Chapter 6

The SUV cut through the Manhattan traffic, the city lights blurring past the tinted windows. Inside, the air was thick with a silence so heavy it pressed against Helena's eardrums.

The guards sat like statues on either side of her, their hands folded in their laps. Dante sat across from her, his ankle resting on his knee, his gaze boring into her.

"Tell me," Dante said, his voice slicing through the quiet. "Who put you up to this?"

Helena turned her head, staring out the window at the passing storefronts. She didn't answer.

"Was it Sloane?" Dante pressed, his tone hardening. "Did your lawyer friend tell you to sell the necklace? Did she tell you to file for divorce so you could challenge the prenup and take half my company?"

His words were like poison darts, each one aimed at a specific, painful memory. He truly believed she was a con artist. He had believed it from the very beginning.

"Is that what you think?" Helena asked, her voice flat. "That I'm doing this for money?"

"What else is there?" Dante scoffed. He shifted forward, his presence overwhelming the small space. "You think I don't see the game you're playing? The poor little girl who spilled wine on me at the charity gala, just looking for a rich husband?"

Helena's blood ran cold. The charity gala. The one night she wanted to forget more than anything.

Dante pulled out his phone, but he didn't swipe through photos. He made a call, his eyes never leaving hers. "Alex," he commanded, his voice sharp. "Send me the security stills from the Met Gala, two years ago. The ballroom entrance." A moment later, his phone buzzed. He turned the screen toward her. It was a grainy shot, but unmistakable. Helena, wearing a catering uniform that was two sizes too big, a tray of empty champagne glasses in one hand, a dark red stain spreading across the front of Dante's white tuxedo jacket.

"Quite the performance," Dante said, his lip curling. "The clumsy waitress. The damsel in distress. Except I checked. You weren't on the catering staff that night. You weren't a guest. How did you get in, Helena? How much did you pay someone to let you in?"

Helena's throat tightened. She couldn't tell him the truth. She couldn't explain that she had taken the place of a friend who was sick, that she had signed an NDA, that she had promised never to reveal how she had ended up in that room.

She said nothing.

Dante took her silence as an admission of guilt. He put the phone away, leaning back against the leather seat, a look of disgust on his face.

"That's what I thought," he said softly. "You're a fraud, Helena. From the very first second I met you. You saw a mark, and you went in for the kill."

He leaned in close, his face inches from hers. His breath was warm, smelling faintly of black coffee. "But you miscalculated. You think you can take me for a ride? You think you can threaten me with divorce? I own you. I own the roof over your head, the food in your stomach, and the shoes on your feet. And if you ever, ever try to humiliate me again, I will make sure you end up on the street with nothing but the clothes on your back."

He pulled back, his eyes raking over her with a cold, clinical detachment.

Helena felt something inside her snap. It wasn't her heart-that was already dead. It was the last thread of hope she had been clinging to, the tiny, pathetic belief that maybe, if she just explained herself, he would understand.

He didn't want to understand. He wanted to win. He needed her to be the villain so he could justify the way he treated her.

She looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time since he got in the car. He was a man driven by control, blinded by his own ego. He was pathetic.

She didn't say a word. She just turned her head back to the window and watched the city slide by.

Dante stared at her, waiting for tears, for begging, for anger. When none came, a flicker of annoyance crossed his features. He had expected a fight. He had wanted a fight so he could crush her.

Instead, she gave him nothing.

The car pulled into the underground garage of their building. The driver parked in the reserved spot, and the guards immediately got out, opening the door for Dante.

Dante stepped out, straightening his jacket. He looked at Helena, who was still sitting in the car, her face a mask of calm.

"Let's go," he ordered.

Helena took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. She walked past him toward the elevator, her spine straight, her head held high.

Dante watched her go, a strange, uneasy feeling settling in his gut. He had won. He had shut down her accounts, destroyed her papers, and reminded her of her place.

So why did it feel like he had just lost something important?