Chapter 171 Conti Disagreed

Chapter 171 Conti Disagreed
Dante POV

It didn’t seem to matter what I said, Conti would continue to hate me. “I’m not going to downplay my hatred for you. I’ve wanted revenge for a long time and my bitterness only grew during my tenure on the streets. You took
everything away from me and it didn’t seem fair. I was subjected to a cruel existence, while you got to have the perfect family in a damn mansion. I wanted to kill all of you for taking away my inheritance and letting that grudge
go was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do but when Isabella asked me, I couldn’t say no. I couldn’t deny what she wanted more than anything in the world. It was a hard sacrifice to make, to drop the blood feud. I know that’s not impressive to you because that’s the very reason you hate me, but I let the past go....for her. You can’t question my love for her or my honesty. I will say the truth to your face, no matter how painful it is.”

“Is that supposed to impress me?” Conti asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at me. There was a faint trace of disbelief in his eyes, like he couldn’t understand how I could possibly think that being honest somehow made everything else about me acceptable.

“You’re still a terrible man,” he continued, his voice calm but laced with sarcasm. “But because you’re honest about it, that suddenly makes you a good person?”

He gave a short, humorless scoff and looked down at the glass in his hand. He slowly swirled the liquid, watching it move around the glass before taking another unhurried drink.

When he lowered it, his eyes returned to me.

“You’re still a big piece of trash, if you ask me.”

I hated my new nickname. “I offered to buy her a gallery where she could display her pieces. I was the one who encouraged her to drop out of school because she’s too talented to listen to some bullshit instructor act like he knows better than she does. I’ve urged her to pursue her dreams because she’s meant for greatness. I don’t hold her back rather I push her to her full potential.”

He drank from his glass again. “There’s nothing more I can say or do to prove myself to you, Conti. You just need to acknowledge everything I’ve said.”

He slammed his glass down. “You expect me to look the other way when you say you wanted to kill my wife?”

Conti turned his cold eyes back to me and his arms were flexed with blood, muscle, and adrenaline. “My son? My brother? I should just let that go since you don’t want to kill my family anymore? Water under the bridge?”

“It’s better than holding on to a past that has no relevance now. Yes, I was your enemy but I’m not anymore.”

“And if Isabella leaves you for another man, I’m just supposed to assume that my family is still safe? All you have to do is change your mind, and all our necks are on the line.”

“She wouldn’t leave me for someone else.” I was the only man she wanted, and I would love her so fiercely she would never want anyone else. I knew how to please a woman, and now I knew how to love one. “Trust me on
that.”

“You have no idea what the future holds. My daughter might wake up one morning and realize you aren’t what she wants anymore. She might not be able to overcome what you do for a living. You don’t know and then, my
family would be vulnerable. You would know everything about us, our every weakness. I can’t let that happen.”

“I promised Isabella I would never hurt her family, regardless of what happens between us and I’m a man of my word.... I keep my promises.”

“Honorable men keep their promises but you aren’t an honorable man. You know exactly what you are…trash."

I already know how this is going to end. You aren’t going to be able to accept me even if, it’ll break your daughter heart. Conti stared straight ahead. “You’re probably right, so why don’t you just give up?”

“Because I’m not going to give up until I absolutely have to. She means too much to me and I know how much it’ll kill her if she loses me. My entire life rests in your hands and I hate knowing you have this much power over
me.”

Conti drank his scotch, his elbows resting on the table. “Just keep in mind your relationship with your wife. If her family had told her not to be with you, because you were a criminal and a murderer, what would you have done? Where would you be right now? And where would she
be? Would she be better off without you? Or did you give her everything that she deserved?”

Conti didn’t acknowledge my words rather he continues to stare straight ahead. “I know you don’t like me, but I’m the best thing for her, Conti.”

Conti gripped his glass, his knuckles flexing like he was considering smashing it. “I’ve sacrificed everything for my family. My brother and I live peaceful lives in the countryside, where we make wine and mind our own
business. I don’t want my daughter getting involved in that lifestyle, the kind of world I’ve tried to protect her from.”

“I keep my business separate from my personal life.”

He shook his head. “Not possible because you cross the wrong person and they never stop coming after you and you might not realize it until it’s too late. As long as you do that for a living, the risk will always be there and Isabella
is the first person they’ll use against you, just how you tried to use her against me.”

“I would never let that happen.”

“It’s out of your control and there are so many things I don’t like about you…but I despise your ignorance and arrogance the most.” He finished his glass then left cash on the bar.

“I’m done talking to you.” He left me at the bar
and walked out, I stayed on the stool and didn’t go after him, unsure if this conversation had helped my situation or just made things more worse.