Chapter 6

Dante POV

The sun was barely up, but the house already felt too small. I was heading toward the kitchen when a sound stopped me dead. It was Lily—laughing. It wasn’t the polite, forced laugh she gave me; it was bright, genuine, and intimate.

"Oh, Kelvin, stop it," she giggled through her bedroom door. "I’ve missed you too. I can't wait to feel your arms around me."

Kelvin.

The name tasted like ash in my mouth. I stood frozen in the hallway, my jaw tightening until it ached. I didn’t care who she talked to—at least, that’s what I told myself—but hearing her sound so happy, so open, with another man stirred a dark, possessive hunger in my gut. My mind flashed back to the previous night, the way her skin felt under my calloused palms and the way she had looked at me with such desperate, hungry eyes. I had pushed her away to maintain control, but hearing her give that affection to someone else felt like a physical blow.

Instead of walking past her door and risking a confrontation that would surely end with me pinning her against the wood, I turned on my heel. I took the back stairs, my boots thudding heavily against the floor. I was satisfied with how last night ended—or so I lied to myself. I had made it clear that I wasn't a man she could toy with. After that display of dominance, I was sure her little games of seduction would stop. She thought I was just a cold guardian, and she was worried about her father’s disappearance.

She didn’t know the truth. Her father wasn’t just "away" on business. He was deep in enemy territory on an espionage mission that was essentially a suicide run. He’d made me swear to keep her safe and keep her ignorant. If he didn't come back, she’d never have to know the gory details of his end.

My phone buzzed, vibrating against my thigh.

"Boss," a gravelly voice said. "We caught the rat. The one who tried to skim off the warehouse accounts. We have his associates, too."

"Good," I replied, my voice dropping an octave, thick with a sudden need for violence to distract from the heat in my blood. "Take them to The Abattoir tonight. I’ll handle them personally."

The Abattoir was my private sanctuary of pain—a soundproof basement beneath the east wing. I’d never felt guilty about my ruthlessness before. Blood didn't bother me; in fact, the adrenaline usually settled my mind. But with Lily under this roof, the idea of her hearing a scream or seeing a bloodstain on my cuff made me uneasy. She was a distraction I couldn't afford, a golden girl in a house built on bone.

By noon, the tension in the house had reached a breaking point. A visitor arrived, a young, lanky kid who stood in my foyer, shifting from foot to foot. He looked like he wanted to bolt the moment I looked at him. He was soft, weak—nothing like the men I dealt with daily.

"I... I'm looking for Lily," he stuttered, his eyes darting around the expensive marble entryway.

Before I could scare him off, Lily flew down the stairs. She was wearing a dress that was far too short, the silk clinging to the curve of her hips and the swell of her breasts. She didn't hesitate. She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Her body pressed flush against his, and for a fleeting moment, I imagined my hands on her waist instead of his. I imagined ripping that silk away and reminding her who she belonged to.

​"Kelvin! You're finally here," she whispered loudly.

​The jealousy hit me like a physical blow. It was irrational and hot. I stepped forward, my shadow looming over them both. The boy, Kelvin, turned pale, sensing the predatory energy radiating off me.

​"Lily," I said, my voice like grinding stones. "If you’re going out, you take two guards. And you are to be back inside this house by 10:00 PM sharp. No exceptions."

​I wanted to establish authority. I wanted her to remember who owned the air she breathed in this house.

​Lily pulled away from Kelvin, but she didn't look afraid. She looked energized. She turned to me, a sharp, defiant spark in her eyes. Slowly, deliberately, she raised her hand and pressed her middle finger into the air between us.

​"Rules are for people who care, Dante," she snapped, her voice dripping with venom. "And I don't give a damn about yours."

​She grabbed Kelvin’s hand and walked straight past me, leaving the front door wide open.