Chapter 112 Lucky Woman
Isabella’s POV
“I just needed you to understand that,” I said quietly, my voice trembling despite my effort to stay composed. “I didn’t go out looking for him. I didn’t just meet some random guy at a bar. My mom… she thought she was helping. She introduced us, thinking it would be good for me, a fresh start.”
I paused, swallowing hard as my chest tightened. “I just… I don’t want you to think this is easy for me that I’ve just moved on like what we had meant nothing.” My breath hitched, and I pressed my lips together, trying to hold everything in. “Because it’s not. It’s killing me.
The emotion rose too fast, clogging my throat, threatening to spill over. I stopped talking before my voice could completely break.
On the other end, Dante said nothing but somehow, that silence didn’t feel empty.
“I hate myself,” I whispered after a while, my voice barely audible. “I hate that I let things go as far as they did between us. My eyes squeezed shut as tears finally slipped free. “Why couldn’t you just be someone else?”
His response came low, certain, and unshaken.
“You don’t want me to be someone else, baby.”
I exhaled shakily, my heart clenching at the sound of his voice.
“You like me exactly as I am,” Dante continued, his tone dark and confident, like he already knew the truth I was trying to deny. I said nothing, but my silence wasn’t denial.
“You want me,” he went on, his voice dropping even lower, wrapping around me like a slow, consuming fire. “Because I’m powerful.
You want me because I can protect you from anything this world throws at you.”
My pulse quickened, betraying me.
“You want me because I’m strong, because I take control, because I don’t pretend to be something I’m not.” There was the faintest edge of a smirk in his voice. “I’m an asshole most of the time, yeah. But you don’t want a gentleman, Isabella. You’re not made for that kind of man.”
My breath caught.
“You’re fire,” he said. “And fire like yours doesn’t belong with something soft. You need something just as intense. Just as dangerous.” A beat of silence. “You deserve a man who matches you. That’s me. There’s no one better for you than me.”
The worst part was… he wasn’t wrong.
Every word he said sank into me, settling somewhere deep, somewhere I couldn’t reach to pull it out. I hated how much I agreed. Hated how much I felt it.
Because I didn’t want anyone else.
“Baby… be with me.”
The plea was softer now, but it hit harder than anything else he’d said and God, I wanted to say yes.
I wanted to forget everything every warning, every fear, every consequence and just give in. I wanted him here, not just as a voice in my ear but real, tangible. I wanted the warmth of his body, the way he held me like nothing else in the world mattered. I wanted his hands tangled in my hair, his breath against my skin, his presence filling every empty space he’d left behind.
I wanted us but wanting wasn’t enough.
“No…” I forced the word out, even though it felt like it was tearing something inside me apart.
“You’d really choose someone you don’t love?” Dante challenged immediately. “Just because your family approves of him?” His tone sharpened, frustration bleeding through. “You’ll have their approval, sure. But you won’t have this.”
I closed my eyes as his words sank in.
“You won’t have the heat between us,” he continued. “You won’t have the passion, the connection… the kind of love that consumes you.” His voice lowered again, turning rougher. “What we have? It’s not something you find twice.”
My grip on the phone tightened.
“I’ve been with a lot of women,” he admitted, unashamed. “And none of them come close to you. Not even close.” A pause. “You think you’re ever going to find someone who makes you feel the way I do?”
My answer was barely a whisper. “No…”
“Then stop this,” he said firmly. “Stop hurting both of us. Stop pretending this makes sense.”
A shaky breath left me as I leaned back, staring at nothing.
“It’ll just hurt more later…” I murmured, the truth weighing heavily on my chest.
“Don’t think about later,” Dante replied instantly. “Think about now.”
“I can’t,” I said, my voice breaking again. “I can’t live like that.”
“You’re already thinking too far ahead,” he argued. “Marriage, kids, the future you’re trying to map out an ending that doesn’t even exist yet.” His tone softened slightly. “I don’t even know if I want those things. All I know is… I want you. Right now.”
My heart ached at the simplicity of it.
“So let’s just have this,” he continued. “Let it be what it is. Not every relationship ends in forever, Isabella. Most don’t. So stop trying to control the outcome. Just let it happen.”
But that was exactly what terrified me.
Because if I already felt this deeply now… what would I become if I let myself fall even further?
“I should go to bed,” I said abruptly, cutting him off before he could pull me any deeper.
If I stayed on the phone any longer, I might break and I couldn’t afford to break.
For once, Dante didn’t argue.
The silence stretched between us again, heavier this time.
“Damian won’t call me,” I added after a moment, trying to shift the conversation and trying to ground myself in something safer. “So you don’t have to worry about that.”
His voice came back, quieter but curious. “Why do you think that?”
A humorless laugh escaped me. “Because I was a disaster.” I rubbed my forehead, replaying the night in my head. “I barely paid attention to him. I kept checking my phone like an idiot. I told him I was still hung up on my ex…” My voice dropped in embarrassment. “And then I invited him over, only to change my mind at the last second.”
I shook my head at myself. “I probably looked completely ridiculous. Like I don’t know what I want. A guy like him? He won’t waste his time on someone like me.”
In my mind, I could already picture it, him moving on effortlessly, finding someone easier, someone uncomplicated.
“Baby,” Dante said, a quiet confidence in his voice. “He’s going to call you again. I promise.”
I frowned slightly. “You didn’t see how bad it was…”
“And you don’t see yourself the way other people do,” he countered smoothly. “You don’t realize how he looked at you all night.”
I stilled.
“You don’t realize how captivating you are,” he continued. “How every man in that room couldn’t take their eyes off you.” His tone softened, but the intensity remained. “You’re beautiful, Isabella. More than that....you’re unforgettable.”
My breath caught again.
“Any man would be lucky to have you,” he finished. “And trust me… they know it.”