Se connecterDante stood by the window in casual clothes that somehow still looked like they belonged in a boardroom, and Rafe hated how unfair that was, because nothing about Dante ever looked relaxed even when it was supposed to.“You are early,” Dante said without turning fully.Rafe stepped inside, closing the door behind him more firmly than necessary. “You said nine.”Dante nodded once. “Correct.”Rafe looked around the suite, already scanning for anything unusual, anything useful, anything that confirmed he was still in control of himself.Breakfast arrived shortly after, staff moving quietly, setting trays down between them without eye contact.Rafe sat but did not eat immediately, watching instead.Dante answered two calls in quick succession, voice shifting between languages and tones like it was nothing, and Rafe found himself irritated by how easily he switched roles.“You are not even eating,” Rafe muttered.Dante glanced at him briefly. “Neither are you.”“I am working,” Rafe replied
Rafe turned sharply the moment Dante’s words sank in, his brows pulling together like he had misheard him entirely, because there was no way a sentence like that should sound that casual.“What did you just say,” Rafe asked immediately, voice tighter than he intended, still standing in front of the mirror with the tuxedo fitting him too well for comfort.Dante leaned back slightly, expression unchanged. “It was a joke.”Rafe did not laugh.Instead he turned fully toward him, towel still on the floor behind him, jacket clinging perfectly to his frame like it had already decided it belonged there.“Do not joke about things like that,” Rafe said, slower now, more controlled, but something sharp still underneath it.Dante watched him for a second too long. “Or what.”Rafe hesitated, then said it anyway. “Or I will make sure you never touch me again.”Silence landed between them instantly.Dante’s expression shifted slightly, subtle but noticeable, like something had recalculated inside hi
Dante called Anita first, his voice steady as he asked"where are you?"and she responded quickly with coordinates .“Different hotel,” she wrote, “less attention here.”Dante read it once and replied simply, “Good.”A few minutes later, more messages came through, short videos showing crates being opened, weapons arranged with military precision, and shipments being logged without hesitation or chaos.“Clean transfer,” Anita added.Dante watched the footage in silence for a moment before sending back, “Efficient work.”Then he moved on.He unpacked his own luggage with controlled movements, laying out clothes without rushing, his attention already elsewhere, until he reached two tuxedos folded with precision inside garment covers.He opened them both slowly, inspecting them like decisions rather than clothing, his eyes narrowing slightly at one before he reached for his phone.He called Rafe.No answer.He tried again.Still nothing.Dante exhaled through his nose, set one tuxedo asi
“Good evening,” Luke Berchmans said smoothly as he leaned one elbow on the front desk, his suit unwrinkled despite the late hour, his smile easy and practiced as if he had rehearsed it on the way in, “I am terribly sorry for the late check in, flights have been unkind today.”The night shift receptionist smiled back, already a little dazzled, fingers moving quickly over the keyboard as she said, “Not a problem at all sir, may I have your name please.”“Luke Berchmans,” he replied, still smiling, his tone light, “it should be under the conference reservations.”Dante, who had been standing a few steps away with one of his guards, stiffened the moment the name landed in the air, his attention snapping fully toward the desk as recognition settled in his eyes.Luke noticed him at almost the same time.Their gazes locked, the smiles on both faces shifting, not disappearing but sharpening, like polished blades being turned slightly in the light.“Well,” Luke said first, turning his body jus
“Dante,” Rafe shouted again, his voice already breaking as he kicked off his shoes without thinking, his body moving before his head could catch up, and then he was in the water, clothes and all, the cold shocking but barely registering because all he could see was Dante’s still form.He grabbed Dante’s shoulder hard. “Dante wake up please wake up.”Dante’s eyes opened.For a split second, they just stared at each other, Rafe breathing hard, water dripping down his face, his hands still locked around Dante like he was afraid he would disappear again.“What are you doing,” Dante asked slowly, blinking water from his lashes, confusion written all over his face.Rafe froze, realization crashing into him all at once. “You,” he started, then stopped, then tried again, “you were face down I thought you were not breathing I thought something happened.”Dante blinked once, then twice, his lips curving upward in a faint smile. “I was swimming,” he said, “and resting.”Rafe let go as if burned,
On Thursday morning, Rafe packed a bag slowly, folding and unfolding shirts like he was trying to delay a decision that had already been made for him, telling himself that it was just in case and not because a part of him still hoped Dante would want him there. He stared at the bag for a long moment before zipping it and lifting it, his shoulder aching faintly as he carried it out of his apartment and toward the office.He had not heard anything from Dante since the argument, no call, no message, no clipped order delivered through someone else, and that silence felt heavier than being yelled at. At work, he placed the bag under his desk, trying to focus on numbers and files while his eyes kept drifting to his phone.Dante did not come into the office at all.Instead, sometime after nine, Rafe’s phone buzzed, and when he looked down, it was a single message from Dante with nothing but coordinates and a time.Rafe stared at the screen, rereading it twice, then a third time, before mutte
Marcus was already talking by the time Dante finished lighting his cigarette, his voice filling the office with that familiar tone that always meant he had something he thought was important and urgent and irritating all at once.“I told you I would keep an eye on him,” Marcus said, dropping a smal
FlashbackRafe came in earlier than usual that morning because once Dante decided he would work under him there was no point pretending the schedule belonged to anyone else, and the clubhouse was still quiet when he walked in with a cup of bad coffee and the same headache that had been sitting behi
For a second Rafe felt the cold rush of panic climbing up his spine when Dante asked for the phone, but he forced himself to stay calm because panic was the kind of thing men like Dante could smell from across the room and if he showed even a hint of fear then Marcus would notice too and that would
The hotel room smelled faintly of detergent and something floral that Rafe could not place, and the door had barely clicked shut behind them before Camila kicked off her shoes and dropped her bag on the chair without even looking at him, her movements sharp and distant like she was already tired of







