Dante's POV.The mansion was quiet, too quiet. I sat in my office, staring at the whiskey in my glass, watching the liquid swirl with every faint movement of my hand. The silence was deafening, and for once, I hated it.Elena had been distant…no, she’d been avoiding me. It wasn’t in my head. Every time I tried to get close, she found a reason to leave. If I walked into the room, she’d make an excuse to step out. If I asked her something, her answers were clipped, her tone guarded. And it wasn’t like her.I took a slow sip of my drink, the burn doing little to distract me from the nagging discomfort in my chest. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be.“Boss.”I turned my head slightly, finding Enzo standing by the door, his face as stoic as always. “What is it?” I asked, my voice sharper than intended.He stepped in cautiously, his hands clasped behind his back. “We’ve got a shipment coming in tomorrow. Thought you’d want to know.”I waved him off. “Fine. Handle it.”Enzo’s brows f
Elena's POV.Elena's POV.The cold wind whipped through my hair as I sped down the highway, my hands trembling on the steering wheel. My cheeks were wet with tears, and no matter how hard I tried to blink them away, they just kept coming. It felt like I couldn’t breathe, like the walls were closing in on me, and the only thing I could do was run.The headlights of my car cut through the dark, but I barely registered where I was going. I just needed to get away. Away from the mansion. Away from Dante. Away from the feelings I didn’t know how to handle.How did it come to this?I gripped the wheel tighter, my knuckles white. My heart felt like it was breaking, shattering with every mile I put between us. I could still hear his voice, raw and desperate. “You’re tired of me. Of us.”“No, Dante,” I whispered to myself, my voice cracking. “I could never be tired of you.”But how could I tell him the truth? How could I tell him I was carrying his child? That every moment I spent avoiding him
Dante's POVI didn’t know when I had finally fallen asleep. My thoughts had been a tangled mess of anger, frustration, and a hollow ache in my chest. Elena’s face had haunted me…the tears in her eyes, the way her voice had broken when she said she needed space. It had been killing me, tearing me apart.The whiskey hadn’t helped. It never did. I must’ve drifted off right there on the couch in my office, the empty glass still in my hand.The dream had started softly, almost like a memory. Isabella had been there, standing by the grand piano in the main hall, her favorite place in the mansion. She had looked the same as she always did; elegant, poised, beautiful. But her smile, the one that used to light up my world, had been missing."Isabella," I had said, my voice catching in my throat.She had turned to me, her eyes sad."Dante," she had replied, her tone was quiet but sharp enough to cut through me.I had stepped closer, but she hadn't moved. Her expression hadn't softened either. It
Elena's POV.The room was a dingy box, with peeling wallpaper and a bed that creaked if I so much as breathed. The motel smelled faintly of stale cigarettes and cheap air freshener, and the sign outside painted the cracked ceiling in bursts of red and green. I sat cross-legged on the bed, the lumpy mattress digging into me, but I didn’t care. My hands instinctively rested on my stomach, a gesture I was becoming all too familiar with.I’d lost count of how long I’d been here. Days blurred into nights, the hours stretching endlessly as I tried to convince myself I’d made the right decision. But it was hard to feel certain about anything when the weight of my choices pressed down on me like this.The soft hum of cars outside filled the silence, but it wasn’t comforting. Every sound made me jump. Every knock, every creak of the floor above me sent my heart racing. I was running, but for how long? How far could I go before the past caught up with me?I stood and walked to the window, peeli
Dante's POV.The moment the words left her lips, it felt like my world tilted on its axis. Pregnant. Elena was pregnant.I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. My mind screamed at me to say something, but my tongue felt like lead. My chest tightened, and for the first time in years, I felt utterly unprepared…powerless.“Elena…” I finally managed, my voice cracking in a way that betrayed me. Her tear-filled eyes met mine, and the vulnerability in her gaze cut through me like a blade. “You’re…pregnant?”She nodded slowly, her arms wrapping protectively around her stomach. “Yes, Dante. I didn’t know how to tell you…I didn’t know if I could.”I stumbled back a step, running a hand through my hair, trying to process the reality crashing down on me. Elena. The young woman I couldn’t stop loving even if I tried. Pregnant. With my child.“You’re carrying my baby,” I said, more to myself than to her. Saying it out loud made it feel real, and that reality hit me like a freight train.“Yes,” she whi
Elena's POV.The relief washed over me like a long overdue exhale as I sank into the leather seat of Dante's car. For the first time in what felt like forever, my chest didn’t feel like it was caving in. I had finally told him the truth, laid it all bare, and though his reaction had stunned me, his presence reassured me in a way I couldn’t quite explain.Dante sat beside me, his jaw tight and eyes forward, but his hand never left mine. His grip was firm, protective, like he was silently promising me that everything would be okay. The convoy of cars trailed behind us, a silent reminder of the world Dante lived in, a world I was now irreversibly tied to. My car was being driven by one of his men, though I didn’t even glance back to check.The drive to his house was quiet. I could feel the tension rolling off him, though he didn’t say much. Every so often, I’d glance his way, trying to read the storm behind his dark eyes, but his expression remained unreadable. I wasn’t sure if it was an
Dante's POV.The night was quiet, the kind of quiet that made me restless. I found myself in the library, staring at books I hadn’t touched in years. These shelves held pieces of my life I’d locked away, memories I didn’t care to revisit. But tonight, I couldn’t focus on anything. My mind was stuck on her…Elena. She was like a storm, blowing through my life and tearing down everything I thought I knew.I heard the soft creak of the door, and my body tensed before I turned. There she was, standing in the doorway, her hair falling over her shoulders, her eyes wide and hesitant. She looked so small, so unsure, and yet she had this pull on me, stronger than anything I’d ever felt."I didn’t mean to interrupt," she said, her voice soft but steady."You’re not interrupting," I said, my voice lower than usual. I stood, gesturing for her to come in. "Sit with me."She hesitated, then stepped inside, her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to shield herself from something. I hated
Dante's POV.The drive to the docks was quiet, but my mind wasn’t. Enzo sat beside me, his jaw tight, his usual calm demeanor replaced with a tension I didn’t see often.“How bad is it?” I asked, gripping the steering wheel tighter as I sped through the empty streets.Enzo hesitated, “Bad enough. The shipment’s gone, and there’s no sign of who did it. It wasn’t some random street rats. This was planned.”Planned. That word ignited something in me. Angelo was dead. I’d taken care of him with my own hands, but if someone else thought they could step into his shoes, they were about to learn how I dealt with people who didn’t stay in their place.We reached the docks, and the scene was worse than I expected. The containers had been broken into, their contents scattered across the ground. Men were moving around, trying to salvage what was left, but I could see in their faces they didn’t have much hope.I stepped out of the car, the cold air biting against my skin. Enzo followed close behin
Dante's POV.The drive to the docks was quiet, but my mind wasn’t. Enzo sat beside me, his jaw tight, his usual calm demeanor replaced with a tension I didn’t see often.“How bad is it?” I asked, gripping the steering wheel tighter as I sped through the empty streets.Enzo hesitated, “Bad enough. The shipment’s gone, and there’s no sign of who did it. It wasn’t some random street rats. This was planned.”Planned. That word ignited something in me. Angelo was dead. I’d taken care of him with my own hands, but if someone else thought they could step into his shoes, they were about to learn how I dealt with people who didn’t stay in their place.We reached the docks, and the scene was worse than I expected. The containers had been broken into, their contents scattered across the ground. Men were moving around, trying to salvage what was left, but I could see in their faces they didn’t have much hope.I stepped out of the car, the cold air biting against my skin. Enzo followed close behin
Dante's POV.The night was quiet, the kind of quiet that made me restless. I found myself in the library, staring at books I hadn’t touched in years. These shelves held pieces of my life I’d locked away, memories I didn’t care to revisit. But tonight, I couldn’t focus on anything. My mind was stuck on her…Elena. She was like a storm, blowing through my life and tearing down everything I thought I knew.I heard the soft creak of the door, and my body tensed before I turned. There she was, standing in the doorway, her hair falling over her shoulders, her eyes wide and hesitant. She looked so small, so unsure, and yet she had this pull on me, stronger than anything I’d ever felt."I didn’t mean to interrupt," she said, her voice soft but steady."You’re not interrupting," I said, my voice lower than usual. I stood, gesturing for her to come in. "Sit with me."She hesitated, then stepped inside, her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to shield herself from something. I hated
Elena's POV.The relief washed over me like a long overdue exhale as I sank into the leather seat of Dante's car. For the first time in what felt like forever, my chest didn’t feel like it was caving in. I had finally told him the truth, laid it all bare, and though his reaction had stunned me, his presence reassured me in a way I couldn’t quite explain.Dante sat beside me, his jaw tight and eyes forward, but his hand never left mine. His grip was firm, protective, like he was silently promising me that everything would be okay. The convoy of cars trailed behind us, a silent reminder of the world Dante lived in, a world I was now irreversibly tied to. My car was being driven by one of his men, though I didn’t even glance back to check.The drive to his house was quiet. I could feel the tension rolling off him, though he didn’t say much. Every so often, I’d glance his way, trying to read the storm behind his dark eyes, but his expression remained unreadable. I wasn’t sure if it was an
Dante's POV.The moment the words left her lips, it felt like my world tilted on its axis. Pregnant. Elena was pregnant.I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. My mind screamed at me to say something, but my tongue felt like lead. My chest tightened, and for the first time in years, I felt utterly unprepared…powerless.“Elena…” I finally managed, my voice cracking in a way that betrayed me. Her tear-filled eyes met mine, and the vulnerability in her gaze cut through me like a blade. “You’re…pregnant?”She nodded slowly, her arms wrapping protectively around her stomach. “Yes, Dante. I didn’t know how to tell you…I didn’t know if I could.”I stumbled back a step, running a hand through my hair, trying to process the reality crashing down on me. Elena. The young woman I couldn’t stop loving even if I tried. Pregnant. With my child.“You’re carrying my baby,” I said, more to myself than to her. Saying it out loud made it feel real, and that reality hit me like a freight train.“Yes,” she whi
Elena's POV.The room was a dingy box, with peeling wallpaper and a bed that creaked if I so much as breathed. The motel smelled faintly of stale cigarettes and cheap air freshener, and the sign outside painted the cracked ceiling in bursts of red and green. I sat cross-legged on the bed, the lumpy mattress digging into me, but I didn’t care. My hands instinctively rested on my stomach, a gesture I was becoming all too familiar with.I’d lost count of how long I’d been here. Days blurred into nights, the hours stretching endlessly as I tried to convince myself I’d made the right decision. But it was hard to feel certain about anything when the weight of my choices pressed down on me like this.The soft hum of cars outside filled the silence, but it wasn’t comforting. Every sound made me jump. Every knock, every creak of the floor above me sent my heart racing. I was running, but for how long? How far could I go before the past caught up with me?I stood and walked to the window, peeli
Dante's POVI didn’t know when I had finally fallen asleep. My thoughts had been a tangled mess of anger, frustration, and a hollow ache in my chest. Elena’s face had haunted me…the tears in her eyes, the way her voice had broken when she said she needed space. It had been killing me, tearing me apart.The whiskey hadn’t helped. It never did. I must’ve drifted off right there on the couch in my office, the empty glass still in my hand.The dream had started softly, almost like a memory. Isabella had been there, standing by the grand piano in the main hall, her favorite place in the mansion. She had looked the same as she always did; elegant, poised, beautiful. But her smile, the one that used to light up my world, had been missing."Isabella," I had said, my voice catching in my throat.She had turned to me, her eyes sad."Dante," she had replied, her tone was quiet but sharp enough to cut through me.I had stepped closer, but she hadn't moved. Her expression hadn't softened either. It
Elena's POV.Elena's POV.The cold wind whipped through my hair as I sped down the highway, my hands trembling on the steering wheel. My cheeks were wet with tears, and no matter how hard I tried to blink them away, they just kept coming. It felt like I couldn’t breathe, like the walls were closing in on me, and the only thing I could do was run.The headlights of my car cut through the dark, but I barely registered where I was going. I just needed to get away. Away from the mansion. Away from Dante. Away from the feelings I didn’t know how to handle.How did it come to this?I gripped the wheel tighter, my knuckles white. My heart felt like it was breaking, shattering with every mile I put between us. I could still hear his voice, raw and desperate. “You’re tired of me. Of us.”“No, Dante,” I whispered to myself, my voice cracking. “I could never be tired of you.”But how could I tell him the truth? How could I tell him I was carrying his child? That every moment I spent avoiding him
Dante's POV.The mansion was quiet, too quiet. I sat in my office, staring at the whiskey in my glass, watching the liquid swirl with every faint movement of my hand. The silence was deafening, and for once, I hated it.Elena had been distant…no, she’d been avoiding me. It wasn’t in my head. Every time I tried to get close, she found a reason to leave. If I walked into the room, she’d make an excuse to step out. If I asked her something, her answers were clipped, her tone guarded. And it wasn’t like her.I took a slow sip of my drink, the burn doing little to distract me from the nagging discomfort in my chest. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be.“Boss.”I turned my head slightly, finding Enzo standing by the door, his face as stoic as always. “What is it?” I asked, my voice sharper than intended.He stepped in cautiously, his hands clasped behind his back. “We’ve got a shipment coming in tomorrow. Thought you’d want to know.”I waved him off. “Fine. Handle it.”Enzo’s brows f
Elena's POV.I paced back and forth in my room, my heart hammering in my chest. The nausea from earlier hadn’t eased, and now my mind raced with possibilities. Something wasn’t right. Every time I tried to steady myself, another wave of unease crashed over me, leaving me more disoriented.Dante and Marcus were still downstairs, likely too absorbed in meetings to notice my absence. Their laughter and voices sounded faintly through the walls, but it only made me feel more disconnected. I couldn't bring myself to tell either of them how I felt. Not yet. Whatever this was, I needed to figure it out on my own first.I grabbed my coat, wrapping it tightly around me, and moved to the door. My steps were cautious as I crept out of the room, my ears tuned to every sound. No one stopped me. The corridor was quiet, an opposite to the noise from downstairs. My heart was pounding as I slipped through the side door and stepped into the cold evening air.The streetlights had long beams across the si