All Chapters of WHEN POWER LEARNS TO KNEEL : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Nina couldn’t sleep.Not that it was unusual,her apartment above the club was small, the walls thin, and her life usually kept her on edge,but tonight, her thoughts kept returning to the card Dante had left behind. The neat handwriting, the name, the address. Every time she pictured it, a shiver ran down her spine.She told herself it was nothing. She didn’t know him. She had no business following this, no reason to step into a world that wasn’t hers. But curiosity had teeth, and it had already bitten deep.By morning, she tried to bury it in routine: coffee, making a list of chores, answering texts from Marco about restocking bottles. But even as she poured sugar into her mug, her mind replayed Dante’s presence—the way he had studied her, the faint scar above his eyebrow, the dangerous calm in his voice.He had power. She had no illusions about that. But he had looked at her as if she were the only person who mattered. And that thought, that terrifying pull, refused to leave her.It

Nina did not sleep that night. Every time her eyes closed, she saw Dante’s gaze burning into hers, precise and unreadable, and Marco’s oblivious movements through the city streets. She kept replaying the encounter, the way Dante had emerged from the shadows, quiet and unstoppable. Her apartment felt too small, too ordinary, as if the walls themselves whispered that she was no longer safe in her own life.Morning came gray and hesitant, sunlight barely reaching through the blinds. She sat at the kitchen counter, nursing a cup of coffee that had long gone cold, her thoughts circling like predators. What Dante called learning, Nina now realized, was surviving. The difference between following a man like Dante and running was subtle and unforgiving.By mid-afternoon, her phone vibrated against the counter. Unknown number. She hesitated but answered.“Good morning,” Dante’s voice said, calm as always, but carrying the faintest edge of amusement. “You survived your first night in my world.

The rain had stopped, leaving the streets below wet and glowing from neon lights. Nina’s heart was still pounding, her hands trembling slightly as she gripped the envelope with Marco’s information. She had stepped fully into Dante’s world tonight, and she could already feel that nothing would ever be ordinary again. The loft door closed behind her, and Dante was already there, leaning against the window, arms crossed. The city lights bounced off his sharp features, making him look untouchable and terrifyingly close. “You made it back,” he said without turning, voice low, calm, and just a little dangerous. “I… yeah,” Nina said, her voice shaking. “It worked. I did what you asked.” Dante finally looked at her. His eyes were dark, intense, scanning her like he could see straight through her. “Good. But I didn’t ask for it to work. I asked for it to be perfect. And that… takes more than following instructions.” She swallowed. “I… I did my best.” He stepped closer, slow and deliberate, so

The room still smelled like heat and skin.Nina sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers curled into the sheets, her pulse loud in her ears. Dante stood a few steps away, jacket discarded, shirt unbuttoned just enough to show skin she had already memorized without touching again.Neither of them spoke.They didn’t need to.“You’re thinking too much,” Dante finally said, his voice lower than before.Nina let out a shaky breath. “You don’t get to tell me what I’m thinking.”A slow smile tugged at his mouth. Dangerous. Knowing.“I do,” he replied. “Your body gives you away.”She looked up at him sharply. “Don’t.”“Don’t what?”“Don’t look at me like that.”He moved closer, unhurried, like he had all the time in the world. “Like what?”“Like you already own me.”He stopped inches away. Too close. Too far.“I don’t own you,” he said quietly. “If I did, you wouldn’t be shaking.”She hated that he noticed. Hated that he was right.“Then why does it feel like I’m losing control every time you’

Nina sat frozen on the edge of the couch, her hands gripping the cushion like she could hold herself together if she squeezed hard enough. Dante stood a few feet away, the shadows from the lamp casting lines across his sharp features. His eyes, usually so warm, were dark, unreadable, like he had just learned a truth that might shatter him completely.“Why didn’t you tell me?” Dante’s voice was low, barely above a whisper, but it carried a weight that made the air between them heavy.“I—I didn’t know how,” Nina said, her voice trembling. “I didn’t know if I would even survive if I told you. I thought keeping it a secret would protect me.”Dante ran his hand through his hair, pacing in silence for a few moments before he finally spoke again. “Protect you? Or protect them? Protect the people who ruined your father’s life?”“It’s not that simple,” Nina said, finally standing, her eyes fierce now, like fire had replaced the fear. “Everything I’ve done, every step I’ve taken, was to survive