes half open. The dark corridors spread, the silence was intense, only broken by the click of shoes against polished floors and hushed whispers. In Dante Cavalli's world silence never meant peace, it meant control.
Dante made his way to his office, guards bowed as he passed, Leonardo, his second walked closely at his back, as both of them made their way to his office.
His office reeked of power and smoke, Heavy drapes shut out the city lights, leaving only the glow of a single desk lamp. Papers were stacked in immaculate order, weapons gleamed on the shelves like ornaments, and the faintest trace of dried blood stained the silk cuff of Damien's shirt. He hadn't bothered to change—tonight had been messy, and he thrived in the mess.
When the call came, he almost ignored it, until he saw the name that flashed on his screen and became intrigued.
Celeste.
She was the last person he wanted to hear from, but the fact that she had his personal cell number was interesting to him, and with that, he picked up.
"Damien," Her voice filled his ears immediately, the venom in them was clear even though she tried to sound as sweet as possible.
"Don't waste my time, Celeste," Dante rebuffed, not in the mood to play mind games of any kind.
"It is Isla! I'm worried about her, she would hate that I am telling you of all people this but I have no choice…I can't sit back and watch my sister suffer!" She continued, her voice had changed now and it was laced with sadness, the way she could change her voice and expression on command was another thing that never failed to bother him.
"Spit it out Celeste," He said, irritation bled into his voice, if something had happened to Isla, he would never stop until he made sure all who were responsible paid for it.
"She is pregnant…and she and Adrian have been having some major issues, he has been abusing her, she is sick and depressed. I'm worried for her. I have told her to divorce him and she refused. To the extent I had to come live with them because I was scared and worried for her," She said, if he didn't know any better he would think she was being honest, but he was no fool.
"If she doesn't want me to know, why are you telling me this?"
"Who else can I tell? And don't lie, you've always loved her, if anyone can save her it's you!" Celeste said and He sighed, He was not in the mood for nonsense like this.
"You must think I am a fool, Celeste. You have some nerve to call me in the middle of the night, when I did not give you access to my private number, and lie to me. I don't know what it is you think you are doing or scheming lying to me like this, but I will be merciful today because you are Isla's stupid younger sister, the next time you try this, it will be your last," Dante said and cut the call off before she could respond.
He threw the phone across the room, feeling as frustrated as ever, Could there be some truth in what Celeste said?
"What do you plan to do about her?" Leo asked after Damien had finished the call with Celeste, the annoyance he felt was evident.
"I don't plan to do anything about her, she isn't a real threat, just Isla's stupid sister who has always been Jealous of her," Damien dismissed, he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince with that, himself or Leonardo.
How the hell had she even found his number? He had been out of Isla's life for a long time as per her request, he had never contacted her before either.
Sure, he had watched her from time to time as a check-in in but it never went past that….at least it never would have until now.
"Come on, there's no way you plan on ignoring this whole situation, She found your number and called you with all those lies, I think she should be watched," Leonardo pushed.
"I haven't decided what to do about this yet, you find more information and if it is something I need to get involved with let me know, the last thing I want to do is break the promise I made to her for nothing," Dante said and Leonardo nodded before making his way out of the office, leaving him with his thoughts.
Dante was not a selfless man, in fact if you asked some people, they'd describe him as the most selfish man you'd ever meet, but he had been selfless when Isla asked him to let her go.
Now he was starting to think it was a mistake, she had hated his world and wanted nothing to do with that kind of life, but at least he would have treated her better. He would literally die for her. He had let someone else have what was his for a long time, it was high time he took it back.
*************
"Good to finally meet you in person, Mr Cavalli," Adrian said, his eyes star-struck as he stuck his hand out to enthusiastically shake Dante's.
"Likewise, please do take a seat," Dante said, pointing towards the seat across his desk, Adrian nodded and sat down.
"I am so glad you made some time to speak with me, Mr Cavalli, I understand how busy you are and have been," Adrian said, and Dante had to use everything in him not to scoff out loud. This was who Isla left him for? He would laugh if he didn't feel a bit humiliated.
"Just Dante please and of course, you had an intriguing idea and I wanted to know more about it," Dante said, the truth was he did not care at all about what Adrian had to say, he just wanted to take a look at the man he would be destroying limb by limb.
"Of course, so about the business venture….."He began and Dante readied himself for the torture of listening to him, the sacrifices he made for Isla, if it didn't show just how much he still cared, he was not sure what did.
As he shook hands with Adrian with a promise to keep in touch, Dante's mind was made up, he had let her do it her way once and it clearly went to shit so he decided he would do it his way now. Isla would be his, come rain, come sun.