Chapter 4: Midnight pact

( Aria's point of view )

Trust is a luxury I could never afford, but tonight, I was forced to buy it with the only currency I had left; my survival.

Dante had been gone for exactly two hours, but i still felt his presence in my bedroom with a constant reminder that my life was no longer my own. I paced around the room. My mind was a whirlwind of binary code and blood.

Dante Moretti knew everything but hadn't turned me in. He hadn't called for the Butcher to finish the job. Instead, he had offered me a deal that sounded like a fucking suicide mission.

A knock at the door made me freeze, but this time, I didn't wait for him to announce himself. I opened it to find Dane having with rolled-up sleeve that made him appear even more dangerous. He held two glasses of bourbon whiskey.

"We need to set the terms," he said, walking past me without an invitation. He set the glasses down on the small table near the balcony and sat, motioning for me to join him.

I sat across from him with my back straight, ignoring the drink. "Terms? I thought we already had a deal. I help you rob my father, and you don't kill me."

"You see, that’s the foundation," Dante said, fixing his gray eyes on me. "But we need structure. My uncle is breathing down my neck, and your father is already asking when the 'Moretti-Valenti' grand tour begins. We are going to be under a microscope for the next six months."

"Six months?" I felt a chill. "I thought this was just until the wedding."

"The wedding is the beginning, Aria, not the end," he said, sliding a piece of paper across the table. "This is our private contract. No fucking lawyers, no damn witnesses, just us."

I picked up the paper and scanned the bullet points with my eyes.

Rule 1: Absolute Transparency. You tell me every account, every password, and every contact you have in the digital world.

Rule 2: Physical Display. We will act the part of a devoted couple. In public, you are mine. You touch me, you look at me with devotion, and you do not pull away.

Rule 3: No Private Secrets. If your father contacts you, I am in the room. If my uncle contacts me about you, you are informed.

Rule 4: The Bedroom. To satisfy the security teams and the inevitable spies, we will share a suite. There will be no locked doors between us.

My heart stopped a beat at Rule 4. "Share a suite? What the fuck? Dante, we agreed on separate wings. I am not sleeping in the same room as you."

Dante leaned forward, "My head of security, Marco, reports directly to Silvio. If Silvio hears that the 'passionate' new couple is sleeping in separate wings, he’ll know the marriage is a sham. And if he thinks it’s a sham, he’ll dig deeper into why I agreed to it. He’ll find 'The Ghost,' Aria. And then neither of us can save you."

I looked at the paper once again. He was right. Everything in this world was about optics. If we didn't look like we were in love, we looked like we were plotting. And plotting led to graves, so.

"Fine," I whispered with a dry throat. "But Rule 4 has an amendment. You stay on your side of the bed. If you cross the line, I’ll show you that I don't need a laptop to be lethal."

A small, dark smile appeared on Dante’s lips. "I’d expect nothing less from a Valenti such as yourself. Now, drink. You look like you’re about to faint and I need your brain sharp."

I finally picked up the glass or bourbon.

"Why are you doing this, Dante? You could have just turned me in, taken the money I stole and been the hero of your family."

Dante’s expression shifted from arrogance to a cold resentment. "Because my family is a den of vipers, Aria. Just like yours. Silvio thinks he can use me as a puppet. He thinks I’m still the broken man Isabella left behind and wants your father’s shipping lanes so he can expand into human trafficking. I won’t let that happen."

I blinked. "Human trafficking? My father told me it was just electronics and luxury goods."

"Your father is a liar," Dante said dropping his voice. "He’s been moving people for years. That’s where the real money is. That’s why I want to bankrupt him. I plan to cut off his fucking legs so he can never fucking walk again."

I felt a wave of nausea. I knew my father was a murderer and a thief. But this? I thought back to all the accounts I had hacked and the spreadsheets I had seen. There were codes I didn't understand such as; Cargo Type B, Cargo Type C. I thought it was just higher-end contraband.

"I'll help you," I said with a strong voice. "I'll give you everything. Believe me, i want him gone more than you do."

Dante reached across the table, covering his hands on mine. This time, it wasn't for the cameras.

"Then we are officially partners in crime, Little Ghost."

I looked at our joined hands.

"We move your things into the Master Suite tonight," Dante said, standing up. "Marco will be watching. Make sure you look like you’re happy about it."

Moving into Dante’s suite felt like walking into a trap.

I watched as the maids moved my dresses into the walk-in closet, hanging them right next to Dante’s dark suits. It was a visual representation of our lives colliding.

Once the staff left, the room seemed impossibly small. Dante was over by the fireplace, pouring himself another drink. He had taken off his tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt.

"The bathroom is through there," he said, gesturing to a set of double doors. "You can take the first shift. I have some emails to answer."

I nodded and went into the bathroom. Spent an hour in the tub soaking in hot water, trying to wash away the feeling of my father’s influence. But all I could think about was Dante.

He was a Moretti and my enemy. Yet, he was the only person in the world who knew the real me and hadn't tried to kill me for it.

I finally emerged, wearing a modest but thin nightgown. Dante was sitting at the desk with the glow of his laptop on his face.

He looked up as I walked out. His eyes couldn't looking at the way the dress clunged to my curves, and when he saw that I observed, he cleared his throat and stood up.

"The bed is yours," he said. "I’ll take the sofa."

"Dante," I said, stopping him. "The sofa is too small for you. A six-foot-three man. You’ll be crippled by morning."

"I’ve... slept in worse places," he said, though he looked at the bed with a trace of longing.

"Just stay on your side," I said, gesturing to the left half of the mattress. "Rule 4, remember? We have to be convincing. If a maid comes in for turn-down service or to bring morning coffee and sees you on the couch, the game is up."

Dante hesitated, then nodded. He walked to his side of the bed and sat down removing his shoes. I climbed in on my side, pulling the duvet up to my chin.

I could hear his every breath. And every time he moved, the mattress shifted, making me want him.

"Aria?" he whispered in the dark.

"Yes?"

"Tomorrow, we start the first phase," he said. "Your father is hosting a dinner for the Moretti elders. He wants us to give a speech about the 'unity' of our families. We’re going to use that night to plant a physical keylogger on his private server."

"His private server is in his study," I said, turning onto my side to look at him. "He keeps it under a biometric lock. Nobody gets in there. Not even his mistress."

"He’ll let you in," Dante said with confidence."Because you’re going to tell him you found something on my computer. You’re going to tell him you have proof I’m planning to betray the deal. He won't be able to resist."

"You want me to use myself as bait?"

"I want you to use his greed against him," Dante corrected. "I’ll be right outside the door. If anything goes wrong, I’m coming in."

"You’d start a war in my father’s house for me?" I asked with a flutter in my chest.

Dante turned his head, his eyes catching the fire. "I’d burn the whole city down if it meant keeping my partner safe. Sleep, Aria. Tomorrow, we start the real work."

I closed my eyes, but sleep was a long way off. I lay there, inches away from the man who was supposed to be my enemy, strangely, all I could feel was a sense of peace. For the first time in my life, I wasn't alone in the dark.

But as I drifted off, a final thought haunted me. Dante was using me to destroy my father. My father was using me to destroy Dante. And in the middle of it all, I was falling for a man who had every reason to hate me.

I was Aria, a hacker, a thief and a liar. But as I felt Dante’s warmth beside me, I realized the biggest lie of all was the one I was telling myself: that this was still just a game.