9| DINNER AT THE TOP

Valerie's Pov

The penthouse was not what I expected.

I had expected something designed to impress. What I got was a long dining table near a window that took up an entire wall, two plates already set, and a man who had clearly cooked the food himself.

"You cooked," I said.

"I cook," he said. "Sit down."

"You cook," I said again.

"Why is that surprising?"

"Because men who look like you and live like this usually have people who cook for them," I said.

"I had people who cooked for me," he said. "I got tired of eating food that had no opinion." He pulled out a chair and waited.

I sat.

He sat across from me and poured wine without asking whether I wanted any. I let him. We ate for a few minutes without talking.

"You never told Cassian it was you," he said.

"No," I said.

"Why not?"

"Because watching him figure it out slowly is better," I said. "He spent five years making me feel like I was nothing. I want him to spend at least that long understanding exactly what nothing built."

Dante looked at me for a moment. Then he picked up his glass. "How long did it take you to stop being angry and start being strategic?"

"About eight months," I said. "The first eight months were just anger. I was in the clinic in Switzerland and I was angry every single day. It kept me going through the physical therapy but it was not useful yet."

He nodded slowly. "I watched Cassian work for years," he said. "Before any of this. The way he moves through people, takes what he needs and leaves the rest. I have never liked how he operates."

"But you never did anything about it," I said.

"No," he said. "He never crossed me directly. And you do not go to war over other people's battles." He looked at me. "Until you have a reason."

"And now you have a reason?" I said.

"Now I have a reason," he said.

"What is the reason?" I said.

He held my gaze across the table. "You," he said.

I looked back at him and did not say anything for a moment.

"That is either very honest or very smooth," I said.

"Both," he said. "Possibly."

I almost laughed. "What does helping me actually look like?" I said. "Concretely."

"Whatever you need it to look like," he said. "I have infrastructure. Supplier networks you have not tapped yet. Legal contacts who specialise in exactly the kind of documentation fraud Cassian has been running. And I have patience, which you already know the value of." He leaned forward slightly. "I will help you burn it all down if that is what you want. Every piece of it."

"That is a significant offer," I said.

"I know what it is," he said.

"Why?" I said. "Not the surface answer. The real one."

He was quiet for a second. "Because I walked past you on a pavement five years ago and gave you fifty dollars and told you that you could leave," he said. "And you took that fifty dollars and built something that is eating Cassian Thorne alive.  I think about what you could do with the actual resources behind you." He paused. "That is the real answer."

"You are going to be difficult," I said.

"Probably," he said.

"I do not do well with people who try to take over," I said.

"I am not going to take over," he said. "This is your plan. I am just adding resources to it."

"And if I disagree with you on strategy?"

"Then we disagree," he said. " you do it your way."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," he said. "I told you.

I picked up my wine glass and sat back. "Cassian is going to find out you are involved."

"He already suspects it," Dante said. "He saw the look on my face tonight when I walked into that corridor. He knows I did not walk in there by accident."

"He is going to come at you," I said.

"Let him," he said.

"Dante." I set the glass down. "I am serious. Cassian is not above doing things that are not legal when he feels cornered. I know what he is capable of when he thinks he has nothing left to lose."

"So do I," Dante said. "And unlike most people, I am not scared of it." He looked at me. "Are you?"

"Not anymore," I said.

"Good," he said.

We sat there. The city was spread out beyond the window, all lit up and going about its business. His eyes moved from the window back to me.

"You are looking at me differently," I said.

"Am I," he said. It was not a question.

"Yes," I said.

"Probably because I am thinking something different from what we were talking about," he said.

"What are you thinking?"

"That you are the most composed person I have ever sat across a dinner table from," he said. "And that it is making it very hard to concentrate on strategy."

"That is your problem," I said.

"It is," he said. "Yes."

We were quiet for a moment. Then he stood up and came around the table. I did not move, when he looked down at me I looked up.

The gap between us got smaller and smaller until there was no gap at all.

The kiss was not soft. It was the kind of kiss that had been building for the entire evening. when we finally pulled apart we were both breathing differently.

He rested his forehead against mine. Neither of us spoke for a moment.

Then my phone buzzed on the table.

I reached for it. Unknown number. A text.

I read it out loud without thinking. "You think you can hide behind him?" I said. "I know what you did."

Dante went very still.

I read the message again. Then I set the phone down on the table and looked at it.

"Cassian?" Dante said.

"I do not know," I said. I set the phone down slowly. "But whoever it is has been watching.”

Dante picked up the phone and looked at the message. He read it once, then again. His face did not change but something behind his eyes did.

"Then we find out who," he said. "Tonight."