Chapter 8: Desperate Measures
Dante's POV
I had imagined this moment a thousand times over the years.
Valentina Romano on her knees. Valentina Romano desperate. Valentina Romano finally understanding what it felt like to lose everything.
But my imagination had never done her justice.
She stood there in a ratty hoodie and jeans, her face pale without makeup, her hair tangled like she'd been running. She looked nothing like the polished princess I remembered. Nothing like the girl who'd smiled at me in gardens while her family plotted my father's murder.
She looked broken.
It was beautiful.
"Leave us." I didn't take my eyes off her.
Luca, my second, moved closer. "Boss, that's not smart. She could be armed. Could be a trap."
"Then it's my trap to walk into. Get out."
He hesitated, then signaled the others. They filed out slowly, reluctantly. Luca was the last to go, shooting Valentina a look that promised violence if she made one wrong move.
The door closed. We were alone.
Valentina swayed slightly on her feet. She'd been standing for almost forty minutes. I'd made her wait on purpose, made her watch that idiot with the gambling debts beg for his life. Made her see what happened to people who wasted my time.
"Sit." I gestured to a chair one of my men had left behind.
"I'd rather stand."
"I don't care what you'd rather do. Sit."
Her jaw clenched, but she sat. Pride. She still had that at least.
I stood and walked down from the platform, my footsteps echoing in the empty space. Circled her slowly like Izzy had probably done earlier. Let her feel trapped. Vulnerable.
"Your father is dead."
"Yes."
"My condolences." I didn't mean it. We both knew I didn't mean it.
"Thank you." She didn't mean it either.
"How?"
"Three bullets. In his study. Professional hit."
I stopped in front of her. "And you think I did it."
"No." She looked up at me, and I saw truth in her eyes. "If you'd killed him, you would've made it public. Would've wanted us to know it was you. This was quiet. Internal."
Smart girl. She always had been.
"So why are you here?"
"Because I need help finding out who did kill him."
I laughed. Couldn't help it. The sound was harsh in the empty room. "You want my help? You want the Morettis to investigate a Romano murder?"
"Yes."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because someone sent me to you." She pulled out a card, handed it up to me. "This was left in my father's study. Someone wanted me to come here."
I examined the card. The address was one of my fronts, known to only a handful of people. Someone with inside knowledge had sent her here.
Interesting.
"Could be a trap," I said. "Your uncle using you as bait."
"Could be."
"You came anyway."
"I had no choice."
I pocketed the card and crouched down in front of her, bringing us eye to eye. She flinched but held her ground.
Up close, I could see everything. The dark circles under her eyes. The slight tremor in her hands. The way her pulse jumped in her throat.
Fear. She was terrified.
Good.
"You had choices, Valentina. You could've run. Could've married Alessandro Greco and let him handle your problems. Could've bent the knee to your uncle and survived as a good little Romano princess." I tilted my head. "Instead, you came to me. To the man whose father your family murdered. To your enemy. Why?"
"Because you're the only person I can trust to want the truth."
That stopped me. "Explain."
"Everyone in my family has an agenda. Roberto wants power. Paulo wants to survive. Alessandro wants position. Marco is too broken to want anything." Her voice was steady now, controlled. "But you? You want revenge. You've always wanted revenge. If there's a chance my father's killer is someone in my family, you'll find them. Not for me. For you."
Clever. She knew exactly what motivated me.
"And what do I get out of this?"
"Information. Access to Romano operations. Intelligence about who's really in charge now."
"I can get that without helping you."
"Not like this. Not from the inside." She leaned forward slightly. "Help me find my father's killer, and I'll give you everything. Names. Routes. Accounts. Weaknesses. I'll burn my own family to the ground if that's what it takes."
There it was. The desperation I'd been waiting for.
"Why? Revenge?"
"Survival." Her eyes hardened. "They're going to destroy me anyway. Use me as a bargaining chip, marry me off, make me disappear. I'd rather take them down with me."
I stood, walked back to my throne, sat. Needed distance to think clearly.
She was offering me everything I'd wanted for ten years. A way to destroy the Romanos from within. To finish what had started when my father died.
It was too good to be true.
"What's the catch?"
"No catch."
"There's always a catch, Valentina."
She stood, crossed the room until she was at the base of my platform again. Bold. Stupid. One or the other.
"The catch is that I'm asking you to let me live here. Under your protection. Safe from Roberto and Alessandro and everyone else who wants to use me." She took a breath. "I know what that means. I know what you'll want in exchange."
My pulse quickened. "Do you?"
"I'm not stupid, Dante. I know how this works. You help me, I owe you. And you'll collect that debt however you want."
The air between us felt electric. Dangerous.
I shouldn't do this. Should throw her out. Should let the Romanos tear themselves apart without my involvement.
But I'd spent ten years hating her family. Ten years waiting for an opportunity like this.
And she was right. I did want the truth about who killed my father. If Vincent Romano had been murdered by someone in his own organization, that someone might know things. Might have information I'd spent a decade trying to find.
"If I agree to this, there are conditions."
"Name them."
"You live here. In my penthouse. Under constant guard. You don't leave without permission. You don't contact your family without my knowledge. Everything you learn, you report to me."
"Agreed."
"You'll be seen as mine. In public, at my clubs, at family gatherings. The city needs to know you've turned. That you've chosen me over them."
Her throat worked, but she nodded. "Agreed."
"And..." I leaned forward, holding her gaze. "You'll share my bed."
There it was. The thing we'd both been dancing around.
Her face went pale, then flushed. "As your mistress."
"As whatever I decide you are."
"For how long?"
"Until I'm done with you."
The words were deliberately cruel. I watched them land, watched her absorb the blow.
"And in exchange, you'll help me find my father's killer?"
"I'll investigate. If I find them, I'll tell you. What you do with that information is up to you."
"That's not much of a deal."
"It's the only deal you're going to get." I stood again, descended the platform, stopped a foot away from her. "You walked into my territory asking for help. You have no leverage here. No power. Nothing to bargain with except your body and your betrayal. So those are my terms. Take them or leave."
She looked at me for a long moment. I could see her weighing options, calculating odds, trying to find another way.
There wasn't one. We both knew it.
"How long do I have to decide?"
"Ten seconds." I pulled out my phone, opened the timer. "Starting now."
"That's not enough time to—"
"Nine."
"Dante, please, I need to think—"
"Eight."
"This isn't fair!"
"Seven. Life isn't fair, princess. Six."
Her hands clenched into fists. Her breathing quickened.
"Five."
I could see her crumbling, see the moment she realized she had no choice.
"Four."
"Stop."
"Three."
"Dante!"
"Two."
"I accept!" The words burst out of her. "I accept your terms. All of them."
I stopped the timer. "Say it clearly."
"I'll live here. Under your protection. I'll be yours publicly. I'll share your bed." Her voice shook but didn't break. "And in exchange, you'll investigate my father's murder."
"Good girl." I reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She flinched but didn't pull away. "Welcome to your new life, Valentina."
What had I done?
Dante pulled out his phone, made a call. "Izzy. She's staying. Get a room ready. The one next to mine."
Next to his. Not down the hall. Not in another wing.
Next to his.
He ended the call and looked at me with those cold, calculating eyes. "You'll move in tomorrow. Bring whatever you need. Everything else stays behind."
"I need to tell my family—"
"No. You disappear tonight. Let them wonder. Let them panic. When they finally figure out where you are, it'll be too late."
"They'll come for me."
"Let them try." He smiled that terrible smile again. "You're mine now. Anyone who touches you touches me. And I don't share."
The possessiveness in his voice should have scared me. It did scare me.
But part of me, some broken desperate part, felt relief.
For the first time since my father died, someone was claiming me. Protecting me. Even if that someone was my enemy. Even if the price was my body and my betrayal.
"One more thing." Dante moved closer, backing me against the wall. His hand came up to cup my jaw, thumb brushing across my lower lip. "That boy you knew? The one who called you Lina and made you laugh? He's dead. I killed him the day I buried my father. Don't ever expect him to come back."
"I won't."
"Good." He leaned in, his lips a breath away from mine. I could feel the heat of him, smell his cologne, see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes. "Because I'm going to make you regret everything your family did to mine. I'm going to take you apart piece by piece. And when I'm done, when you've given me everything, I'm going to throw you away like the garbage you are."
The words should have made me run.
Instead, they made something dark and twisted inside me come alive.
"Then do it," I whispered. "Make me regret it."
His eyes flared with something dangerous. Surprise maybe. Or hunger.
Then he stepped back, breaking the moment. "Tomorrow. Eight AM. Bring one bag. Leave everything else behind."
He walked toward the door, then paused. "Oh, and Valentina? Welcome to hell."
The door closed behind him.
I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the floor, my legs unable to hold me anymore.
I'd done it. I'd made a deal with the devil.
And God help me, I didn't regret it.
Not yet.