Chapter 57: Which Would It Be

Chapter 57: Which Would It Be
Dante

"What the hell do you think you were doing with him?" I barked as I couldn't keep my anger in check. Isla rolled her eyes as we stomped into the bedroom. My body swelled within itself as I kept thinking of both of them together. The image was cemented in my brain. Isla was quiet throughout the ride back to the villa. So was I. The interiors of our bedrooms shifted as I couldn't get past the images in my head.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Dante." She moved past me, heading to the closet. I grabbed her arm, forcing her to stand.

"We are in the midst of a conversation. Don't you think you can walk away from me!"

"Dante what do you want from me?"

"I want you to tell me why. Out of all the men you chose to fool around with, you chose him." I seethed. "Sicario? Do you even know who he is?"

Her eyes darkened before she burst into a chuckle. "You've got to be kidding me!" She breathed. "You think I have a background check implanted in my brain so I know who everyone is before I talk to them. You left me alone! I saw how you were enjoying yourself with her. Why can't I do the same with anyone that I choose?"

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. "You don't mean that. Take that back."

"As a matter of fact, Dante. I do mean every word. I just wanted to breathe. Why can't you allow me that much?"

"There was a plan and I was playing my own part very well. Don't hound me just because you can't keep your insecurities in check." I gritted out the words in one breath, regretting it afterwards.

"My insecurities?" She thundered, holding her hair in a loose fist. "You are the one who is watching my every step. You have no problem having intimate conversations with Bianca, but the moment I do, you are suddenly protective of me and stop me from the tiny breath of air I have chosen. Can you even hear yourself Dante? You are the one insecure. You are the one who can't stand me being with another man!"

I gulped, eating my words as I watched her break. "You want to know why? Because you are..."

"Yours? Don't you think that declaration is a little bit too old? Try something new." She blinked back the tears. Everything dawned on me. I had made her cry more than any man had ever done. I didn't deserve her. I wasn't worth her tears and yet she gave it so willingly to me.

I turned to her, my hand catching her wrist. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” I whispered.

“I didn’t—” I crashed my lips into hers, swallowing every whimper she had gathered beneath her.

"I know you think I am staying away from you but that's not true. Every time I try to stay away, you find a way to remind me that I can’t.” My voice broke for the first time, and she winced, hearing it. “You’re in my blood, Tesoro. Even when I try to forget you.”

She looked up at me, searching for the man she once knew. “Then why does it feel like you are going to marry her? Why does it feel like you are enjoying every bit of it just to cause me pain?"

"We had a plan, Isla. You said you were going to be okay with it. Why are you backing out now?"

"I didn't think it was going to be this tasky. I have to watch you be all goofy and intimate with her and I can't stand it." She breathed, collapsing on the king-sized bed. The words itched on my throat, but I couldn't get them to flow out of me. "Your silence says it all, Dante. Just leave. I can't stand to be in the same room as you right now."

I didn’t answer.

Somewhere behind us, the silence swelled again; a dying song meant for someone else.

And I realised maybe love wasn’t the war. Maybe it was the wound that never healed. And I have been corrupted too much with darkness to be filled.

I wanted to reach out for her, but she had sunk into her silence, and it was going to make things worse if I tried to do anything other than leave her alone. I grabbed my keys and dashed out of the villa. I threw the key to Giovanni, who had the car running as I sank into more darkness in the backseat of my car.

"Where to, Boss?"

"II Bastione."


The car cut through the rain like a knife. I sat in the backseat, jaw tight, my hands wrapped around the glass of whiskey, which I hadn't touched since the drive began. The city light bled across the windows, gold, red, then gone. I wasn't looking at all. I was thinking.

Thinking about her. Isla.
The only woman who has consumed me for the longest time. Every passing time I had spent with her was something I wanted to hold in a frame so I wouldn't be able to let go. I could still hear her voice in my head, spiralling in angst. Soft, sharp, trembling. "Your silence says it all, Dante. Just leave..." Those words cracked something inside me, something I couldn't take back. I left before I said things I'd regret but I'm waving her and alone haunted me more. I didn't want to show her what losing control felt like.

I needed noise and distractions. A place where no one would ask questions. I hated coming to Italy but the only thing I lived about being home was the disappearance. When I left everything behind, I found true peace. After stepping into this place, it still didn't feel like how it used to.

Giovanni stopped in front of a black steel door tucked between marble pillars. No sign, no name, just a gold emblem of a sword surrounded by laurel leaves. II Bastione. The club for men like me, rich, ruthless, tired.

The bouncer nodded when he saw me. “Welcome back, Signore Moretti.”