Chapter 335: I Want My Daughter Back

POV: ANTONIO

(8:45 PM) - ROME

Antonio Valentino was in his private office when the phone rang.

He was reviewing intelligence reports from New York, drinking a glass of aged wine, contemplating the fallout from the day’s events. Dimitri had handled Dante Romano exactly as Antonio had expected....with precision, with power, with the kind of tactical brilliance that made Antonio simultaneously proud of his son and deeply concerned about his future.

The phone rang.

Antonio glanced at the caller ID.

Lorenzo Russo.

He set down his wine glass and answered.

"Lorenzo," Antonio said, his tone neutral, professional. "This is unexpected."

"Don’t give me that," Lorenzo’s voice came through the phone, tight with anger. "I heard that Dimitri is holding my daughter captive again."

The words hung in the air.

Antonio didn’t respond immediately. He let the silence stretch, let Lorenzo feel the weight of what he’d just said.

"Again," Antonio repeated finally. "That word carries implications, doesn’t it?"

"Don’t play games with me, Antonio," Lorenzo said, his voice rising slightly. "If Dimitri doesn’t release Isabella in the next twenty-four hours, you should forget about us ever being friends. The alliance will be finished."

The threat was clear. The alliance that had been formed when they were children, that had supposed to unite their families through marriage and political power, was now hanging by a thread.

Antonio took a slow sip of his wine.

He understood Lorenzo’s anger. He would be angry too if he discovered that his daughter had been taken captive by the man who was supposed to marry her. But understanding anger and letting it dictate policy were two very different things. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Lorenzo," Antonio said quietly, "don’t you remember what I told you the last time?"

"What?" Lorenzo asked, his voice still tight.

"When Isabella pissed off Dimitri," Antonio said flatly. "Do you remember that conversation?"

The line went quiet.

Antonio could almost hear Lorenzo’s mind working, could almost see him processing the memory of that previous incident, when Isabella had drugged Eve and Dimitri had discovered it.

"I remember," Lorenzo said finally, his voice quieter now.

"The last time," Antonio continued, "Isabella pissed off Dimitri. Dimitri caught her red-handed. Do you know what I did?"

"What?" Lorenzo asked quietly.

"I pleaded on her behalf," Antonio said. "I went to my son and I asked him to spare her. I vouched for her with my own name, with my own reputation. I told Dimitri that Isabella was young, that she’d made a mistake, that she deserved a second chance."

Antonio paused, letting that sink in.

"And now," Antonio continued, "she’s made the same mistake again. Worse, actually. Much worse."

"Antonio..." Lorenzo started.

"Do you even know that your daughter helped in kidnapping his woman?" Antonio interrupted, his voice turning sharp. "Do you know that your daughter is in New York? and what she has been doing in New York?"

"Of course I know she’s in New York," Lorenzo said defensively.

But there was something in his tone, a hesitation that suggested he knew she was there, but perhaps didn’t know all the details of what she’d been doing.

"Do you know about her relationship with Dante Romano?" Antonio asked coldly.

The silence on the other end of the line was deafening.

"I don’t know what that Romano boy did to her," Lorenzo said, "but she hasn’t been the same since she met him. She’s obsessed with him. She’s compromised herself for him. And apparently, she’s willing to break every alliance, every promise, every expectation we’ve ever had of her for him."

Antonio stood up and walked to the window of his office, looking out at the Rome skyline.

"Oh, so you do know about him?" Antonio said, his voice turning cold. "So you don’t know what she’s been doing since she started fucking him?"

The word was crude, intentional, meant to convey exactly how far Isabella had fallen.

"Do you want to tell me you don’t know about their relationship?" Antonio continued. "Do you know how embarrassing that is? Do you know how embarrassing it was to find out that my intended daughter-in-law, the woman who was supposed to marry my son and unite our families....is out there fucking our family’s enemy’s son?"

Antonio’s voice was controlled, but underneath was genuine anger. This wasn’t just about Isabella’s choices. This was about the breach of alliance, the insult to his family’s honor.

"She was in Rome," Antonio said flatly. "She was in YOUR territory. And something like that still happened. Lorenzo, don’t you think you owe me an explanation? Don’t you think our alliance deserves some explanation for why your daughter was involved in such a... compromising situation?"

"Antonio, I...." Lorenzo tried to interrupt.

"Do you think our alliance means nothing?" Antonio pressed on. "Does it mean anything to you at all? We’ve been building this for decades. Our fathers built it. We were supposed to cement it through our children. And your daughter has been actively undermining it by spreading her legs for a Romano."

The crude language was intentional. It was meant to hurt, meant to make Lorenzo understand the depth of the betrayal.

The line went quiet again.

Antonio could hear Lorenzo breathing, could sense him struggling with how to respond.

"What have you done to her?" Lorenzo asked quietly.

"What haven’t I done?" Antonio replied. "She’s Dimitri’s prisoner. She helped kidnap the woman my son loves. She compromised our alliance. She humiliated us both. What do you think Dimitri has done to her?"

"Is she... is she hurt?" Lorenzo asked, and there was genuine concern in his voice now.

"That depends," Antonio said carefully, "on what your definition of hurt is. Dimitri doesn’t typically resort to crude physical violence. But there are many ways to hurt someone that don’t leave visible bruises."

The implication hung heavy between them.

"I want my daughter back," Lorenzo said, his voice firm again. "I want her released immediately. And if Dimitri doesn’t comply, the alliance is finished."

Antonio took a moment, drinking his wine, considering how much of the truth to reveal to Lorenzo.

"Let me ask you something," Antonio said. "Do you even understand what your daughter has done? Do you understand the depth of her betrayal?"

"She made a mistake," Lorenzo said. "She’s young. She..."

"She’s not young, Lorenzo," Antonio interrupted. "She’s a woman who should know better. She’s a woman who was raised to understand the importance of alliance, of family, of duty. And she threw it all away for a man who uses her as a tool and doesn’t even respect her."

Antonio paused.

"And now you want to blame Dimitri?" Antonio continued. "You want to say that our alliance is finished because my son is holding your daughter captive? Perhaps you should be asking yourself why she was in a position to be taken captive in the first place. Perhaps you should be asking yourself what kind of father allows his daughter to become involved with an enemy of the family."