Chapter 14

**ALEXANDER**

"Stay here... I forgot something."

"Wait—what do you mean you forgot something?" she nearly shouted, her voice laced with panic as her eyes flicked back toward the house.

I narrowed my eyes.

Seriously?

She was still worried about that pathetic excuse for a father? The same man who practically gift-wrapped her for Robert Solas?

Her fingers curled into fists, her breath coming in sharp, uneven bursts. "I’ll come with you," she blurted out, already moving toward the door like she could somehow stop whatever she thought was about to happen.

I stepped into the doorway before she could reach it, my body a wall between her and whatever foolish rescue mission she had in mind.

My gaze locked onto hers, cold and unyielding. "Don’t push me, Alina."

"I. SAID. STAY. HERE."

"I'm here, aren't I? So just take me and let's go!"

Fucking unbelievable.

Ignoring her protests, I slammed the door shut with finality, giving Nico a sharp nod to keep a close watch on her.

I stormed back into the house, a cold, relentless fury boiling inside me at the thought of him—selling his daughter to Robert Solas.

The Santini Princess.

She has no idea just how priceless she truly is.

If there’s one villain in this story, it’s me—not Robert fucking Santos.

Poor little princess... she thinks she’s being kidnapped until her dear old daddy comes up with the money. It’s almost laughable. But the truth is, all I’ve done is move her from one prison to another.

The twist?

There won’t be any knight in shining armour to come charging to her rescue. No one will dare challenge me for her.

If I were any less ruthless, I might feel sorry for her.

She thinks she’s just another pawn, a helpless piece in a game she doesn’t understand—mine to control for the next month.

Or so she believes.

Because this morning, I uncovered something that changed everything.

It turned out that Arthur Santini wasn’t the only player in this game—there was another factor at play, one he was likely completely unaware of. The old man must have had his reasons, but a month after Alina turned 21, she would inherit a vast fortune from her maternal grandfather’s estate.

And not just any fortune—one that made her more than just a bargaining chip.

It made her priceless.

For reasons unknown, Alina’s grandfather had named her his sole heir in his final days. With this revelation, my entire strategy shifted dramatically.

The timing couldn't have been more serendipitous - Alina's 21st birthday was looming on the horizon, and with it, her inheritance.

Suddenly, my reasons for keeping her captive— changed

What started as a simple game of cat and mouse had escalated into a high-stakes battle—one where Alina's freedom and fortune now hung dangerously in the balance.

My obsession with her, a fleeting obsession, now seemed like a calculated investment - one that could yield a substantial return, if played correctly.

She had become a prize worth fighting for, a key to unlocking a fortune that could change the course of my life forever.

I walked back into the study, my eyes falling on Arthur as he paced, muttering to himself under his breath.

Good.

"Sorry to bother you again..." I called out, the words dripping with mock sincerity.

I was anything but sorry.

Arthur froze in his tracks, his face draining of colour. His voice trembled as he stuttered,

"W-what now... you have Alina..."

I shrugged, letting the silence stretch between us as I locked eyes with him, watching the sweat bead on his forehead as he squirmed under my gaze.

The door creaked open, and Marzetti, my lawyer stepped inside, holding the contract and the other documents I'd had him draw up after discovering who Alina was.

He handed them to me, and I glanced down at them with a tight smile before slamming them down onto Arthur's desk with enough force to rattle the wood.

I stared at the old man, wondering if he remembered me as a boy.

His gaze met mine—uncomfortable, almost guilty—as if he knew exactly who I was. I had no doubt he remembered that day when he and his cronies came to throw my family out of our home.

I’d stared him down then, just as I was doing now. Back then, he laughed at me, dismissing me as a foolish child. I was ten years old, too young to understand how the world worked.

Now, I was twenty-four, and I was about to take over my father's empire. The empire he built from nothing, from the very ground up.

Unlike the foolish child I’d been, I had plans—big ones.

I was going to own Alina, and once Arthur signed that contract, I would control nearly seventy-five per cent of her assets when she turned twenty-one. All hers, but ultimately all mine.

I stood before him now, far from powerless, useless, or helpless.

Unlike that day—when I was a scared child, caught in the wreckage of my father's fall—there’s not a damn thing anyone in this house could do if I decided to wipe every one of them out.

Arthur's eyes flicked nervously to the documents, his voice shaky as he asked,

"What’s that?"

I almost laughed. He looked like he was about to shit himself.

This same man who once sneered at my father’s humiliation, watching him fall from grace, was now the one trembling in front of me. And the motherfucker had the nerve to act like he didn’t remember what he did to us—how he helped break us. The man who once mocked my family’s fall was now the one squirming beneath my gaze, and I was about to make sure he’d regret every second of it.

The boy they’d laughed at was gone. This man, the one standing before them now, was about to take everything. And I would make sure Arthur remembered who he was fucking with.

Now?

Now, I was the one in charge.

"A little unfinished business," I said, my smug smile stretching across my face.

Taking Alina was just the first move in a carefully orchestrated plan.

It’s about knowing exactly when to corner your enemy and when to make them feel like they’re on top of the world, only to strike at the moment when they’re teetering on the edge of life and death. The moment when they can see the abyss, and they know only a miracle could pull them back.

That’s where Arthur is right now—and the bastard knows it.

I’ll admit, I had staged everything.

I recalled the night he walked into my club, eager to try his luck at the tables. Little did he know, I had been waiting for him, anticipating the perfect moment to strike. With calculated precision, I orchestrated his downfall, manipulating the odds to ensure that he lost everything.

A little sleight of hand, a few rigged cards, and I had him hooked. He gambled and gambled until he was 35 million in debt to me.

I needed him trapped.

Everything had been leading up to this day.

Alina, though... she was the unexpected prize. The one thing I hadn’t anticipated.

That night at the party, I saw her and lusted for her, wanting her in my bed, on her knees—thinking I could have her as a temporary distraction, a way to exploit Arthur’s weakness.

How wrong I was. She wasn’t just some pawn.

And that little tidbit about her fortune—the one neither she nor Arthur even realizes she possesses?

That’s just the icing on the cake. The perfect little bonus to make this whole thing even sweeter.