Chapter 4: The Night Everything Changed

Then came the night that changed everything.

She’d been working a double shift.

Exhausted from being up the previous night with Lily during an asthma flare-up.

As she served Dante’s usual table, she swayed slightly.

Her vision blurred from fatigue.

Before she could fall, his hand shot out.

Steadying her.

His grip firm around her waist.

“When did you last sleep?” he demanded.

His voice was low but sharp.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, mortified.

“Just a long day.”

He studied her face.

Noting the dark circles under her eyes.

Without another word, he stood, threw cash on the table, and guided her firmly toward the exit.

His hand never left the small of her back.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, trying to pull away without creating a scene.

“Taking you home. You can barely stand.”

“I can’t leave. My shift isn’t over.”

He finished her sentence, nodding to her manager, who seemed to shrink under his gaze.

“Get your things.”

Too exhausted to fight, she retrieved her purse from the breakroom.

Outside, his Bentley waited at the curb.

The driver held the door open.

Every instinct screamed at her not to get into that car.

But after weeks of gifts and attention, after seeing how he commanded every room he entered, she’d somehow convinced herself he wasn’t as dangerous as his reputation suggested.

At least not to her.

How wrong she’d been.

The Bentley glided through the city streets.

Dante sat beside her in silence.

His presence filled the car with tension she could almost taste.

When they pulled up in front of her apartment building, relief flooded through her.

Until she saw the black SUV parked nearby.

And a familiar figure leaning against it.

Marco.

Lily’s father.

The man who had abandoned her when she was seven months pregnant.

Only to reappear occasionally, demanding money once he’d gambled away whatever cash he had.

The man who had sworn to get what was his.

She hadn’t seen him in months.

Had hoped he’d finally moved on.

Her stomach dropped at the sight of him.

“You know him?”

Dante’s voice wasn’t a question.

“Lily’s father,” she whispered.

Her hands clenched into fists in her lap.

“He wants money.”

Something dangerous flashed in Dante’s eyes then.

A cold fury that made her shrink back against the leather seat.

He said something in Italian to his driver.

His voice was terrifyingly calm.

“Wait here,” he ordered.

Then he was out of the car.

Moving with lethal grace toward Marco.

She couldn’t hear what was said.

But she watched Marco’s face transform from aggressive confidence to ash-white terror.

Within minutes, Marco was gone.

Peeling away in his battered car.

Dante opened her door.

Offering his hand.

“He won’t bother you again,” he said simply.

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