Chapter 23 Tried Of You
Dante POV
“Because you’re mine.” I felt her head immediately turn my way once she heard the words. “What?” she asked quietly. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re mine. You have your own life, and I have mine. I’ve got a lot of shit to do, and I can’t be with you all the time. I travel a lot for work. Sometimes I’ll be gone for weeks at a time. But I’m free to come and go as I please, to fuck you before you wake up in the morning and to fuck you before you go to sleep at night. You’re a prisoner but you’re free at the same time.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I grinned when I listened to the terror in her voice. “No.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’ll have a boyfriend eventually.”
“You can have a boyfriend. But when I stop by, he’s forgotten.”
“I’m not a cheater,” she snapped.
“Then don’t have a boyfriend.”
“I’m going to fall in love with someone and get married.”
“And when that day comes, the blood war is back on. You can break our arrangement anytime you want, but the second you do, I’ll be coming after your family.”
She stared out the window and sighed under her breath, livid. I was enjoying every second of it. “You can’t do that,” she whispered.
“Would you rather I kill you?” I questioned. “This is the only other option. I have you as my prisoner, and I’m punishing your parents without them even knowing about it. I know you’ll comply because it’s the best way to keep
everyone safe. And it’s not like you don’t get other things out of it…”
“Fuck you,” she snapped.
“Baby, you aren’t going to want another man after having me. The sex won’t be nearly as good, and he won’t be nearly as big. You’re used to the best now, to a man who knows how to please a woman. And once you’ve had a taste of that…you’ll never go back.”
“Your arrogance is disgusting.”
“But it makes you want me more anyway.”
She sighed again and looked out the window. She turned quiet, her arms folded over her chest. Her legs were crossed, and her phone sat on her lap.
She didn’t say anything else on the drive. She knew the only way to get out of this situation was to kill me herself. And I knew she would try.
I was looking forward to it. We pulled up to her apartment, and I killed the engine. She didn’t ask how I knew where she lived, but I knew she was wondering. We walked to her front door, and she got the door unlocked before we walked inside.
Her apartment was small, perfect for a single person. She had a small living room with two couches and a TV. Down the hall was her bedroom and her bathroom. I glanced around, seeing the brightly colored furniture and the vase of flowers that had died while she’d been away for the past few days.
She set her purse and phone on the entryway table then crossed her arms over her chest. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and her smoldering attitude filled the space between us. I took a look around, moving through the limited space. She had pictures of her family on one of her shelves, images of her and Varos along with her parents. My eyes didn’t linger for long before I turned away. “I have a question.”
I turned around and faced her, seeing the anger in her eyes. I’d seen her enraged before, but this look was different. I knew she felt powerless, frustrated. She always managed to get the upper hand in the worst situations,
but this time, there was no solution. The first person she would turn to for help was her father but now he was off-limits. “Yes, baby?”
Her eyes flared a little when she heard the nickname. “I have to know…that night in the alleyway…was that a coincidence? Or did you plan for all of that to happen?”
It was purely coincidental. I was a lucky son-of-a-bitch that was in the right place at the right time. She was the unlucky one. And I wanted to keep that information from her, to make her feel unsafe. But I also vowed to be honest with her, and since she was such a respectable woman, I didn’t want to go
back on my word.
So I chose not to give her the answer. “It doesn’t matter. This is where we are, and any speculation on the past won’t change it.”
“Why don’t you just tell me?”
“Because not knowing makes it more interesting.”
“No. It’s just another way for you to have power over me.” She was absolutely right. “And I love having power over you.” There was no greater feeling than making a powerful woman like Isabella submit so obediently.
Only a very powerful man could get a woman like her to listen. And that man was me.
“This can’t go on forever,” she said. “I won’t be your slave forever.”
“You’re right. Eventually, I’ll get tired of you.” I found her mesmerizing now, with those full lips and beautiful eyes. I thought she was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever been with. I hadn’t even started to do the dark things I
wanted. But like any other woman, she would lose her allure and someone else would take her place.
“I just don’t know when that will be.”
“And then what?” she demanded. “You’ll kill my family then?”
I wouldn’t stop until both of her parents were dead and buried. “Yes. So if I were you, I would make sure I don’t get
tired of you.”