Chapter 272

"Hello, sweetheart."

Emilia couldn’t move.

For several seconds, she simply stared at the man standing at the end of the hallway, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

Her dad looked older than she remembered.

There were faint lines around his eyes, and his hair had more grey in it than she recalled. He wore a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, expensive trousers, and the same polished watch he’d always favoured.

He looked ordinary.

That was the most disturbing part.

There was nothing monstrous about his appearance. Nothing that announced the things he had done or the lives he had damaged. He looked like a man who had stepped out of an office and returned home to find his daughter waiting for him.

Emilia’s fingers curled aroind the hem of her top. Her heart was beating so violently that she could feel each pulse in her throat.

Behind her, Selena made a small, desperate sound. "Emilia, baby. Don’t listen to him."

Dante’s eyes moved towards his former wife. His smile remained, but something in it changed.

"Must you always do that?"

Selena pulled against the chains. "Do what?"

"Turn every conversation into a reason for her to hate me."

A laugh escaped Selena, short and disbelieving. "You’re holding me in chains, Dante."

"And yet, somehow, I’m still the villain."

Emilia flinched at the familiar tone.

It was the same one he used when she was younger. He sounded so soft and gentle. So different from the words that left his lips.

Dante looked back at Emilia. "There she is."

She took a step backwards.

His expression softened. "Oh, sweetheart."

He started towards her.

Emilia immediately moved back again.

Dante stopped.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then he opened his arms. "Are you not going to come and give your father a hug?"

Emilia stared at him.

Dante gave a small, almost affectionate laugh. "Come on. Surely, after all this time, I deserve that much."

She shook her head.

It was a tiny movement, barely noticeable, but Dante saw it.

His arms lowered slightly. "You don’t want to hug me?"

Emilia couldn’t answer.

Her throat had closed.

She could feel the fear creeping up her spine, settling between her shoulder blades, turning her hands cold. The hallway seemed narrower than it had moments ago.

He tilted his head. "I missed you, you know."

Emilia swallowed.

"I thought about you every day."

She shook her head again. "No."

The word came out so quietly that she barely heard herself.

Dante’s eyebrows rose. "No?"

"No."

He looked genuinely puzzled. "Emilia, I know we’ve had our differences."

Her stomach twisted.

He took another step.

"I know your mother has said things about me. I know Adrian has probably filled your head with his own version of events. But you’re my daughter."

Emilia’s breathing quickened. "Stop."

Dante paused. "Stop what?"

"Stop talking."

His expression changed slightly. The smile remained, but his eyes became colder.

She remembered waiting for him to come home. She remembered how her whole face used to light up when he walked through the door.

Now she couldn’t even look at it without wondering whether she’d ever known him at all.

Dante sighed. "I don’t know what you want me to say."

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I don’t want you to say anything."

"Then what do you want from me, Emilia?"

She looked at him in disbelief.

He was asking her that.

After everything?

After dragging her mother into a house and chaining her to a staircase. After sending messages threatening the only family Emilia had left. After demanding the necklace he’d given her as a child.

He was asking what she wanted from him.

"I want you to let Mum go."

Dante glanced at Selena. "Of course you do."

"She’s done nothing to you."

Selena’s face tightened.

"Do you know how many times I’ve tried to speak to you? How many times I’ve wanted to explain myself?"

Emilia stared at him. "You died."

"I had reasons."

"You disappeared."

His jaw tightened. "Things were complicated."

"You left us."

The words came out louder than she’d intended.

For the first time since she’d seen him, something broke through the numbness holding her together.

"You left us, Dad."

The last word hurt.

She hadn’t meant to call him that.

It had simply escaped.

Dante heard it, too. His expression softened immediately, as though she’d handed him something precious.

"There," he murmured. "You see? You still know who I am."

Emilia felt sick.

He took another step towards her. "You’re still my little girl."

She moved back so quickly that her shoulder struck the wall.

Dante stopped again.

His smile faded. "Emilia."

She shook her head, pressing herself against the wall as if the distance it gave her could protect her.

"Don’t."

"Princess—"

"Don’t call me that."

His eyes narrowed.

For a moment, the two of them stared at each other.

Then Dante exhaled and looked away, as though he were the one struggling to remain patient.

"Fine." He adjusted his cuff. "Let’s not make this more difficult than it needs to be."

Emilia’s gaze dropped to the necklace in her hand.

There it was.

The reason she’d come. The reason he had put her mother in chains.

She lifted her eyes again. "You want the necklace."

Dante’s expression brightened by a fraction. "Yes."

"That’s all this is about?"

"It’s important."

"Important enough to threaten Mum?"

"Nobody threatened your mother."

Emilia stared at him.

He glanced at the chains. "She’s perfectly safe."

"She’s chained to a staircase!"

"And she’s alive, isn’t she?"

Selena jerked against the restraints. "You son of a—"

"Enough, Selena." He cut her off.

His voice cracked across the hallway.

Selena fell silent.

Not because she agreed with him.

Because she had seen what happened when Dante’s temper escaped the thin layer of charm he wore over it.

Emilia’s body reacted before she could stop it. Her shoulders jerked, and her fingers tightened around the necklace.

Dante noticed. He had always paid attention to fear when it was useful to him.

His voice softened again.

"See what happens when people refuse to be reasonable? Everyone gets upset. Everyone gets hurt. And for what?"

He held out his hand. "Give me the necklace, Emilia."

She looked at his palm. Then at his face.

For a moment, she imagined walking towards him and placing the pendant in his hand. She imagined him taking it, unlocking whatever he wanted to unlock, and releasing her mother.

She imagined leaving this house with Selena and never seeing him again.

It would be so easy to pretend that was all he wanted. But she had spent too much of her life paying for his lies.

"No."

Dante’s hand remained extended. "I’m sorry?"

"I’m not giving it to you."

His expression hardened. "Don’t be childish."

"I’m not."

"Emilia, I’ve been patient with you."

A bitter laugh rose in her throat. "Patient?"

"Yes."

"You kidnapped my mother."

"I brought her somewhere we could talk without interference."

"You chained her to a staircase."

"Because I couldn’t take the risk of her interfering."

Emilia stared at him.

She looked towards Selena. Her mother’s eyes were fixed on her, bright with tears.

"Baby," Selena whispered. "Don’t give him anything."

Dante turned sharply. "Will you stop poisoning her against me?"

"She can see you for herself!"

"She’s my daughter!"

"And that has never stopped you from hurting her!"

Dante’s face darkened.

Emilia flinched again.

"You want the necklace because of the Belmont safe," she managed to said.

Dante went still.

The change was immediate.

"You know about it," he said.

"I know what it opens."

"And who told you?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

Emilia’s pulse quickened, but she held his gaze.

"Adrian’s father reported the key missing years ago."

Dante didn’t answer.

He didn’t need to.

She looked down at the pendant. "All this time, it was sitting in my basement."

"Give it to me."

"Why?"

"Because it belongs to me."

"No, it doesn’t."

"It was given to you by me."

"You gave it to me when I was seven. I didn’t even know what it was."

"And now you do." His patience was beginning to fray.

Emilia could see it in his jaw, in the way his fingers curled at his sides. "You don’t even care what happens to Mum," she whispered.

Dante looked offended. "Of course I care."

"Then let her go."

"Not until you give me the necklace."

Emilia shook her head. "You’re not getting it."

For several seconds, he stared at her.

Then he smiled again.

It was the first smile he’d given her that contained no trace of affection.

"You’re making a mistake, sweetheart."

Before Emilia could answer, a door opened behind her.

She turned at the sound.

A man stepped into the hallway.

Ethan.

For one confused second, Emilia couldn’t understand what she was seeing. She had never expected to see him standing in Dante’s house.

He raised his arm.

The gun in his hand pointed directly at her.