Chapter 8

Curvy Fate in Velvet Chains
Chapter 8: The Interrogation

I followed Dante down the narrow stairs despite Leo’s protests. The basement air was cold and damp. Harsh lights buzzed overhead casting sharp shadows on the concrete walls. My bare feet felt the chill with every step. Dante’s shirt still hung loose on my body but it offered little protection from the tension in the air. I needed to see this. I needed to know exactly who these men were when the masks came off.

Dante stopped at the bottom and glanced back at me. His eyes held a warning. “You should not be here Serena.”

“I need to be,” I said quietly. “If I am part of this then I see all of it.”

He did not argue further. He simply nodded once and pushed open the heavy door.

Tomas sat tied to a metal chair in the center of the room. His face was already bruised from earlier. Sweat beaded on his forehead under the bright light. Dante moved like a predator circling slowly. I stayed in the shadows near the door watching everything.

Dante’s voice was calm but edged with steel. “Start talking Tomas. Who gave you the orders?”

Tomas swallowed hard. His eyes darted toward me then back to the floor. “I told you already. It was a burner phone. Coded messages. Drop points in the city. I only passed information. I did not ask questions.”

Dante grabbed a handful of Tomas’s hair and yanked his head back. “You knew enough to put Serena in danger. Try again.”

Tomas winced. “Marcus paid well. But the voice on the calls was scrambled. It was not him directly. Someone higher in your organization. Someone who knows all the safe locations.”

I watched Dante’s face. In this moment he was pure predator. Controlled. Efficient. He did not raise his voice or enjoy the fear he caused. He simply applied pressure where it hurt most. A punch to the ribs. A twist of the arm. Each move calculated to break resistance without unnecessary cruelty.

Dante’s POV
She should not see this. Serena stood in the shadows with my shirt hanging off her curves and her eyes wide but steady. I hated that she was here. Yet part of me felt relief. She needed to understand what I was capable of. What I would do to keep her safe. Tomas was just a tool. The real traitor was still hiding. I pressed harder on the pressure point in his shoulder until he cried out. “Names Tomas. Give me something useful.”

Serena’s POV
Tomas gasped and broke. “There was a meeting point near the old docks. A black envelope left in a trash bin. The instructions changed every time. I swear that is all I know. The mole is someone you trust. Someone close enough to know your plans before you make them.”

Dante released him and stepped back. His breathing was even but his knuckles were red. “You are lucky I need you alive to draw out the real traitor. For now.”

He turned and walked toward me. His eyes met mine. There was no apology in them. Only raw honesty. We left the basement together. The door slammed shut behind us cutting off Tomas’s ragged breathing.

The hallway was narrow and dimly lit. The moment the basement door closed Dante changed. Adrenaline still pumped through him. He spun me around and pinned me against the wall. His body pressed hard against mine. Heat radiated off him. His mouth crashed down on mine in a hungry desperate kiss.

I moaned into it. My fingers fisted his shirt pulling him closer. “Dante,” I breathed when he broke for air.

“Watching you down there,” he growled against my throat. His hand slid under the hem of the shirt and gripped my hip. “Watching you stand there without flinching. You are not afraid of me are you?”

I arched into him. “I am afraid of losing you. That is worse.”

He lifted me effortlessly. My thick thighs wrapped around his hips as he pressed me harder against the wall. His free hand shoved the shirt up around my waist. He freed himself and thrust into me in one rough stroke. I gasped at the sudden fullness. He took me right there fast and claiming. Every thrust drove deep and possessive.

His hand covered my mouth to muffle my moans. “So tight for me. So perfect. Take it Serena. Let me feel you come apart.”

I did. Pleasure crashed through me hard and fast. My body clenched around him as waves of release hit. He followed soon after burying himself deep with a low groan. We stayed like that for a moment breathing hard against each other.

He set me down gently but kept his arms around me. “You are not just a contract anymore. You are ours. And I will burn everything to keep you.”

The emotional weight of his words settled over me. I was starting to care. Deeply. Dangerously. These men were becoming more than my captors. They were becoming something I did not want to lose.

Leo’s phone rang from upstairs. The sound cut through the moment. He answered on speaker. A voice came through scrambled and robotic. “The mole is not the only secret in this house. Ask Leo about his wife. Ask him who really killed her.”

The hallway went silent. Leo’s face drained of color. Dante stiffened beside me. My heart pounded as I looked between them. Another secret. Another crack in the foundation we were building.

The war was not just outside anymore. It was inside too. And it was only getting started.