Chapter 98 Lake
Dante POV
Rex walked into my office without knocking and dropped a thick yellow folder onto my desk, “It’s all there.”
I immediately tore it open and spread the contents across the table and what I saw were photographs, schedules, security breakdowns, numbers of guards at each location, and the types of weapons they carried. Every detail I would need.
Rex poured himself a scotch and settled into the chair opposite me like he owned the place. “You sure you want to go through with this? You and Isabella seemed good.”
I ignored the comment and picked up the photo of Varos Conti he was standing outside an old theater in the heart of Milan, holding hands with his fiancée. He wore a tailored black suit that stretched across broad shoulders and thick arms. His expression was as cold as ever. I had never seen the man smile, not in public and not in private.
His fiancée was the opposite always radiant and happy. One hand rested protectively over the slight swell of her stomach.
“He’ll be at a show next Saturday,” I said quietly. “Debuting a new lingerie line, here in Milan. I got the security layout from a friend and I know his men. I know what they’ll be carrying.”
“Good,” Rex muttered, though he didn’t sound convinced. Varos ever went anywhere without a crew not just because of cameras and fame but because men like him collected enemies the way kings collected crowns and wealth painted a target on your back.
Rex kept watching me as he drank, studying my face like he was trying to read the future in it. “You’re really going to do this?”
I already saw it in my mind. Next Saturday Varos would leave through the back entrance and head for his SUV and he wouldn’t know I was there. He wouldn’t know until it was too late and I would take him and his fiancée.
I would do what I couldn’t bring myself to do to Isabella, I would cut their throats and ignite the war. The Conti would come for me but rage would blind them and grief would make them reckless. They would expose themselves one by one and I would bury them all, except Isabella.
“I’m still thinking about it,” I said.
Rex exhaled slowly. “I don’t know everything about the Conti, but the brothers… they’re monsters and they’ve wiped out every enemy they’ve ever had.”
“I know,” I replied, my voice flat. “And Isabella saved your life.”
“That was her mistake.”
His eyes narrowed, disappointment flickering across his face. “I respect your focus and not letting a woman derail your revenge but this isn’t like killing Joe, this is bigger and complicated. There are too many of them, and they’re loyal to each other the second you make a move, Isabella will turn on you and she won’t hesitate next time.”
“I’d lose respect for her if she didn’t.”
He leaned back, shaking his head. “I’m not helping you with this. I’m not dying for your war.”
“I never asked you to.”
He finished his drink, set the glass down on my desk, and stood. “Good luck, Dante.” Then he walked out, the elevator swallowing him moments later.
When the sound faded and silence filled the office, I finally allowed myself to breathe.
I spread the photographs across the desk again, studying the Conti family one by one. The men shared the same bloodline brown hair, blue eyes and white skin. Predators dressed as royalty.
Their wives were softer, lighter and gentle while the men were sharp.
When I looked at Conti and his wife, I saw where Isabella came from she carried both of them in her features her mother’s softness and her father’s strength the delicate structure of one, the piercing gaze of the other.
Together, they had created the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
My hand paused on the last photograph of Isabella at university. A candid shot, she was walking across campus with a bag slung over her shoulder, eyes forward, posture straight. She didn’t shrink into herself like the other students but she moved like she knew her worth, like she carried a crown no one else could see.
She commanded attention without trying not just because of her beauty but because of the quiet grace that followed her everywhere. I set her photo aside, separating it from the rest.
She was untouchable and I had already decided that. Even if she pulled a gun on me again, I wouldn’t harm her.
If the Conti ever wanted a weapon strong enough to end me, she was it. Isabella walked through the world wrapped in invisible armor and no one could see it but I could feel it.
I was helpless against her and I wanted revenge. I wanted every enemy buried beneath the ground and I wanted justice for the legacy that had been stolen from me, for the inheritance handed to someone else and for the years of hell my mother and I endured.
I wanted blood but following that path would destroy the only woman who had ever mattered to me.
The only woman who had ever cared about me and the thoughts circled endlessly, the same questions repeating like a curse. My mind kept returning to that painting, the memory burned so deeply into me that I could see every brushstroke without trying.
That painting changed everything and I hated that it did.
I didn’t want this feeling, didn’t want her carving a space inside my chest and refusing to leave. Her hold on me had once been subtle, invisible and now it was undeniable.
When she wasn’t around, I didn’t reach for other women not out of discipline but because I didn’t want anyone else. I had paused a war for her and slept in the same bed night after night when I had never shared my space with anyone.
She had me completely and the worst part was knowing I had her too.
I gathered the files into a stack and pushed them aside, uncertainty creeping in where certainty used to live. Before I made any final decision, there was something I had to do.
I needed to go to y Lake and I needed to stand in the exact place where she painted me.