Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The night stretched on like a living thing, its darkness wrapping around him with the weight of everything he was about to do. The moment Izzy stepped into his world again, everything shifted. He felt it like a shift in the air, a delicate tension that hummed beneath his skin, gnawing at him. Her presence, her defiance, was both maddening and intoxicating. But it wasn’t her resistance that drove him. It was the idea of her resistance—the way she fought against him as though she could outrun fate.

She wouldn’t.

Dante leaned back in his chair, fingers drumming against the polished wood of the desk, his gaze fixed on the sprawling view outside. The lights of the city twinkled below like an endless sea, but in his mind, there was only one thing—Izzy.

The woman who’d slipped through his fingers once before. And now, she was back. The weight of her absence had been heavy enough to drown him in his own thoughts for years, but this? This was different. This time, he would hold on. He would shape her into something that was both hers and his. A twisted kind of ownership, born from years of tension, desire, and bitterness.

He would make her see it.

The thought of Maya—his daughter, their daughter—loomed over him, too. The girl had been a pawn in this game long before she even knew the rules. But Maya was another story. Dante didn’t need her right now. He needed Izzy to come to him. He needed her to understand that there was no escaping him. No one could escape him.

His mind churned with plans, with contingencies. There was no room for error here, not with Izzy. Not again.

The faintest noise from the hallway pulled Dante from his thoughts. A knock on the door. He didn’t need to answer; the men outside knew better than to disturb him unless it was important. Still, the sound of it sparked something cold in his chest.

“Come in,” he called, his voice even but laced with a threat.

The door opened, and one of his trusted lieutenants stepped inside. Alex, sharp, loyal, always with a calculated look in his eye. The kind of man who never questioned, who never hesitated. Dante could rely on him for anything—except one thing. There was one thing Alex never understood.

“Boss,” Alex said, stepping forward, his gaze flicking briefly toward Dante before settling on the floor, a respectful distance. “The preparations are complete. Everything is in place for tomorrow.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed, the only visible sign of the simmering intensity within him. “Good. You understand what’s at stake here, don’t you?”

Alex nodded quickly. “Of course. We’ll keep her under control. And Maya… we’ve got eyes on her.”

Izzy’s daughter. Maya was the key to everything. Her safety was paramount, and Dante wasn’t about to let anyone threaten her. Not yet. Not until Izzy had made her choice.

“If she resists, make sure she understands the consequences,” Dante said, his voice low, each word deliberate. “She’s never going to walk away from this. Not after everything she’s done. Not after everything I’ve sacrificed to make her mine.”

Alex didn’t flinch at Dante’s cold words. His loyalty to the family was absolute, but even he couldn’t quite hide the subtle unease in his posture. Dante could feel it, could see the hesitation in Alex’s eyes, though he wouldn’t voice it. He didn’t need to.

“I’ll make sure she knows,” Alex said, though there was a faint tightness in his tone. “But you know her. She’s not going to give up so easily.”

“I’m not asking her to give up,” Dante responded, his eyes hard. “I’m telling her that there’s no choice. She’ll see that soon enough. She’ll break, just like they all do. They always do.”

The air in the room seemed to thicken, heavy with the certainty of what was to come. Dante stood slowly, his muscles coiling with the sense of control he always wielded—control that extended beyond this room, beyond this moment. His fingers brushed the edge of his desk, his gaze fixed on Alex.

“I want her broken before the end of the week,” Dante said, the words like a command. “No more games, no more illusions. I don’t care if she fights me. I don’t care how many walls she puts up. I’ll destroy them. But I need you to make sure there are no loose ends. No risks.”

Alex nodded again, his eyes lowering. “Understood, boss.”

Dante didn’t respond. Instead, he turned away, his mind already on other matters. He had plans for Izzy—plans that would take time to unravel, but in the end, she would understand. He would make sure of it.

“Make sure the guards are in place. And keep an eye on her,” Dante added, his voice sharp as he glanced over his shoulder. “I don’t want her to feel too comfortable.”

Alex hesitated, then gave a stiff nod before turning to leave. As the door clicked shut behind him, Dante allowed himself a moment of quiet contemplation. He ran his hand along the back of his neck, staring out at the city below as his thoughts drifted back to Izzy.

She was strong, there was no doubt about that. But strength had its limits. She was fighting a battle she couldn’t win. And that made her even more dangerous.

But it also made her more desirable.

Dante’s lips curved into a faint smile, though it was cold and cruel. There was a twisted kind of satisfaction in the idea of breaking her, shaping her into the woman he needed her to be. She would never leave him. She couldn’t.

But tonight? Tonight, she would sleep in his house, under his roof, surrounded by his men. And tomorrow?

Tomorrow, he would remind her of exactly who she belonged to.

The world was a game. A ruthless one. And Izzy had no idea just how deeply she was already entrenched in it. The first step had already been taken. The second would follow tomorrow.

And by the time he was finished with her, she wouldn’t be able to tell where his control ended, and her submission began.

Izzy was his. And soon, she would know it.

Dante took one final look at the city below, his gaze distant, lost in the quiet promise of the storm to come.

“Tomorrow,” he whispered. “We begin.”