DANTE
"What the actual fuck, Dante?"
Cassian wasted no time and spun up on me as soon as I entered the house. The underboss did not look the slightest bit happy, eyes searching through mine for some sort of explanation.
"Oi, calm down. You have questions, yes? Glaring at me won't give you the answers you want." I fixed him a pointed look.
He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Why did you decide to get engage to her? A fucking Vitale. And you didn't tell me. No warnings whatsoever."
"It wasn't planned." I snarled back, making my way towards the island and grabbing a glass. I'd have pulled out a cigarette but I wasn't the smoking type. What I needed was something to keep my mouth busy through Cassian's rant.
He followed right after me. "Since when did you things without planning and thinking it through?"
I grabbed a bottle of negroni, helping myself to a glass. "Since I stumbled upon an asset."
I finally turned to Cassian, noting the look of frustration in his eyes. It had all come as a shock so I could understand why he was crashing out so much. No one would have expected me to do such a thing out of the blue. Not with the amount of bad blood between my family and hers.
"I need Viktor in the dirt as soon as possible," I explained. "The best way for me to do that? I use her to get all the information I can need about her family. It's the worst kind of betrayal if you think about it. She'll help me tear her family down without even realizing."
"And you think she's just going to give you all this?" Cassian didn't look convinced. "She's not some weak pushover, you know. I highly doubt she'll let you have your way."
I took a sip of my drink. "You're forgetting I saved her from her father's tendrils, and agreed to this deal to help her out. If I cancel it right now and her father gets his hands on her, it'll be straight to Sevro Rinaldi."
Cassian's face soured at the name. "An arranged marriage?"
I nodded. "She's hellbent on getting as far away from the man as possible. And I'm her only way out of it. She'll have no other choice but to submit to me, and I plan on getting my way through any means possible."
Cassian nodded, my words settling in mind. There was a reason why the Vitales despised us so much. The DeLaurentis stood beside them in terms of the most powerful families in the both within and outside the Unites States. Our family connections stretched as far as Italy, making us feared both at home and in international waters.
And I was the head of it. Which meant my name had a bit of notoriety to it. Where I walked, heads went flying. I was fine with it that way. It commanded respect and sent a message to the other smaller families who would be happy to snag whatever bit of power they could.
Do not cross Dante DeLaurentis.
"Alright." Cassian blew out a breath. "I can see where you're going with this."
I nodded, taking another swig of my drink. "Good. In any case, we won't stay here till afternoon. Viktor knows where she is. The smart thing to do would have been to storm here with his men, but I'm guessing he got blinded with anger and marched here himself. We can't tell what he'll do next but I'm sure it won't be pretty."
"I get what you mean. I'll make the arrangements for us to leave right away." Cassian took out his phone.
I placed the empty glass on the island. "I'll leave you to it."
"Celeste." Cassian piped up again and I froze. "She's been blowing up my phone with calls and messages. I haven't answered any of it.
I simply hummed out a reply. Cassian's eyes scoured through my face for some sort of reaction. "You didn't tell her, did you?"
I blew out a breath. "Like I said, very little time to act. I had to do what I did."
"Understandable." Cassian nodded, blowing out a breath of his own. "I'll let you know as soon as the arrangements are done."
I gave him a small pat on the shoulder before making my way back into the living room. Amara was there. There was a distant look in her eyes as she stared at nothing in particular.
Had she heard everything we were talking about? There was a possibility. But it didn't mean anything would change. Only when I began moving towards her did she finally raise her head.
Seconds by and I simply stood there, staring back into her hazel eyes. How was it that she'd changed so much from the time we met? Her lips seemed plumper, eyes holding a certain guardedness to it. Her hair was longer too.
"You should be packing." I sent her a look.
She sent me a glare. "There's not much to pack. Not like I've been here for long anyway."
I grunted out a reply, leaning down so I could be closer to her. It was hard to miss the irritation that flashed over her face. Good. I would never give her the space to be comfortable.
"Get away from me."
"Away from you?" I scoffed. "What? Is it a crime to be so close to my fiancée now?"
I didn't miss how she seemed to flinch at that word. This was all discomforting to her but it was too late for her to pull back now. She'd dove right in by herself and now, a heavy prize would have to be paid.
"Enjoy this now." The corner of her lips tugged up a little. "I'll ruin you in ways that'll leave you stunned."
I chuckled, smirk dropping in an instant. "Oh, princess. I'd like to see you try. Let's see just how much you can do in this new cage of yours."
She thought she could escape and gain some sort of upper hand by agreeing to this engagement. It was just one year.
Enough time for me to break her completely.