Chapter 2 Terms of Protection

"You," she echoed.

As if the word itself would bite her.

Dante's smirk didn't move. But his eyes-his eyes devoured her. There was hunger in them, yes. But something colder too. Something like calculation wrapped in velvet.

"You can't buy a person," Selene whispered, though her voice lacked conviction.

"No," he said smoothly, "but I can collect what's owed."

He turned, gesturing to a back hallway lit only by blue neon. She hesitated.

"Don't follow if you're unsure, Selene," he said over his shoulder. "But walk through that door, and I become your protection. Your ruin. Your reckoning."

She followed.

Because there was no one left to run to.

---

The office was all leather, steel, and low lighting. Guns lined one wall, each polished to shine. A single black rose sat in a vase on his desk. It looked as if it had been dipped in blood.

Dante gestured for her to sit. She didn't.

"Tell me," he said, pouring two drinks, "how bad is it?"

Selene forced the words past her lips. "Cassandra manipulated the board. She convinced them I was unstable. Used doctored psychiatric files. Had Rafe-my ex-back her up. Then they froze my access. Sold assets under my name. I tried fighting legally, but... the judge was paid off."

"And you just stood there?" he asked, handing her the glass.

"I tried everything."

"No," he said, stepping closer. "You tried everything a good girl would try."

Selene's lip trembled. "I didn't come here to be insulted."

"No," he repeated, softly now. "You came here to be saved."

He lifted her chin with one finger. Slowly. Tenderly. As if he were trying to decide which part of her to cut open first.

"I'll fix it. I'll destroy them. But you need to understand what it means when a man like me makes you his."

She tried to pull back. He didn't let her.

"It means," Dante continued, "that your name, your body, and your soul are now wrapped in my name. It means I can command you to stay silent while I burn a man alive and you won't blink. It means when I ask you to smile at a table full of monsters, you smile like you love it."

"I don't think I'm built for that," she said, voice cracking.

"You will be."

Then, gently: "Or you'll break."

---

He sat on the edge of his desk, drink in hand, legs spread. Like a king. Like a man who never had to beg, only take.

"You'll live in my penthouse," he said. "I'll give you clothes, power, access. I'll reinstate your name in ways that matter. But the moment you betray me-"

"I won't."

"You might." He sipped. "People lie. Even the soft ones."

Selene set her glass down. "And what do you get from this?"

Dante smiled. "I get a Castille back under my protection. That's worth more than gold in my world."

"That's not the full answer."

He stood. Walked around her. A predator circling prey. And then-

"I get you, Selene."

---

She turned. He was so close now she could feel the heat of him.

"You mean sex."

"I mean control."

He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I want to mold you. Break that frightened little thing they left behind. Make you stronger than them. Dangerous."

"And if I say no?"

"Then I'll still protect you. But from a distance. And you'll be left as you are-unclaimed. Unarmed."

Selene's heart thudded in her throat. "And if I say yes?"

He stepped forward. Placed his hand flat against her chest. Right over her heart.

"Then you'll be mine. Not as a possession. As a promise. Until your enemies are ashes."

Her body flushed. It was wrong. All of it. But the thought of walking away into the cold night, unguarded, alone...

"I don't sleep with strangers," she whispered.

He leaned close. His breath touched her lips.

"Then get to know me. Slowly. On your knees."

---

Her eyes widened. "Is this a test?"

"This is how I protect," he said darkly. "With total possession. With obedience. With loyalty so deep, it hurts."

Selene's breathing stuttered.

"You want vengeance," he murmured. "I want your trust."

A long silence stretched between them.

Then she whispered, "I'll stay."

He didn't smile. Just nodded once.

"You start tomorrow. You'll wear what I give you. Eat what I say. Speak only when spoken to in my business. And at night..."

His hand traced the back of her neck, slow and warm and terrifying.

"At night, you'll learn who I am."