Chapter 286: Why Do You Want To Kill Dimitri?

"Thank you," Dante said to Luca. "That’s all I needed."

"There’s one more thing," Luca said carefully. "The failed operation. Word is spreading through the underworld about what happened on the island. Seven men dead. All of them ours. And that Dimitri killed them all and fed them to the fishes."

"I know," Dante said coldly. "By now, everyone knows. Which means by tomorrow, every family in the underworld will be reassessing their position relative to the Valentinos. Which means we need to make a statement quickly, or we lose credibility."

"Do you want me to start planning the next operation?" Luca asked.

"Not yet," Dante said. "I need to handle something first. Something personal. After that, we’ll talk about what comes next."

Luca nodded and left the office.

Dante sat alone with the lab results and thought about Isabella.

She’d been choosing other men over him. Had tried to replace him with surrogates. Had tried to convince herself that she was done with him.

But she couldn’t actually leave him. Because her body needed him. Her mind needed him. Her entire being had become oriented around him in ways that were completely involuntary.

That was the kind of possession Dante craved.

***

Isabella’s apartment door was unlocked when Dante arrived.

That was the first sign that something was different. Isabella always locked her door. Always made sure that her space was secure. It was one of the few things she still controlled.

The fact that it was unlocked meant she’d left it that way intentionally.

Dante pushed the door open slowly, his hand moving to the gun at his hip.

And then he stopped.

Isabella was sitting on her couch with her back straight, her eyes red and swollen from crying, her hands trembling as she held a gun pointed directly at his chest.

For a moment, they just looked at each other.

"Why do you want to kill Dimitri?" Isabella asked, her voice hoarse from crying. "Who gave you the right to touch him?"

Dante stared at her, understanding immediately what this was about. She’d found out about the assassination attempt. She’d put the pieces together. And instead of being afraid or conflicted, she was angry.

She was possessive.

She was jealous.

"Put the gun down, Isabella," Dante said calmly, closing the door behind him.

"No," she said, her hands shaking but her voice steady. "Tell me why. Tell me why you thought you had the right to send men after him."

"Because he killed my brother," Dante said, his voice hard. "Because Salvatore was my blood, and Dimitri Valentino took him from me. Because it’s only fair that I take something from him in return."

"By killing him?" Isabella demanded. "By taking away the man I...." She stopped, but they both knew what she’d been about to say.

"The man you what?" Dante asked, moving closer. "The man you love? The man you were engaged to? The man you spent years pining for while he ignored you?"

"You don’t get to decide who I care about," Isabella said, her gun hand wavering slightly.

"I get to decide everything about you," Dante said flatly. "You belong to me, Isabella. Your body belongs to me. Your pleasure belongs to me. And as of right now, your loyalties belong to me as well."

He reached out and took the gun from her shaking hands.

She didn’t resist. Just let him take it, her eyes still fixed on his face.

"Dimitri Valentino doesn’t care about you," Dante said, setting the gun on the table beside the couch. "He never has. You were always just another woman to him. Another piece on his board. But me...I care about you. I want you. I own you."

"I’m not yours to own," Isabella said, but her voice had lost its conviction.

"Yes, you are," Dante said, pulling her up from the couch. "You’ve been mine since the moment I decided to have you. Everything you feel, everything you want, everything you are....it’s all mine."

He kissed her before she could protest further.

The kiss was brutal and claiming, his mouth taking hers like he had a right to it. Isabella tried to push back, tried to maintain some resistance, but her body was already responding to him.

"You care about Dimitri," Dante said against her mouth. "But you crave me. And that’s the only thing that matters. That’s the only thing that’s real."

He pulled her clothes off roughly, not bothering with tenderness or seduction. Just removing the barriers between them, exposing her completely.

Isabella stood there naked and trembling, her eyes still red from crying, her body already responding to his proximity.

"Why do you do this to me?" she whispered.

"Because you need this," Dante said, his hands gripping her waist. "Because your body needs me. Because without me, you’re just a shell of a woman craving a man that will never want you back."

He pushed her toward the bedroom, and Isabella went without resistance.

When they reached the bed, he bent her over it immediately, not bothering with foreplay or buildup. Just positioned himself at her entrance and pushed inside her in one brutal stroke.

Isabella gasped, her body arching to accommodate him, her hands gripping the bed sheets.

"This is real," Dante said, fucking into her hard. "This is the only real thing in your life. Everything else is just noise. Family. Dimitri. Other men. It’s all just noise. But this....my cock inside you, making you feel things you can’t control....this is real."

He pounded into her relentlessly, his hips snapping forward with devastating force. Isabella’s entire body was moving with each thrust, her breasts bouncing, her ass bouncing, her face pressed against the bed.

"Say my name," Dante demanded. "Say it."

"Dante," Isabella gasped. "Dante...."

"Again. Louder. Let the whole building know who’s fucking you."

"Dante!" she cried out, and her voice echoed through the apartment.

He fucked her like that for a long time, from behind, deep and hard, without mercy. Her pussy was clenching around him, her body responding to the brutality with arousal she couldn’t hide.

"You think about Dimitri," Dante said roughly, "but your body thinks about me. Your pussy thinks about me. You come on my cock while thinking about another man, and that’s exactly what makes this so fucking perfect."