Welcome another my dearies.
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The interrogation room was still ringing with the echo of Dante's promise when he finally pulled away.
He didn't leave my space, though.
He remained between my knees, his hands resting heavily on the metal table on either side of my thighs.
His eyes were scanning my face, looking for the girl he thought he'd bought.
But Serena...he real Serena was long gone.
I was a woman who had spent my previous life navigating corporate shark tanks; a mafia den was just the same thing with more expensive suits and bloodier consequences.
"Serena," he said, testing the name on his tongue as if it were a new vintage of wine. "You've been a very busy girl.
My files said you spent your time painting watercolors and crying over your father's debts.
Where did you learn about Swiss accounts and the Valetti family?"
I leaned back slightly, the cold edge of the table biting into my skin, and gave him a cryptic smile.
I couldn't tell him I'd read it in a 99-cent ebook on my lunch break.
"When you're a pawn in a game played by men like my father, Dante, you learn to read the board," I lied smoothly.
"You learn that the only way to keep your head is to know where the executioner keeps his axe."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
He reached out, his gloved finger tracing the line of my collarbone.
"And what else does the little pawn see on the board?"
I took a breath.
This was the moment I had to establish the Long Game.
"I see a storm coming for the Moretti family. Lucca was just the first raindrop.
The Commission is meeting in three days, isn't it? They're going to vote on the distribution of the docks.
And right now, you don't have the votes."
Dante froze.
His hand dropped from my collarbone to my throat, not to squeeze, but to feel the pulse there.
His gaze was lethal.
This was information that only three people in the world should have known.
"You're either a genius," he whispered, "or you're a spy sent by someone much smarter than your father."
"If I were a spy, I would have let that sniper pull the trigger," I countered, meeting his gaze without blinking.
"I want to survive, Dante. And in this novel... I mean, in this world... you are the only one capable of keeping me alive.
But I won't be a bird in a cage.
I want a seat at the table."
Dante let out a dark, dry laugh.
He straightened up, finally giving me room to breathe.
He walked to the corner of the room, pouring a glass of water from a dispenser and bringing it back to me.
"A seat at the table," he mused.
"My associates would kill you before you finished your first sentence.
They don't take kindly to women who think they're players."
"Then don't tell them I'm a player," I said, taking the water.
My throat was parched from the adrenaline. "Tell them I'm your latest obsession.
Your toy as you put it.
No one looks at the woman on the Boss's lap as a threat.
They'll talk freely in front of me.
They'll underestimate me.
And I'll gather every secret they drop like breadcrumbs."
Dante watched me drink, his eyes fixed on the movement of my throat.
The lust was still there, simmering under the surface, but it was now joined by a calculating curiosity.
This was the Slow Burn foundation, I thought to myself, the ML needs to be obsessed with the heroines mind as much as her body and I am going make full use of it.
"And what do you want in return, Serena? Beyond your life?"
"Protection," I said firmly.
"Total protection. Not just from your enemies, but from your own men.
And... I want my father's debt erased.
Not paid...erased.
I want him gone.
Send him to a villa in Italy, give him a bottle of wine, and tell him if he ever contacts me again, you'll have him buried."
Dante stepped back toward me, his presence looming.
He took the empty glass from my hand and set it aside.
Then, he gripped my waist and hoisted me off the table, setting my feet back on the ground.
"The debt is erased," he murmured, his face inches from mine.
"But your price has just gone up.
If you're going to play this role, you're going to play it perfectly.
You stay in my house.
You sleep in my wing.
And when we are in public, you belong to me.
Completely.
If I touch you, you smile.
If I kiss you, you kiss me back like you're starving for it."
He leaned down, his lips brushing against my ear. "Because if the Commission thinks for one second that you're anything other than my personal addiction, they'll use you to get to me. Do you understand?"
"I understand," I whispered, a shiver running down my spine.
"Good." He stepped back, buttoning his shirt.
"Go back to the bedroom.
Marco will bring you a phone. It's encrypted. Use it only to talk to me.
Tomorrow, we go to the tailor. If you're going to be the Queen of the Underworld, you need to stop dressing like a victim." Saying that he give slow squeeze to my ass and walks away.
As I walked back to the elevator, my legs felt like lead.
I had survived the first night.
But as the doors closed, a strange sensation washed over me.
A blue translucent screen flickered in the corner of my vision.
[ SYSTEM INITIALIZED... ]
[ PROGRESSION: 2% ]
[ CURRENT STATUS: THE BOSS'S OBSESSION ]
[ REWARD EARNED: EYE OF THE AUTHOR (Passive Skill) ]
Ability: You can now see the Danger Level of any named character within 10 meters.
My heart skipped a beat.
A System? The original novel didn't have a System.
This was a new variable.
It meant that my transmigration wasn't just a fluke...it was a game.
And if it was a game, that meant there were levels, rewards, and likely... a final boss.
I reached the bedroom and collapsed onto the silk sheets.
The scent of Dante was everywhere.
It was overwhelming, masculine, and terrifyingly seductive and intoxicating.
I looked at my hands.
They were still shaking.
In the original book, Serena had been forced into Dante's bed on the first night.
He had been cruel, treating her like an object to vent his frustrations.
By changing the plot, I had avoided that... Other than some squeezes....for now.
But I had seen the look in Dante's eyes.
He wasn't a man who stayed patient for long.
A knock at the door startled me.
Marco entered, carrying a silver tray with a sleek black smartphone and a glass of wine.
"The Boss says to drink this.
It'll help you sleep," Marco said.
His eyes lingered on me for a second too long.
Suddenly, a red glow appeared above Marco's head.
[ NAME: MARCO BOTTICELLI ]
[ DANGER LEVEL: 45/100 ]
[ LOYALTY TO DANTE: 98% ]
[ CURRENT THOUGHT: "She's dangerous. I should watch her." ]
I blinked.
The System was working.
I looked at the wine, then at Marco.
"Thank you, Marco," I said, my voice smooth. "Tell Dante I'll see him in the morning.
And Marco?"
He paused at the door.
"Yes, Miss Serena?"
"Don't worry. I'm on his side."
Marco's eyes widened slightly before he nodded and retreated.
I took a sip of the wine.
It was a rich, dark red, bitter and sweet at the same time.
As the alcohol began to dull the sharp edges of my nerves, I realized the scale of the task ahead of me.
I had to manage a Mafia King, navigate a System I didn't understand, and survive a plot that was actively trying to kill me.
And then there was the biggest problem of all.
In the original book, the True Heroine...the woman Dante was actually supposed to fall in love with wouldn't appear for another twenty chapters.
She was the daughter of a rival family, a Light to his Darkness.
When she arrived, she would be my greatest threat.
Because in these novels, the Villainess or the Side Character always gets discarded when the True Heroine arrives.
I sat up, gripping the wine glass.
"Not this time," I whispered to the empty, luxurious room.
"This time, the Side Character is keeping the throne."
I lay back, closing my eyes.
I needed to plan.
I needed to use the Eye of the Author to scout the Moretti household.
I needed to find the hidden stashes of money and influence the book had mentioned.
But most of all, I needed to figure out how to keep Dante Moretti exactly where I wanted him: caught between suspicion and desire.
As I drifted off to sleep, the last thing I saw was the flickering blue screen.
[ MISSION TRIGGERED: THE TAILOR'S TEST ]
[ OBJECTIVE: Impress the Commission's Tailor and gain the Elegance stat. ]
[ FAILURE PENALTY: Loss of Protection status. ]
Author's Note:
The System has arrived! Surprise !
Serena now has a way to track her progress, but the stakes just got real.
Dante is watching her every move, and the True Heroine is a ticking time bomb.
What kind of Elegance do you think Serena should aim for?
The classic Mafia Wife look, or something more modern and dangerous? Let me know in the comments!