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Chapter 105: I was Going To Make Them Pay
Dante’s POV
I made my voice calm, even though inside I was furious at Selene for ruining everything. For exposing all of this in such a manner, especially in front of Gianna.
“I understand you’re upset. You have every right to be angry about Esme.” My voice came out level, controlled. ” But you need to understand your place in this house, Selene. You’re my sister–in–law. That is it. I make the decisions as head of this family. No one, not even you, has the right to question me or my choices.”
Bruno hovered nearby, waiting for my order.
I jerked my chin at him.
“Take her to her room.”
Bruno moved toward her, hands out to grab her, but Selene jerked away, breathing hard.
“You disgust me.” Her voice dripped with hate. “I cannot stand to look at you. My sister would be rolling in her grave at your betrayal.”
Bruno reached for her again. Selene slapped his hand away and began moving.
“Don’t touch me. I can walk.”
But as she moved past the table, she swept her arm across it in rage. Plates, glasses and food crashed to the floor
in a loud rain of mess.
Arielle flinched with each crash and wrapped her arms around herself.
Selene looked around at all of us, her eyes full of rage.
“That murderer’s daughter will never take my sister’s place. You hear me, Dante? Even if I have to destroy everything you have built.” 1
Bruno’s face tightened. He had had enough. He ignored her protests and picked her up in his arms.
“Put me down. You are all…”
Bruno kept walking. He carried her up the stairs, her voice echoing through the hall until it faded.
The words still rang in my ears.
I turned and went straight to Gianna. She was shaking. Tears ran down her face. I had never seen her this broken
before.
“Gianna.”
I cupped her shoulders gently, leaning close so she would focus on me.
“Pretty doll, look at me.”
Her eyes finally lifted. They were empty and lost.
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Chapter 105 I was Going To Make Thern Pay
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“Alfonso will take you upstairs,” I murmured. “Go to the room and wait for me. Please.”
She nodded weakly. Her mouth opened like she wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
Alfonso arrived as I helped her up, placing her in his hands. Before leaving, she gave Arielle one last look full of apology and pain, then followed him out.
When they had gone, I turned to Arielle. She was still standing there, crying. Her whole body shook.
“Princess.”
I took a step toward her.
She took two steps back.
“Do not.” Her voice was so quiet I almost did not hear it. “Do not come near me.”
“Arielle, hear me. There is a reason. A real reason…”
“Explain?” She looked up at me, her face red and wet with tears. “Explain what, Dad? That you are marrying the daughter of Mom’s killer? What could make this okay?”
“It’s more complicated than you think.”
“Then make it simple.” She screamed it. Her voice echoed in the big room. “Make it simple for me because right now I do not understand anything.”
I ran my hand through my hair, trying to find the right words.
“I’m doing this for you. But I cannot tell you why yet.
“Cannot or will not?”
“Both.”
She laughed. It was a horrible sound. Nothing like her real laugh.
“Of course you will not tell me. You never tell me anything.”
“That is not true…”
“It is true.” She was yelling again. “After Mom died, you left me for months. Do you know what that felt like? I was nine, Dad. Nine. And you were gone. Aunt Selene had to raise me. And when you finally came back, you gave me nothing. No answers. Nothing except ‘I had business to handle.“”
“I was trying to protect you…”
“From what?” She threw her hands in the air. “From the truth? Well guess what, Dad. The truth found me anyway. It always does.”
“Princess, I know you are upset. You have every right to be. But I need you to trust me…”
“Trust you?” She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “You want me to trust you? After this?”
“Yes.”
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“Why should I?” Her voice thinned, shaking. “Give me one good reason.”
My throat felt tight.
“Because I am your father.”
“That is not enough anymore.”
“What do you want me to say?” My voice dropped. Not loud, just tired. “Tell me what you need to hear.”
“I need the truth.” She could barely speak through the crying. “Why are you doing this? Why are you marrying her? Why would you bring her into our home? Why let me get close to her when you knew who her father was?”
“I cannot tell you yet.”
“Then we are done talking.”
She turned away.
I grabbed her arm. Not hard, but enough to keep her there.
“Arielle. Do not do this. Do not walk away from me.”
She looked down at my hand, then up at my face. Her eyes looked different, like she was looking at a stranger.
“Let go of me.”
“Not until you listen…”
“I said let go.
She pulled her arm back.
“I listened to you my whole life. I believed everything you told me. I made excuses for you. I told myself you were grieving. That you needed time. That you loved me even when you were not there.” Each word grew louder. “But this? This is too much.”
“Arielle….”
“Do you even care how I feel?” The tears kept coming. “Do you care that this hurts me? That seeing you with her makes me sick? That knowing you chose her, the daughter of the man who killed my mother, makes me feel like I do not even know you anymore?”
“Of course I care. You mean everything to me.”
“I am not everything to you.” She shook her head. “If I was, you would not do this.”
Her words burned.
She was not wrong about me disappearing into my own pain. But she did not know the reason behind the choices I was making.
I could not tell her this was about her mother’s inheritance, money that should be hers, money I planned to give her when she was older.
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Shopter 105 1 was Going To Make Thom Pay
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“I love you more than anything. I would never do something to hurt you. What I am doing is for you. It is to get back what belongs to you, whether you believe it or not.”
“That is your line every time. ‘It is for you.‘ But it never feels like it.” She sobbed harder. “You should never have brought us here. I want to leave. Right now.”
I felt like someone had punched a hole in my chest.
Minutes ago she was so happy to be here. And now she wanted to go back.
“You have betrayed our family, Dad. Aunt Selene is right. You are selfish. All you care about is yourself, your revenge, your plans, your business.”
“Arielle, that is not fair…”
“Not fair? None of this is fair. Mom dying was not fair. You leaving me was not fair. And this is the worst.”
I reached for her again without thinking, my hands shaking now.
“Princess, please. Just let me hold you. Let me calm you down…”
“Do not touch me.” She pulled away fast. “I do not want to hear anything from you. I do not want to see you.” 1
She ran toward the stairs.
“Arielle, wait.”
But she kept going. She did not even turn around.
I just stood there, watching my daughter run away from me. I did not go after her.
Every part of me wanted to chase her down, pull her into my arms and make her understand. But I stayed where I was because what was I supposed to say? Even if I caught up to her, even if I got her to stop and listen, I could not tell her the truth.
I could not tell her another major reason I was marrying Gianna was to draw Lorenzo out. This was the only way to get to the man who killed her mother. Every move I had made since buying Gianna had been about revenge, about finally making him pay.
Because if I told Arielle, she would tell Selene. Or Selene would overhear. Or someone would talk, and it would get back to Gianna. And the second Gianna knew she was bait, the whole thing would fall apart. She would run away again, or she would fight me every step of the way instead of just being here, visible, the perfect reason for Lorenzo’s people to start looking.
I could not risk it.
But God, the way Arielle looked at me. Like I was the enemy.
She thought I had moved on. She thought I was replacing her mother with the daughter of the man who killed her. She thought I did not care, that I had forgotten, that I was turning my back on everything we had.
And I could not tell her she was wrong.
My hands closed into fists. I wanted to put my fist through the wall, through something, anything.
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Chapter 105 I was Going To Make Them Pay
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Selene should not have said it in front of her. She should not have thrown it out like that, not when Arielle was right there listening. But I understood. Selene lost her sister. She was hurting and angry, looking at me like I had lost my mind. And maybe part of me was angry at her for making this harder than it already was. But how could I blame her? She did not know. Neither of them knew what I was carrying.
Lorenzo was my enemy. My wife died because I could not protect her. Because I was not smart enough, fast enough or brutal enough to see it coming. That weight did not go away because time passed. It sat on my chest every single day, every time I looked at Arielle and saw her mother’s eyes looking back at me.
I failed once. I was not going to fail again.
And Gianna…
I rubbed my hand over my face.
She did not deserve this. She did not kill anyone. She did not ask for any of this. She was just a girl whose father was a piece of garbage, and now she was paying for his sins. And the worst part was that I was starting to care about her. Not in the way I should. Not in a way that made any of this easier.
Every time she looked at me with those scared eyes, I felt the guilt. The knowledge that I was using her, that I was hurting her, that she was innocent in all of this.
But none of it mattered.
Because this had to be done. There was no walking away. No changing my mind. No letting Lorenzo live his life in hiding while my wife was dead and buried. In this world, you did not get to move on from something like that. You did not get to forgive and forget.
You made them pay.
Even if it cost me my daughter’s love. Even if it cost me Gianna’s trust. Even if it made me the monster everyone thought I was.
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