Chapter 201: Everything Just Got More Interesting

Dimitri felt something cold settle in his stomach.

"What kind of people?" he asked quietly.

"The kind that suggests outside backing," Marco said. "The kind that suggests and also explains resources beyond what Dante should have access to."

"We need to widen our surveillance," Dimitri said. "I want to know who these people are. Where they’re coming from. Who’s paying them. Get me names, faces, everything."

"Already on it," Marco said.

Dimitri nodded once and moved back to his desk, suddenly feeling the weight of everything settling on his shoulders.

"Marco," Dimitri said quietly. "Not a word of this to anyone. Not even Mike. Not until we understand exactly what we’re dealing with."

"Understood, boss." ℴ

Marco left, closing the door softly behind him.

And Dimitri sat alone in his office, understanding with perfect clarity that the game had just entered a new phase.

POV: EVE

Eve looked up from the vegetables when Marco emerged from the hallway.

His expression was carefully neutral, but she could see the tension in his shoulders. Could see the way his hand was slightly curled into a fist before he forced it to relax.

Something had happened.

Something serious.

"Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes," Nonna said, not looking up from her cooking. She always knew. Somehow, Nonna always knew when something had shifted in the penthouse’s atmosphere.

Marco nodded and left without eating, disappearing into the night as quietly as he’d arrived.

Eve dried her hands on a towel and moved toward the hallway that led to Dimitri’s office.

Nonna caught her wrist gently.

"Not now, cara," Nonna said. "Let him sit with this, whatever it is. He will come to you when he is ready. That is how it works with men like him. They must process alone before they can share."

Eve understood that. She’d learned enough about Dimitri’s world to know that some burdens were meant to be carried in silence before they could be spoken aloud.

But she also knew that whatever Marco had discovered was going to change things.

And change in Dimitri’s world rarely came quietly.

POV: DIMITRI

Two hours later, Dimitri emerged from his office.

He found Eve in the living room, curled on the sofa with a book she wasn’t reading. She looked up the moment he entered, and he could see the question in her eyes.

He didn’t answer it. Instead, he sat down beside her and pulled her against his chest, needing the weight of her, the reality of her presence.

"Everything okay?" Eve asked quietly.

"No," he said, being honest in a way that still felt strange. "But it will be. We’ll figure it out."

Eve settled against him, asking no more questions, offering silent support.

And Dimitri held her while the city lights twinkled below them, understanding that the Dante situation was going to require a level of strategic patience he wasn’t sure he possessed.

But he would figure it out.

He always did.

***

POV: DANTE

Isabella’s apartment was dark except for the moonlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Dante had her bent over the edge of the bed, her face pressed into the mattress, her ass in the air, completely at his mercy.

He’d been fucking her for nearly an hour, relentless, brutal, giving her no respite. Every time she tried to catch her breath, he’d change the angle or increase the pace, keeping her right on the edge of something between pleasure and pain.

"Please...." Isabella gasped into the sheets. "Please, I can’t...."

"You can," Dante said, his voice absolutely cold. He gripped her hips hard enough to leave bruises and slammed into her with renewed force. "You’ll take everything I give you. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? To be used."

She sobbed, whether from the intensity or the cruelty of his words, he didn’t particularly care.

His phone buzzed on the nightstand.

Dante grabbed it without slowing his pace, seeing Luca’s name on the screen.

His second-in-command wouldn’t call during one of these sessions unless it was important.

"What?" Dante answered, his voice steady despite the fact that he was currently buried deep inside Isabella’s pussy.

"We have a problem," Luca’s voice came through. "Dimitri knows. His men are here. Five of them positioned around the building. They’re not trying to hide it."

Dante’s rhythm slowed....deliberate, controlled thrusts that let him focus on the call while keeping Isabella pinned beneath him.

"You’re certain?" he asked.

"Positive. They’ve been in position for the past two hours. Professional surveillance. They know you’re here."

Dante processed this information while driving deeper into Isabella, making her cry out.

So Dimitri had figured it out. Faster than expected, but not entirely surprising.

"Are they making a move?" Dante asked.

"No. Just watching. Waiting."

Which meant Dimitri was being strategic. Smart. He knew that moving against Dante while he was inside Isabella’s apartment would be complicated. Would put her at risk. Would create political problems with her family.

"Pull back our men," Dante said, reaching forward to fist his hand in Isabella’s hair. He yanked her head back, forcing her spine to arch, allowing him to go even deeper. "But keep eyes on Dimitri’s surveillance. I want to know if they shift positions."

Isabella screamed into the pillow, her entire body shaking.

"Understood," Luca said. "What’s your exit strategy?"

"I’ll leave when I’m done," Dante said simply. He increased his pace, pounding into Isabella with renewed brutality. "They’re not going to stop me. They’re just going to watch."

He ended the call and tossed the phone aside.

Then he pulled Isabella up by her hair, forcing her to her knees on the bed, her back against his chest, his cock still buried deep inside her.

"Everything just got more interesting," Dante said against her ear, his voice conversational despite the fact that he was destroying her."

"What....." Isabella gasped. "What are you talking about...."

He didn’t answer. Just released her hair and let her collapse forward onto the bed.

Then he grabbed her hips, lifted her completely off the mattress, and held her suspended in the air....her entire weight supported by his hands and his cock.