Ten Minutes

Chapter 3

“No.”

The word ripped out of my mouth without warning. I pulled my hands away from his grasp, using them to rub the blood off on the shredded fabric of my gown.

“I’d rather die here in this church than become your property, De Luca.”

Dante remained unfazed. He calmly rose to his feet, flicking a single tiny mote of dust off his knee, making him tower above me once more. He peered down at me with neither rage nor disdain, but with the cold pity of an apex predator looking upon his prey.

“Fina, for God’s sake, don’t be an idiot!” my uncle snapped, taking a quick step forward, although he glanced around at Dante’s strategic guards that were stationed around the broken windows. “Look around you! What do we have left?”

“He is the enemy, uncle!” I snarled, wrenching myself to my feet. My knees shook, but I locked them, standing upright despite the black blood caked stiff against my face and chest. I rounded on Dante, my chest rising and falling with furious breaths. “You think I forgot? Ten years ago, your family sucked us dry! You spent a decade burning down our territories, and now you come into my wedding ceremony and expect me to give my life to you?”

“I am not asking you, Fina,” Dante replied, his voice frighteningly calm. “I am offering you an escape. That is different.”

“You set a trap for us!” I screamed, my voice echoing against the stone archways above us. “This is all your doing! You had Julian killed so that you could corner us when we were weakest!”

A thin smile curved the corners of Dante’s mouth but his eyes were still dark and dangerous. “If I had wanted Julian dead, I would not have bothered using a bullet to blow his brains out when a single word from me could have turned his own men on him. And if I wanted to destroy your family, Serafina, I would not be wasting my time breathing right now.”

He pulled a sleek black tablet out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pressed the screen two times. He held it out to me.

“Look.”

I paused, doubt buzzing in every fiber of my being.

“Look at it, Fina,” he said again, coming closer until I could smell the sharp smell of his cologne—cedar, rain, and cold leather—mingled with the metallic scent of iron and blood.

I gulped and looked at the screen.

It was a live feed from our security system. I instantly recognized our family’s manor with its stone arches. The feed moved to the security control room within our manor. There were three of our head security guards sitting in front of the monitors, their backs facing the door.

The door opened without warning. Two men in dark suits entered the room, pulled out suppressed handguns, and killed all three guards by shooting them in the back of their heads. It was seamless and silent. Then they dragged the dead bodies away, took their seats, and started typing in codes into our security system.

I gasped loudly. “That’s… that’s our internal comms hub. How did they get in?”

“Since your family has been under threat for weeks now,” Dante said softly, his voice hovering just next to my ear, hot and thick against the chill that shot through me. “They are not my men. They are killers hired by the very same group who hired the sniper to stand on top of the cathedral. At this very moment, they have taken control of your gates, your cameras, and your silent alarms. The second you step out of these cathedral doors without my crest on your car, the signal will be sent. Your entire house will be invaded.”

Mother gave a choking noise, her hands tightening around her pearls as she looked at the tablet. Uncle paled to the color of ash, lowering the gun in his shaking hand an inch.

“My brother…” I whispered, horror overwhelming me. “Matteo is still in the house.”

“He’s got about eight minutes before they take down his wing,” Dante said, placing the tablet back in his pocket. He undid his wrist cuffs and rolled up his sleeves, revealing thick tanned forearms. “I have two tactical teams waiting outside your gates at this very moment. It’ll take them less than three minutes to terminate your intruders on my command.”

He glanced down at his watch. A black, custom watch keeping track of the seconds.

“It is now two minutes past four,” Dante said, fixing me with his dark, magnetic gaze. “I will give you exactly ten minutes, Fina. Ten minutes to decide.”

“Decide what?” I croaked.

“Step outside of this place as my wife, and my men will cleanse your property, leaving only your brother alive and imposing a complete lockdown on Rossi retaliation under the De Luca name,” Dante continued, taking each step towards me slowly until the tips of his highly polished leather shoes grazed against the edge of my tattered white dress. “Or reject me. Step outside of this church as a Moretti, and by four-twelve, your brother will be dead, your uncle killed in the street, and you will become the property of whichever syndicate claims your family.”

“You beast,” I gasped out, the tears of fury that I had been holding back for so long finally breaking free and carving their way through the bloodstains on my face. “You’re forcing me into this.”

“A reality check,” Dante clarified softly, using one long finger to stop the tear that was about to fall on my chin. His hand was surprisingly warm despite the cold of my skin. “The world you knew came to an end as soon as Julian’s blood fell on your face. You can either die with a vendetta from the past or live beside me.”

“And what will you gain from this?” I asked, looking at him, hoping to spot the trap, the cruel joke. “You hate my family. Why would you spare our life? Why would you spare mine?”

“Your family’s life is a bargaining chip,” Dante answered, his voice becoming lower and rougher, resonating right through my chest. “As for you… I already told you, Fina. I won’t allow anyone to ruin something that’s mine.”

“I am not some territory!”

“Then stop being a victim and issue a command,” he snapped. His eyes were alight with something sharp and deadly. He checked his watch. “You have seven minutes to go. Tick-tock, little bird.”

I glanced at my uncle. The fearsome head of the Moretti crime family looked pale and defeated, staring at the floor with empty eyes. I looked at my mother, who was crying silently, her hands folded in prayer.

If I refused, my entire family would be obliterated before the end of the day. Leo would be left to die alone in his room. All that my family had ever created would be ripped to shreds by vultures.

I looked back at Dante De Luca. A man born of cruelty. A king who ruled through blood and terror. A man who held my family’s execution in the palm of his hand and was offering me the gun.

As you can see, I went into a different cage, swapping nightmares, but at least there, I was going to have some kind of a chance. My brother is alive here.

So, I swallowed hard, straightened up my shoulders and lifted my head high. The cold feeling of blood dripping from my face did not scare me in the least, I could feel hot fire rising inside my chest.

“Five minutes,” I told him in my strong, confident voice.

The young man arched his elegant eyebrows with a sardonic smile on his sharp face. “Five minutes?”

“Ten is not necessary,” I answered calmly, approaching him and looking into his eyes directly. “Order your men to clear my estate and protect my brother right now. Do it, and I will take your ring.”

Dante locked eyes with me for a beat of silence, sizing up the new resolve that was running through my spine. His smile twisted into something dark and deadly.

He brought the radio up to his lips and hit the talk button.

“Execute team alpha. Evacuate the Moretti estate. No casualties in the family.”

A static voice answered from the speaker. “Copy that, Boss. Moving in.”

Dante lowered the radio and looked at me, holding out his bare right hand once more against the stained marble.

“Your turn, Fina.”