Chapter 71 Dante's hour
Sage's POV
Dante sat across from me looking way too comfortable for a man who should have been terrified of walking back into Steel Wolves territory after what he did two years ago before they kicked him out.
I kept my hands folded on my laps in front of me and tried to project confidence I didn't actually feel. "You've got one hour to tell me what you know about my father's murder, so I suggest you start talking."
"Straight to business. I like that about you, Sage. You don't waste time with small talk or pretending to be something you're not." He leaned back in his chair and studied me with dark eyes that made my skin crawl. "You know, Vincent used to talk about you all the time when I was still in the club. He was so proud of you for getting out and making something of yourself in New York."
"Don't talk about my father like you knew him or cared about him. You betrayed him and this club, so whatever relationship you think you had with him died the second you started stealing and feeding information to our enemies."
"Fair enough, but that doesn't change the fact that I have information you need." He pulled out his phone and put it on the desk between us. "The killer had to be someone with access to Vincent's private communications and his schedule. That narrows it down to the inner circle only, which means it was one of maybe five or six people."
"Give me a name." I kept my voice steady even though my heart was hammering in my chest.
"Names cost more than an hour of conversation. I need something else from you if you want me to tell you exactly who pulled the trigger." He smiled and it was the kind of smile that made me want to reach for the knife in my boot. "I need you to consider marrying me instead of Diego."
The words hit me like a physical blow and I actually laughed because the absurdity of it was too much. "You're insane if you think I would ever marry you."
"Am I though? Let me explain something to you that nobody else has bothered to mention." He picked up his phone and pulled up a voice recording before hitting play. "Listen carefully."
I heard my father's voice in the recording and I felt my chest tighten at the sound of him talking like he was still alive. "What do you want as a reward for saving my life tonight?"
"I want to marry your daughter Sage when she comes back home." That was obviously Dante's voice.
"You're serious about this?"
"Dead serious. I've been in love with her and I want to be at least the vice president of this club. I know Jaxon will take your place as president and there is no use in fighting him. So I want to marry Sage and be vice president."
There was a long pause and then my father sighed heavily. "Fine. If and when she comes back, if you're still interested and if she's willing, I'll honor this agreement. You have my word."
The recording ended and I sat there frozen in my chair while my mind tried to process what I just heard. My father had promised me to Dante as payment for saving his life, which meant the Diego contract wasn't the first time I'd been traded like property. What the fuck was wrong with that crazy dead man?
"That agreement was made three years ago after I saved Vincent from a drive-by shooting that would have killed him." Dante put his phone back in his pocket. "I was supposed to marry you when you came home. But your father broke that agreement and switched to Diego instead about eighteen months ago, right around the time I got kicked out of the club for reasons that were mostly bullshit. He kicked me out for doing the same things he did up until his death."
I looked at him with surprise.
“Oh yes, Sage. Your father was a snitch too, just like me. He just snitches to a different group than I do.”
"If they were bullshit reasons, then why didn't you fight it? Why didn't you tell anyone about this recording or this agreement?"
"Because I was angry and hurt that Vincent betrayed me after everything I did for him and this club. I figured I would come by at the right time and take what's rightfully promised to me." He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "But then I found out about the Diego contract and realized that Vincent didn't just break his promise to me, he traded you to someone else instead. That's when I started digging into why he would do that and what I found was very interesting."
"What did you find?"
"I found out that Vincent was being blackmailed by someone using you as leverage against him. I found out that he made the Diego contract to protect you from something worse than an arranged marriage. My guess is whoever was blackmailing him is probably the same person who killed him." Dante sat back and crossed his arms. "And if you marry me instead of Diego, I can protect you from all of it."
My hands were shaking out of annoyance so I pressed them flat against the desk to hide it. "Why would you protect me? Why would you care what happens to me when you clearly hate my family?"
"Because I don't hate you and I never did. I've been in love with you since the first time I saw you at a club barbecue when you were wearing that blue sundress and laughing at something Tommy said." His voice softened in a way that made me deeply uncomfortable. "I know you don't love me, but love isn't always what matters most in situations like this. Sometimes survival matters more."
"So what, you want me to marry you for protection? You want me to spend the rest of my life with someone I don't love because you think you can keep me safe?"
"I want you to marry me because I can offer you something Diego can't. Freedom. Respect. A partnership instead of ownership." He stood up and moved closer to the desk but didn't try to touch me. "Diego wants you because the contract gives him federal protection and connections he needs for his business. He doesn't care about you as a person, he just cares about what marrying you gets him. But I actually give a shit about whether you're happy or not."