One Hundred & Fourteen

One Hundred & Fourteen
The rain had stopped before dawn. The world outside was quiet, heavy with mist. The sky was still gray when Dante came down from his room, already dressed in a dark shirt and black coat.

He looked calm. Too calm.
The kind of calm that meant something dangerous was about to happen.

In the basement below, Sofia De Luca was awake.
She hadn’t slept all night. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her wrists red from the ropes that tied her to the chair. Every sound.… footsteps, voices, the hum of a door opening…. made her jump.

Then she heard it.
The slow, steady sound of boots on the stairs.

Her breath caught.

The door opened, and Dante stepped inside. The light from the hallway fell across his face sharp, cold, beautiful in a cruel way. Behind him was Nico, carrying a small black case.

“Get her up,” Dante said quietly.

Two guards came forward and pulled Sofia to her feet. She screamed, kicking weakly, her voice hoarse.
“Dante, please! Please don’t do this! I love you! I’ve always loved you!”

Dante didn’t move.
He just looked at her, his eyes like ice. “You don’t know what love is, Sofia.”

Her voice broke. “Everything I did.… I did for you!”

He tilted his head slightly. “You faked your death. You faked a miscarriage. You murdered people, You kidnapped my wife, and tired to kill her. That wasn’t for me. That was all for your own selfish reasons.”

She started to cry again, shaking her head. “No… I lost everything when you left me. You made me like this.”

Dante’s voice went flat. “No, Sofia. You made yourself like this. I never left you. You left and thank God you did.”

He nodded to Nico, who set up a camera on a tripod in front of them. The little red light blinked.
Sofia froze when she saw it.

“W-what are you doing?” she whispered.

“You’re going to tell the truth,” Dante said. His tone was calm, almost soft. “Every lie you built is going to burn in front of the world. And you’re going to be the one to light the fire.”

Her voice trembled. “Dante, please… don’t make me….”

“You don’t have a choice,” he cut in, eyes cold. “Start talking.”

The camera blinked red.
Sofia looked at the lens, shaking.

“My name is Sofia De Luca,” she began weakly.

“Louder,” Dante said.

She swallowed hard. “My name is Sofia De Luca. Seven years ago… I faked my own death. I wanted to disappear from the De Luca family and take control from the shadows. I wanted everything.…power, money, control.”

Dante stood off to the side, silent, his arms crossed.

“I lied about being pregnant,” she went on. “I told the world Dante left me broken and alone. It wasn’t true. I made up everything. I wanted people to pity me…. to hate him.”

“Keep going,” Dante said quietly.

Tears ran down her face. “I kidnapped Elena Langston. Victor her father helped me. 

The guards stayed still. Only Dante’s quiet breathing filled the room.

“I killed Lorenzo Carvelli,” she said next, her voice cracking. “I needed something to bring Dante down…. I had him killed… and blamed it on Dante.”

Her hands shook as she whispered, “I did it all because I wanted him back. I thought if he lost everything, he’d come to me. I did it for love.”

Dante stepped forward slowly, stopping right in front of her. His voice was low.

“Speak louder.”

She looked up at him, broken. “I destroyed him because I couldn’t have him.”

The camera caught every word.

Silence filled the basement. Even the guards looked uneasy.

Sofia’s breathing came fast and uneven. She stared at Dante’s face.… waiting for mercy.
There was none.

He leaned down, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Now the world will finally see who you really are.”

He looked to Nico. “End it.”

Nico stopped the recording and closed the camera.

Sofia sagged in the chair, crying quietly. “Dante… please. Please forgive me. I love you. I would be better… from now.”

He looked down at her….. no anger, just cold finality.

“You don’t get forgiveness, Sofia,” he said. “You get consequences. I'm not done yet.”

He nodded at the guards. “Take her. Lock her up. Outside the press headquarters. Leave the video with them.”

Sofia screamed. “Dante! Don’t do this! Don’t…!”

But he had already turned away.
Her cries followed him as he walked out of the room.

Elena sat by the window, wrapped in a soft robe. She was drinking tea when Dante walked in.
His steps were quiet. His face calm, but his hands were still tense.

She looked at him carefully. “You did it,” she said softly.

He nodded once. “It’s done. She. Confessed everything .… on camera. By noon, the whole country will know.”

Elena looked away, her voice small. “That won’t bring back what she took.”

“No,” Dante said, walking closer. “But it will make sure she can’t hurt anyone again. It's the first step.”

He sat beside her, taking her hand. “It’s almost over.”

Elena’s eyes glimmered. “You said that before.”

He smiled faintly. “This time, I mean it.”

She leaned against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
Outside, the first rays of light pushed through the mist.

Later that morning the news broke. By nine a.m., every channel, every screen, and every paper was talking about it.

The video of Sofia De Luca’s confession had spread like wildfire.
It played everywhere...her voice shaking, her face pale, her words impossible to take back.

“I kidnapped Elena Langston… I faked my death… I killed Lorenzo Carvelli…”

The entire country froze. The underworld buzzed. The De Luca name.… once powerful was now covered in shame.

Victor Langston was seen leaving his mansion in anger, reporters chasing after him. Luciano’s face was plastered across the news too...his empire already half gone.

And in a quiet office at the Ravenelli estate, Dante stood by the window, watching it all unfold.

Elena came up behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder.
He looked at her reflection in the glass, his voice calm and final.

“Two down,” he said softly.