All Chapters of HIS POISONOUS POSSESSION: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

[The United Front]The blue and red lights of the emergency vehicles sliced through the morning mist, turning the charred, salt-slicked ruins of the Palisades into a surreal stage. The roar of the Atlantic was now joined by the rhythmic thrum of a news chopper circling overhead, its spotlight sweeping the cliffs like the eye of a vengeful god.Ivy stood on the gravel drive, draped in a heavy wool blanket that a paramedic had wrapped around her shoulders. She was shivering, but not from the cold. The chill came from the inside—the realization that the "House Rules" had not been destroyed by the collapse of the vault; they had simply been codified into a blood oath.Beside her, Dante was being treated for the laceration on his shoulder. He sat on the bumper of an ambulance, his face a mask of weary, aristocratic grief. To the officers and fire marshals milling about, he was the tragic hero who had barely saved his fiancée from a catastrophic structural failure.He looked at Ivy, a silen

[The Foundation of Ashes]The winter sun hung low and weak over the Atlantic, casting long, skeletal shadows across the scarred earth of the Palisades. The wreckage of the north wing had been cleared, leaving a raw, gaping wound in the cliffside. To the world, it was a construction site—a symbol of resilience. To Ivy St. Claire, it was a blank canvas of obsidian and ash, the perfect place to bury the girl she used to be.Dante stood at the edge of the excavation pit, his black wool overcoat snapping in the biting wind. He looked like a monolith, a figure carved from the very rock he sought to dominate. Beside him, Ivy was a sharp contrast in a coat of pale, bone-white cashmere. The ruby necklace was gone, replaced by a delicate silver chain she had chosen herself—a leash of her own design.“The first stone,” Dante remarked, his voice carrying over the rhythmic thrum of the heavy machinery nearby. He looked down into the pit where a massive block of reinforced granite was being lowered

"It’s a House Rule," he said, before crushing his lips to hers.By the end of the week, the foundation of the new Palisades was complete. A massive gala was held—not at the Pierre or the Waldorf, but on the grounds of the estate itself, beneath a massive, heated glass marquee that overlooked the ruins and the sea.It was a display of obscene wealth and absolute power. Every person who had ever doubted Dante Moretti was there, sipping champagne while looking at the jagged remains of the cliffside.Ivy was the centerpiece of the evening. She wore a gown of liquid silver that seemed to move like mercury, its high collar a subtle nod to the ruby shackle she had discarded. She moved through the crowd with a predator’s grace, accepting congratulations and condolences with a smile that never reached her eyes."You’ve done wonders with him, Ivy," one socialite whispered, her eyes darting to Dante, who was holding court with a group of international bankers. "He looks... different. Less like h

Ivy froze. The "Long Con" she had been playing—the fake submission, the calculated sweetness—felt like it was being stripped bare."I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.Dante let go of her wrists and reached for a small drawer in the table. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper—a sketch she had made of the estate's perimeter sensors, hidden beneath a drawing of a garden trellis."You’re brilliant, Ivy. Truly. But you forget who taught you the rules of the house." He leaned in, his lips inches from hers, his eyes burning with a sadistic delight. "Did you really think I wouldn't find your little map?"The stakes shifted instantly. The erotic tension remained, but it was now laced with the threat of consequence. Dante didn't pull away; he pressed closer, his body an inescapable wall of heat."What are you going to do?" Ivy asked, her voice trembling now. "Lock me back up?""No," Dante said, his hand sliding into her hair, his fingers tangling in the dark tresses to tilt h

Dante set his fork down with a slow, deliberate click. The air in the room instantly grew heavy. "Are we going to play the martyr today? Because I find that particular role very... tedious. I could take you back to the bedroom. I could find other ways to occupy your mouth if you don't wish to use it for food."Ivy lifted her gaze, her eyes flashing with sudden, razor-sharp intelligence."You’re bored, aren’t you? You’ve slain your enemies, buried your past. And now you’re nothing more than a man in a glass house with a woman you can’t quite break. You keep tightening the leash because you’re terrified that if I’m given even a breath of silence, I’ll finally realize how deeply I despise you."Dante’s eyes narrowed, dark amber burning like molten stone."I don’t care if you despise me, Ivy. Hatred is fire, it consumes, it clings. It’s as strong a foundation as love. What I will never endure is indifference. What I will never endure is you looking through me as though I’m nothing but ano