Chapter 3 - FORTRESS OF SHADOWS
By 2:00 AM, the presidential suite was empty. Dante had wrapped Alara in his own cashmere overcoat, ignoring her protests, and ushered her down a private freight elevator to a waiting armored SUV.
They did not go to his penthouse in the Gold Coast. They drove straight to the heavily fortified Moretti estate on the outskirts of the city—a compound surrounded by ten-foot stone walls, electrified fencing, and armed guards patrolling the perimeter with assault rifles.
Alara sat in the passenger seat, staring blankly at the reinforced glass. “He’s a powerful man, Dante. Vincent has the mayor in his pocket. He has the police chief on his payroll. You can’t just start a war over a business arrangement.”
“You are not a business arrangement anymore,” Dante said, his grip on the steering wheel white-knuckled. “You are my wife.”
“I’m leverage!” she yelled, the sudden burst of anger shocking them both. “My father sold me to you to escape his debts! Do not pretend you care about my honor!”
Dante slammed on the brakes. The heavy SUV screeched to a halt on the private gravel driveway. He turned to her, his eyes burning with an intensity that made her breath catch.
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“Your father sold you to a monster to protect himself from another monster,” Dante agreed softly, leaning in. “But he made one fatal miscalculation, Alara. He didn’t realize which monster was hungrier. I don’t care about honor. I care about what is mine. And from the second you said 'I do,' you became mine to protect.”
He reached out, his hand hovering over her bruised cheek, radiating heat but never making contact. “I am going to dismantle Vincent Caruso piece by piece. And when I am done, you are going to spit on his grave.”
