Chapter 4 - “Tea.”
Leah stared.
“I didn’t make it.”
“Bellini did.”
Then:
“If I came empty-handed, you’d shut the door in my face.”
Leah almost smiled.
Almost.
She took the tea.
Dante remained.
“Julian Mercer texted Raphael.”
Her grip tightened.
“Why?”
“To ask if you were safe.”
Dante looked directly at her.
“I didn’t answer for you.”
Leah looked up sharply.
“Raphael told him only that you were safe.”
That mattered.
More than Dante probably understood.
“Thank you.”
He nodded.
Then told her he had spoken to Belladonna’s brother.
“There will be no arrangement.”
“Now or later.”
“No sister.”
“No cousin.”
“No political convenience.”
“And what did he say?”
“That I should have made it clear earlier.”
“He’s right.”
“Yes.”
Again.
Truth without defense.
Leah hid her reaction behind the tea.
Dante was not finished.
“I didn’t keep Belladonna outside my life because of strategy.”
“I kept every woman outside my life because of you.”
The mug nearly slipped.
“That isn’t a fair thing to say at 3:30 in the morning.”
“I know.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because you asked me to stop hiding.”
Leah had no answer.
“Go downstairs, Dante.”
Pain moved across his face.
He nodded.
Then left.
By morning, the entire house had changed.
Not physically.
In mood.
Rumors moved faster than staff discipline.
No one stared openly at Leah.
But conversations quieted when she entered.
A maid nearly dropped folded linens.
Carlo spoke more quietly than usual.
A photograph was circulating through the city.
More importantly, people inside the house had always suspected what outsiders had finally seen.
Mrs. Bellini placed toast in front of Leah.
“Eat.”
Leah did.
“Where is he?”
“Study. Since 6.”
Bellini paused.
“He hasn’t shouted once, which worries me more.”
Raphael appeared at the kitchen entrance.
“He wants you.”
Leah stood.
“If this is another security plan—”
“It isn’t.”
That was enough to make her follow.
Dante stood beside the west-study window.
Raphael remained near the desk.
“The Melli board moved tonight’s donor dinner,” Dante said.
“To when?”
“They didn’t cancel it.”
“They expanded it.”
Leah understood.
“Because of the rumor.”
“Yes.”
Raphael added:
“Fior will attend.”
“Belladonna too.”
“Half the city is waiting to see what Dante does.”
Leah looked at him.
“And what does Dante plan to do?”
His answer came directly.
“Not hide you.”
Her chest tightened.
“If you want to leave the estate today, I won’t stop you.”
“If you want to stay here and let me handle it, I’ll do that too.”
“But I won’t shut you away and call it protection.”
He looked directly at her.
“You were right last night.”
“And the nights before it.”
Then:
“If you decide to attend tonight, you do it beside me because you choose it.”
“Not because I pull you into another room.”
There it was.
Real choice.
Not easy.
Not safe.
But real.
Leah looked at Raphael.
“If I don’t go?”
“We protect the house. Fior still talks, but your face isn’t in the room.”
“And if I go?”
“Then the city stops guessing.”
Leah returned her gaze to Dante.
“And you?”
“Then I stop hiding.”
The decision belonged completely to Leah now.
That was what she had asked for.
Justice was less comfortable when it became responsibility.
“I’ll go.”
Dante became still.
“You’re sure?”
“No.”
She held his eyes.
“I’m choosing.”
Something changed in his face.
At noon, Elena arrived at the estate.
Alive.
Furious.
Wearing sunglasses.
She hugged Leah hard, then spent 10 minutes insulting Dante directly in the front hall.
Dante endured every word.
“If he embarrasses you again,” Elena finished, “I’ll set something on fire.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Leah said.
Dante did not disagree.
Julian sent 1 final message that afternoon.
No pressure.
No drama.
I hope you’re all right. You deserve a night that belongs to you.
Leah read it twice.
Then put the phone away.
At 6:30, she dressed.
For herself.
Black.
Clean lines.
No apology.
Her hair remained down because she liked it that way.
When she entered the front hall, Dante was waiting.
He turned.
The look on his face told Leah why boundaries mattered.
All the fear, hunger, and devotion visible there could have become monstrous if he had not learned to stand still and allow her to approach on her own.
“You look beautiful.”
No joke.
No correction.
No safety word.
“Thank you.”
The donor dinner took place in a smaller private hall attached to the foundation.
Candles.
Old family names.
Sharp suits.
People pretending to care about art while actually measuring power.
When Leah and Dante entered together, the room changed.
Eyes lifted.
Conversations shifted.
Belladonna’s brother stiffened near the bar.
Fior smiled from across the room.
Dante did not touch Leah.
Did not steer her.
He stayed beside her.
Present.
Coiled.
Watching.
Belladonna’s brother approached first.
Mid-30s.
Polished.
Expensive.
Disappointment learned without humility.
“This is unfortunate.”
Dante’s voice remained flat.
“For you?”
“My sister did not deserve public embarrassment.”
Leah answered before Dante.
“Then she should be grateful I’m not cruel enough to call lying to women a hobby.”
The man blinked.
A flicker of pride crossed Dante’s face.
“Leave.”
Belladonna’s brother stepped away.
Fior arrived 5 minutes later.
Older than Dante.
Sleek where Dante was severe.
Polished smile.
Empty eyes.
A man who had spent too long confusing cruelty with intelligence.
“So this is her.”
Dante changed by only 1 degree.
Leah stepped slightly forward before reconsidering.
Fior noticed.
“Interesting.”
He smiled.
“I expected someone easier to hide.”
Leah looked at him.
“And I expected you to be uglier.”
Raphael made a small sound.
Fior laughed.
“No wonder he forgot himself.”
Dante’s voice turned glacial.
“Walk away.”
Fior kept watching Leah.
“Do you know what men like him do when they finally admit a woman matters?”
Leah answered:
“They usually say something foolish first.”
Fior’s smile thinned.
“No.”
“They either cage her or lose her.”
Silence.
Leah felt Dante breathe beside her.
Then he answered.
“She is not yours to threaten.”
He paused.
“And she isn’t mine to cage.”
The nearby conversations died.
Belladonna’s brother turned from the bar.
The Melli chairman suddenly became very interested in flowers.
Fior lost his smile.
“You’re saying that publicly?”
Dante looked at Leah once.
Checking.
Then he addressed the room.
“I should have said it sooner.”
No one moved.
“Leah is not my sister.”
“She is not gossip.”
“She is not leverage.”
“And she is not a name anyone in this room uses when they want to test me.”
Leah’s heart hammered.
Then Dante said it.
“She is the woman I love.”
The room seemed to stop breathing.
But he did not stop there.
“If she chooses to stand beside me, everyone here will respect that choice.”
That mattered more.
Not claim.
Choice.
Love spoken publicly without ownership.
Fior’s expression hardened.
“Careful, Dante.”
“Public love makes a cleaner target.”
Then he moved.
Fast.
1 of his men came toward Leah from the opposite side of the room.
A small knife hidden in his hand.
Raphael reached him before the blade came within inches of her.
Glass shattered.
Someone screamed.
Dante caught Leah around the waist and pulled her behind him.
The knife struck the floor.
Fior smiled.
Dante crossed the space between them.
Not in blind rage.
In complete control.
He struck Fior hard enough to send him into the edge of the donor table.
Candles crashed.
2 of Fior’s guards moved.
Stopped when Raphael drew his gun.
Then reconsidered dying for a man like Fior.
Dante gripped Fior by the jacket and spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear.
Fior’s face changed.
Not from pain.
Recognition.
Dante released him.
“Take him out.”
Raphael obeyed.
Within moments, Fior was no longer the center of the room.
Dante was.
He looked toward Leah.
Not to check whether she still belonged beside him.
To see whether she chose to remain.
Leah straightened her dress with slightly trembling hands.
Then stepped toward him.
The entire room saw.
Belladonna’s brother looked away first.
May you like
The Melli chairman attempted to restore social order.
Dante turned toward him.
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