CHAPTER 5; THE PRICE OF THE TRUTH

Elena's POV

Dante’s voice was a low, vibrating growl that made the phone in my hand feel like a ticking bomb.

​I shoved the receiver back, my heart hammering so hard I thought my ribs might crack. "You misheard," I gasped, my 'Ice Queen' mask shattering into a thousand jagged pieces. "She said... she said the brief. The witness brief."

​Dante didn't move. He stood like a statue of dark marble, his eyes boring into mine with terrifying clarity. "I didn't mishear, Elena. I heard a woman panicking. I heard her ask where the boy was."

​"There is no boy!" I shouted, the lie tasting like ash.

"I don’t have anyone! It was a witness’s son, Dante. A child I’m protecting from monsters like you!"

​His hand shot out, his fingers wrapping around my arm like iron bands. "Liar," he hissed. "You’ve always been a beautiful little liar. Is there a man out there waiting for you? A 'soulmate' you found after you threw me to the wolves?"

​"No! Dante, let go—"

​He didn't. He dragged me out of the study, my heels skidding on the polished wood. He hauled me up the grand staircase, his face a mask of cold, focused rage. He didn't stop until he threw open the door to his master suite.

​The heavy thud of the bolt locking felt like the final gavel in a death sentence.

​"Sit," he commanded.

​I stayed by the edge of the bed, my chest heaving. "You can't do this. I have rights—"

​"You have nothing!" Dante roared, slamming his hand against the wall. The sound made me flinch. He walked toward me, his presence suffocating. "You want to play games? You want to hide your life from me? Fine. Let’s see what else you’re hiding."

​He stopped inches from me, his eyes dark with a mix of fury and raw, unhealed pain. "Undress," he said, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper.

​My breath hitched. "What?"

​"You heard me. If you’re going to lie to my face, then I’m going to see every inch of you until I find the truth. Take it off, Elena. Every stitch."

​My hands shook as I reached for the zipper of my charcoal silk dress. I was too slow. Dante didn't have the patience. He reached out, catching the collar, and with one violent tug, the fabric hissed and tore. The silk fell to the floor in a heap of gray shadows.

​I stood there trembling in my black lace lingerie, feeling as if the secrets of the last nine years were written on my skin.

​Dante’s gaze swept over me, his expression shifting from rage to a burning, agonizing hunger.

He stepped closer, his hand hovering over the curve of my waist. "Who is the boy, Elena?" he whispered, his voice breaking.

​Before I could answer, he turned toward the door. "Vincenzo!"

​The door opened an inch. "Yes, Don Valenti?"

​"Bring the whip," Dante barked.

​My blood turned to ice. "Dante, no..."

​Vincenzo returned seconds later, but he wasn't holding a leather lash. He handed Dante a long, braided riding crop—the one Dante used to keep in his stables back when we were kids.

​Dante didn't look at me. He looked at the crop, his knuckles white. "This belonged to my father," he said, his voice eerily calm. "He used it on me every time I lied. He said pain was the only way to squeeze the truth out of a Valenti."

​He turned back to me, the crop whistling as he sliced it through the air. He didn't strike me. He struck the mattress right next to my hip, the sound like a gunshot.

​"I’m going to ask you one more time," he hissed, pinning me to the bed with his weight, the leather of the crop pressed against my throat. "Is the boy mine?"

​I looked into his frozen blue eyes and realized the truth wouldn't just set me free—it would start a war.

​"Yes," I whispered, the word finally breaking free. "He’s yours, Dante. And he’s exactly like you."

​Dante froze. The crop fell from his hand, hitting the floor with a dull thud. For the first time in ten years, the monster disappeared, and the boy I loved looked back at me.

​But then, his radio chirped.

​"Don Valenti," a guard’s voice crackled. "We have a problem. A black sedan just breached the south gate. There’s a woman inside... and a child."