Chapter 385: Dimitri Doesn’t Love Her

POV: LORENZO

Lorenzo found Camila in the drawing room, tea growing cold on the table beside her. She looked up when he entered, already sensing the change in his mood.

"We need to talk," Lorenzo said, closing the door behind him.

Camila set down her cup carefully. "What’s happened?"

"The Covenant is moving against Dimitri," Lorenzo said without preamble. "Antonio and I have made an agreement. It’s time to bring them together. Isabella and Dimitri. When he comes to Rome next week, she’ll be waiting."

He watched her entire body went rigid.

"No," Camila said, standing so quickly her chair scraped backward. "Lorenzo, absolutely not. No. Have you lost your mind?"

"Sit down," Lorenzo said quietly.

"I will not sit down," Camila’s voice rose, trembling with something between fury and desperation. "Do you remember what happened the last time she went near him? Do you remember having to demand that Dimitri release our daughter from his prison? Our daughter, Lorenzo."

"I remember exactly what happened," Lorenzo said. "Isabella overstepped. She disrespected him. She paid the price for it."

"She paid the price?" Camila laughed...a sharp, bitter sound. "She was traumatized. She came out of that place broken, Lorenzo. Broken. And now you want to send her back to him? You want to parade her in front of the man who just imprisoned her?"

Lorenzo moved to the window, looking out at the Roman skyline. "The situation has changed."

"The situation hasn’t changed," Camila said fiercely, following him. "Dimitri doesn’t love her. You know this. I know this. Isabella knows this. And yet you’re going to sacrifice her anyway? For what? For some strategic alliance that requires our daughter to smile and pretend she wants to be in the same room as the man who treated her like a criminal?"

"She was a criminal in that moment," Lorenzo said coldly. "She defied him. She challenged his authority. And he responded the way any man in his position would have responded."

"Any man?" Camila’s voice cracked. "Is that what we’re calling torture now, Lorenzo? Any man would have done it? That’s your justification?"

Lorenzo turned to face her, and there was something implacable in his expression, something that had made men fear him for decades. "Dimitri doesn’t torture women. If he imprisoned Isabella, it was because she needed to be reminded of her place. And apparently, she needed that reminder."

"Her place," Camila repeated, her voice hollow. "Yes, of course. Her place is at his side, whether he wants her there or not. Whether she’s healed or not. Whether she can survive it or not."

"She can survive it," Lorenzo said flatly. "She’s stronger than you give her credit for."

"She’s our daughter, not a soldier," Camila snapped. "And even if she were, even if she had the strength....what about what she wants? Did you think to ask her? Did you consider for one moment that Isabella might not want to throw herself at a man who just proved he sees her as disposable?"

Lorenzo was quiet for a long moment, and in that silence, Camila felt a sliver of hope....maybe he would reconsider. Maybe he would see reason.

Then he spoke.

"What Isabella wants," he said carefully, "is irrelevant right now. What matters is what Isabella needs to be. And she needs to be ready."

The hope shattered.

"No," Camila said, shaking her head. "No, Lorenzo, I won’t do this. I won’t push her toward..."

"You don’t have a choice," Lorenzo said, and his voice carried the weight of decades of unquestioned authority. "Neither of us do, actually. Antonio and I have just made a decision that will reshape the balance of power in this city. The Covenant is making its move. War is coming. And when it does, we need our alliances secure. We need our families unified. We need Isabella and Dimitri united, not for love, not for comfort, but for survival."

"Survival?" Camila laughed again, but this time it was closer to despair. "You’re talking about sacrificing our daughter on the altar of your ambitions and calling it survival?"

"I’m talking about ensuring she survives what’s coming," Lorenzo said quietly. "Do you think The Covenant cares about Isabella’s feelings? Do you think they’ll hesitate to use her as leverage against me, against Antonio, against Dimitri? No. They won’t. So she needs to be strong. She needs to be beside Dimitri not because she loves him, but because that’s where she’s safest. That’s where she has the most power."

Camila’s hands were shaking. "She just got out of his prison, Lorenzo."

"And she survived it," Lorenzo said. "Stronger than she was before, I’d wager. A reminder she clearly needed."

"You’re a monster," Camilla whispered.

"I’m a father," Lorenzo corrected, and there was something almost sad in his voice...almost. "I’m a father making impossible choices so my daughter has a future."

"He doesn’t love her," Camilla said again, but her voice was smaller now, weaker. "Dimitri will never love her."

"No," Lorenzo agreed. "He probably won’t. But he respects power. He respects strength. And if Isabella can show him both, if she can walk into that room composed, controlled, undamaged by what happened to her....then he might respect her. And respect is enough. Love is a luxury we can’t afford right now."

Camila turned away from him, her shoulders curved inward, protective. She could feel the trap closing around both of them, the war that was coming, the alliances that needed to hold, the daughter who would have to be weaponized whether she was ready or not.

"She’s not ready," Camila said one last time, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Then you’ll make her ready," Lorenzo said. "Ready or not, she needs to start getting her act together. She needs to remember that she comes from power. She needs to behave like the child I’ve invested so much into. She needs to be the woman who can stand beside Dimitri and not flinch."

Camila didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Because she knew...had always known, that when Lorenzo made a decision, it was absolute. And she also knew that if she refused, he would simply do it himself. Better that Isabella hear this from her than from him.

"One week," Camila said quietly. "You’re giving me one week to make her believe this is somehow for her own good."

"Yes," Lorenzo said. "One week."

Camila moved toward the door, every step feeling like defeat.

"And Camila?" Lorenzo’s voice stopped her at the threshold. "Tell her it’s time to be strong. Tell her it’s time to remember what she is. Tell her Dimitri is coming home, and she needs to be ready to meet him as his equal, not his victim."

Camila left without responding, moving down the corridor toward Isabella’s room.

She had one week to prepare her daughter to face the man who’d imprisoned her.

She had one week to make Isabella believe that this was survival, not sacrifice.

She had one week to be a mother and a soldier simultaneously, and she wasn’t sure which role would break her first.

When she reached Isabella’s door, she paused for a long moment, gathering herself, composing her face into something neutral, something that wouldn’t betray the war happening inside her.

Then she knocked.