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Chapter 44: My Conscience Is Gone
Dante’s POV
I forced the office door open and Bruno followed, the wood thudding shut behind us. I didn’t slow. I crossed the room in three long strides and planted both hands on the desk, fingers splayed over the leather blotter. I dragged one hand through my hair, trying to make sense of her.
Gianna.
One moment she’s a live wire, shoving, spitting, swearing she’ll never belong to me. The next she folds and announces she’ll submit.
I couldn’t read her, and that unsettled me more than anything. When she raged, I knew what to expect, anger is honest. It shows its teeth and you can plan around it. But now this slipperiness was worse. A woman with that kind of defiance doesn’t go soft that easily. So what was the angle?
“What game was she playing?” I muttered, more to the wood than to Bruno.
Bruno’s eyes studied me, then he cleared his throat. “Boss… everything all right?”
I jerked my head up to meet his. “How the hell can it be all right? Didn’t you see what happened out there?”
Instead of the alarm I expected, Bruno’s mouth tugged into that half–smile he gets when he’s amused. “I’ll admit, I didn’t expect breakfast to turn into… that.” He chuckled low. “Gianna, wow. What a woman.”
He planted his hands on his hips, as if he were considering the scene like a fine piece of theatre. The look on his face awakened a jealousy deep inside me.
“No disrespect.” He lifted a hand, placating. “She’s fiery. Bold enough to spar with me at the table without blinking. Women like that are rare.” He watched my face, and when he saw the edge in my look his grin faded. “ Relax, boss. I was thinking she’s exactly what you need.”
“How so?” I raised a brow, waiting for the stupid excuse he’d come up with.
Bruno met my stare without flinching. “If she stands with you, Lorenzo’s allies won’t rally behind Augusto so easily. These clans aren’t just loyal to a name… they’re bound by blood.” 1
I laughed, hard and ugly. “I don’t fucking need Lorenzo’s poisonous blood to secure my reign. She is nothing to this family but a piece of spoils I took when I tore his hold apart. This…”
I jabbed a finger at the table, at the papers, the maps. “This crown was taken back by men who served and shed blood for this family. Not by a daughter on my arm.”
I pictured the men at that table, greedy and scrambling, trying to figure out how to wriggle free from the leverage I held. Years ago, those men cheered when the thief took the seat, they smiled while my world burned. That would not happen again. Not while I drew breath.
I hated the man I’d become. I’d softened for Esmeralda, my late wife; she believed mercy could fix things, and I wanted to be better for her. I set aside my father’s rule, never let your enemies see the next sunrise, and it cost me everything.
My voice dropped, mean. “The Dante with a conscience is gone. This time the message will be clear. Blood will
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Chapter 44 My Conscience Is Gone
be spilled to teach anyone who dares oppose me.”
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Bruno lifted a hand, palm out, in a bid to calm me. “Don, no need to get all worked up. Let’s sit, please.”
Reluctantly, I eased back from the desk and sank into the chair. Bruno took his own seat opposite, folding his huge hands together. He had that look I hated and respected, the one of a man who’d thought things through
twice over.
“I don’t think violence is the best move,” he suggested. “Better to build strong ties. Bigger alliances.”
“Fuck alliances,” I snarled. “What did alliances do for us before? They sold me out. Every family there, disloyal cunts who bow to whatever serves them.”
Bruno nodded, “True. Many are spineless. But remember, some of those smaller families rallied when word of your return spread. They became our eyes and ears. They fed us leads and Lorenzo’s shipment routes. That’s how we were able to divert his goods and cripple his operations. Leverage works both ways.”
“Leverage,” I repeated. “The only alliance we need is the leverage I already hold over the leading clans?”
He leaned forward. “We need both. We don’t seek a close relationship because they’re noble, rather we use it to make them dependent on us. And while we do that, we isolate Augusto.”
I knew Bruno well enough to know he wasn’t backing down on this plan he seemed to have come up with. And sometimes his plans worked. Sometimes they cost blood anyway.
“Fine.” I dragged the word out. “Spit out this grand plan of yours.”
Bruno smirked like a man about to pull a trick. “First, Don, you host a gathering.”
“What now?”
“A gathering. Open the doors. Invite the families, the heads, the men below them. Everyone who matters. Let them see you, face to face. That’s how this world works. They need to recognize you as their Mafia King. Let them know order is back after Lorenzo’s bloodshed. They want security and stable business. Offer them that, and they’ll offer their alliances.”
“I get your plan,” I cut in flat. “But you know I’m not ready to open my home to those vile men again. You know how I hate those parties. I don’t want it.”
Bruno watched me. He faltered for a second, then started, stammering, like he knew he was stepping on something. “Lady… Esmeralda… she used to host those gatherings. She welcomed everyone, down to the lowest family. She made it bearable. She…”
He stopped. He knew the name pulled at me.
Anger rose hot inside me and I stood. “Don’t. Why bring her up, Bruno? You know everyone is forbidden to speak her name until the revenge is done.”
Bruno’s face fell. “Don… I didn’t mean to upset you. I was only trying to help.‘
My voice cut harder than I meant. “You know the rule. Not a word about her until I say.”
Bruno swallowed. “I’m sorry, Don. I didn’t think…”
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I felt the heat in my chest and realized I was angrier at myself than at him. I let my shoulders drop and my tone softened. “Alright. Fine. Organize the gathering. Invite whoever the hell you want. But double the security. They stay in the garden. I don’t trust any of them. Only the clan heads dine at the table.”
Bruno’s face lit up with relief and something like excitement. “Got it. I’ll get on it now.”
As soon as Bruno stepped out of the office, my mind drifted back to Gianna. The way she leaned across the table, her voice honeyed as she asked him about family. Why don’t you have a girlfriend? Don’t you want a family? She made it sound as if I’d ever stopped him from living his life. As if I chained him to my side. Ridiculous.
The truth was, Bruno had always been free to do as he pleased. Date whoever he wanted. I knew about his nights, his women, even the ones he thought I hadn’t noticed. I let him believe I was unaware, partly to give him the freedom to keep his affairs without my interference, but also to keep him on his toes. I couldn’t allow him to grow too familiar, too comfortable.
Years ago, Esmeralda had even pushed him toward marriage, more than once, but Bruno refused every time. He said the life of a family man wasn’t for him; that the job was all the family he needed.
So why did it burn through me when Gianna’s eyes lingered on him? When she praised his body, even dared to call him handsome? I didn’t know if it counted as flirting, but the sound of her voice, the way she looked at him, it tore at me.
Did she think Bruno was the better man?
Fuck… this was madness.
A hard wave of possessiveness crashed through me. I couldn’t believe it. Because of Lorenzo’s daughter, of all women, I found myself resenting the one man I trusted above all. My right hand. The brother I never had by blood.
I clenched the edge of the desk until my knuckles went white. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Gianna was never meant to have any emotional hold on me. She was meant to be a pawn in a plan I ran.
Maybe in the last few days I’d loosened my grip. I needed to remind her who was in charge.
But Bruno’s voice kept coming back: she could be an asset. If she stands with you, Lorenzo’s allies won’t rally behind Augusto so easily.
He was right. The gathering Bruno pushed me into was coming. This wasn’t just the leading clans, it was everyone, every eye waiting to see if Dante DeLuca had truly returned to claim his place. I needed her to play the dutiful mistress and pledge the Lorenzo name to me in front of them all. That public pledge would make it plain, no one could stand against me.
But I didn’t trust her to play the part, even though she’d offered submission and said she’d be obedient. I knew exactly what she was capable of.
I’d told her to wait in my room and had Alfonso watching. He would tell me everything she did.
My first instinct was to storm upstairs, grab her and force answers. I pictured throwing open the door, dragging the truth out of her. For a second I almost moved.
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Chapter 44 My Conscience is Gone
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Then I stopped. A show of force would be blunt and expected. Let her wonder if I’d come. Let her think I’d left her to her own devices.
Still, the memory of her smiling at Bruno ate at me. I hated waiting. I wouldn’t let it sit. I pushed back from the desk and started for the stairs. If she wanted a game, I’d call her bluff in person.
D
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
