They tortured me right in front of everyone, laughing as my blood dripped onto the cold concrete, never suspecting that the mere whisper of a single name held the power to reduce their entire empire to ashes.

We returned to the lake house as dusk painted the sky in shades of bruised purple and crimson.

The adrenaline that had kept my spine rigid during the summit finally evaporated, leaving me utterly exhausted. I curled up on the oversized velvet sofa in Dante’s private study, a heavy wool blanket draped across my lap. On the desk across from me, three laptop screens glowed with real-time reports of Ivanov assets being seized across the state.

Dante poured two fingers of amber bourbon into a crystal glass and carried it over, sitting on the low coffee table facing me.

"You handled yourself well today," he said quietly.

"I was terrified," I admitted, looking down at my hands. "I thought Viktor’s men would start shooting right there in the banquet hall."

"They wouldn't dare," Dante replied with supreme confidence. "They know that if a single stray round touched you, none of them would make it down the elevator alive."

I looked up into his dark, sculpted face. The cruel, murderous monster from the summit had vanished, replaced by the man who used to make me pancakes on Sunday mornings before the weight of his father’s empire fell on his shoulders.

"Why didn't you let me go, Dante?" I asked softly, the question hanging heavy between us. "When I left two years ago, you had the power to drag me back within twenty-four hours. You owned the police, the airports, the rental companies. Why did you wait until I was half-dead to find me?"

Dante set his glass down. He reached out, his calloused thumb gently tracing the line of my lower lip, lingering over the small cut that was beginning to heal.

"Because you wanted a life without blood, Sofia," he said, his voice raw with an honesty he rarely permitted himself. "You hated the guards. You hated checking the undercarriage of the car for explosives before going to the grocery store. You looked at me like I was a cage. I loved you enough to let you have your peace, even if living without you felt like having my chest carved open every single day."

My breath hitched. "Dante..."

"I had four undercover operatives watching your apartment from across the street," he continued, holding my gaze captive. "Every day you went to your accounting firm, every time you bought groceries, every Friday night you ordered that horrible Thai food you love... I knew. I watched the reports. I watched you smile, and I told myself it was worth the agony as long as you were safe."

His voice dropped to a dark, ragged whisper. "Then Viktor’s men took you. And the moment they laid their hands on you, my mercy ran out. I will never let you leave my sight again, Sofia. Call it a prison if you want, but you are staying where I can protect you."

I stared at him, my heart hammering violently against my bruised ribs. The fear of his world was still there, but beneath it was an undeniable, burning truth: the ordinary world hadn't protected me. It had chewed me up and left me to die on a cold floor.

Only Dante had come.

Without thinking, I reached out with trembling fingers and cupped his rough, stubbled jaw. "I don't think I want to leave anymore."