CHAPTER 8 ~ SECRETS IN SILK

DOOM’S POV

My shoulder still throbbed like a bastard, but I refused to let it show.

I swapped my usual suits for a simple black shirt and a pair of tailored shorts, unbuttoned just enough to tease. It was warm tonight, and Sally liked casual Doom, something about seeing the devil without armor made her smile, maybe because it made her feel closer.

The dining room lights were dimmed low, casting a golden warmth across the mahogany table. Candlelight flickered beside the fine china, and soft instrumental jazz hummed from the walls. I had told the staff to stay far away, tonight was ours.

I poured the wine, her favourite, Amarone della Valpolicella, and positioned her favourite meal across from me. Creamy lobster risotto with garlic butter asparagus, truffle oil, and a touch of lemon zest. She had once raved about it during one of our late-night conversations, the kind of detail I stored away like treasure.

I heard her coming before I saw her, the soft whisper of silk brushing against her skin, then she walked in.

A crimson silk robe, tied loosely around her waist, her hair flowing like she belonged on the cover of a goddamn forbidden fantasy magazine. I knew her body was a weapon, I had seen it, tasted it but even now, it knocked the air clean from my lungs.

"You are staring." She said, smiling as she walked in.

"You are beautiful." I replied, voice low.

I pulled the chair out for her like a gentleman and she sat down, not because I was one but because she made me feel like a better version of the beast I was.

Her eyes flicked to my bandaged arm. "How’s the shoulder?"

"Still attached, so don’t worry about it."

She frowned. "You almost died, Doom."

"But I didn’t." I poured her wine. "You think something that small would take me down?"

"You are such a brute."

"And you like that about me." I said with a grin.

She rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed... As we started to eat, she leaned her chin in her palm, watching me. "What’s this about, really? Why all the effort?"

I met her gaze head-on. "I am trying to recreate what was stolen from us. Our first dinner date, the one those bastards ruined."

Her expression softened. "You remembered."

"I remember everything about you, princess." I said truthfully and we spent the rest of the night, eating, laughing and talking.

We talked about life, the future, business, power, loyalty and love.

"What happens after all this?" She asked after a while, voice soft. "After revenge? After the blood? What do we become?"

I leaned in. "We build something no one can touch, you will stand beside me as my queen, my partner, my equal and anyone who so much as looks at you the wrong way… I will bury them alive."

She smiled, cheeks flushing. "You always know what to say."

"Yes, and I always mean every word."

Then the music shifted, smooth, sultry, and intoxicating... Sally rose slowly from her chair, eyes glittering with mischief.

"Well, dinner went smoothly this time." She said with a soft smirk. "I think it’s time I spiced things up."

My cock twitched instantly. "I have been waiting for that part all damn evening." I muttered.

She turned around, hips swaying, hands slipping to the tie of her robe. One pull, and it slid off her shoulders like silk melting from fire.

Red lace clung to her curves like it had been stitched on her skin.

"Fuck me." I whispered.

She giggled and straddled my lap, her hands gliding over my chest, her lips brushing my neck. "Say less doom, I sure will." She whispered into my ears as her teeth grazed me lightly.

"Fuck." She started to grind, slow, teasing movements that had my veins singing and my blood boiling. She gave me lap dance that made my cock twitch.

She got up, unzipped my pants and my cock sprung to life like a caged animal that was just released.

"Mmmm." She moaned as she lowered herself on me. "I have missed this." She whispered as she rode my dick hungrily.

I gripped her hips, let her ride me as her moans filled the air, she bounced up and down. "Oh my God." She grinded on me and threw her head back but I needed more.

I needed to ruin her.

I stood up, flipped her over the table, and shoved her panties aside. "Fuck." I plunged into her with the kind of hunger only she could bring out of me.

"Doom." She cried out as I pressed her to the table and slammed her repeatedly from behind.

The room was filled with moans and sounds of skin slapping against each other as her locket bounced against the table with every thrust.

"Yes, just like that." She moaned as I increased my pace, going faster, harder and deeper.

"Oh yeah, you like that?" I lifted one of her legs for more room as I pounded her further while the other leg shook with every thrust.

"Ahhhh, yes. It so fucking deep... Ohhhhh." She moaned then... clink.

The sound was too sharp, too out of place.

So, we froze just before we realized that it was the locket on her neck that snapped open and something small… fell out.

A key.

My heart stopped.

"Dante." She screamed as I yanked out of her instantly, pushed her aside and grabbed the key, cold metal pressed into my palm.

"This key…" I rasped. "It’s been on your neck this whole time?"

She looked confused, still dazed from the fucking. "What? That’s the first time I have seen it. My dad gave me that necklace on my eighteenth birthday and I never opened it. I didn’t even know it could open."

My hands clenched the key like it might vanish.

"Goddammit…" I hissed. "I have been going fucking crazy looking for this and it was on your neck?"

I knew she had it but I never knew it was in plain sight, it was always on her neck but I had no idea it contained the key I needed so desperately. Fuck.

"What’s it for?" She asked, reaching for it.

I took a step back, shoving it into my pocket.

"Nothing." I muttered.

"Dante, give me my locket back."

"No, princess." I said, already buttoning my shirt. "It’s mine now."

"Excuse me? That necklace was a gift from my father..."

"Yes, the necklace but the key on the other hand, belongs to me." I snapped. "I have spent years searching for it. I knew you had it, I just didn’t know where."

She blinked, piecing it together. "Wait… Is that what you have been looking for in my room?"

"Yes."

She stared, disgust crawling onto her face. "So all of this? You helping me? Keeping me here? It was all just a trick to get this key?"

"I told you there would be two things I wanted in return." I said quietly. "This was the first."

"You made me think you loved me..."

"I do love you, Sally but you are not ready to hear the rest yet. Just… give me a moment, okay? I will explain everything."

"No, Dante..." She started but I was already walking away.

I left her standing there, half-naked, furious, betrayed and I hated myself for it but I had to know.

I rushed to my room, chest heaving, heart rattling against my ribs like a war drum. I opened the hidden compartment beneath the floor and pulled out the chest.

The one my brother, her father, swore I would never open again.

I set it on the coffee table. The key trembled in my hand, for the first time ever, I was nervous... Nervous to find out if this was truly the key.

One turn… And everything would change.