Chapter 7 A Bullet Between Promises

Three days passed.

Three nights of flesh and fire.

Of Dante devouring her with hands that once broke bones.

Of Selene finding herself in the wreckage of his sheets and the roughness of his voice when he whispered her name like it was a curse he couldn't stop praying to.

But desire was not enough to hide the truth-

She was still in danger.

And danger had a name.

Allegra.

Her stepsister. The snake in satin.

Now the queen of her father's stolen empire.

---

"Why haven't we moved yet?" Selene asked, standing by the massive window in Dante's penthouse. Her black slip clung to her hips like a whisper, but her eyes were steel.

Dante sat at the edge of the bed, shirtless, cigarette in one hand, phone in the other.

"Because war isn't just bullets and blood," he muttered. "It's knowing when to pull the trigger."

"I'm not a pawn."

"No," he said, rising, walking toward her. "You're bait."

She flinched.

He touched her cheek. "I won't let them touch you."

"Then stop using me as a trap."

His silence said more than words.

---

Flashback – 11 Years Ago

It was raining. Always raining in the slums of the eastern quarter.

A sixteen-year-old Dante stood barefoot in a puddle of his own blood. Stab wound to the stomach. One broken rib. A Glock in his hand, shaking.

The man he tried to rob-twice his size-was dead at his feet.

He was dying. He could feel it.

Until headlights pierced the alley.

Until Sebastian Castille stepped out.

Not with a gun, but an umbrella.

"You're a mess, boy," Sebastian said.

"Go to hell," Dante spat, teeth red.

Sebastian knelt beside him. "Maybe I already did. That's why I see myself in you."

He carried Dante to his car. No questions. No name. Just quiet understanding.

In that moment, Dante swore two things-

To never owe another man again.

And to never forget the one who didn't ask anything in return.

---

Now.

Selene paced Dante's office. Her silk robe was loose. Her patience, looser.

"You're hiding something."

Dante looked up from the files he was reading-bank accounts, offshore codes, a trail of embezzled fortune Allegra had buried deep.

"I'm hiding everything," he replied. "That's how I've survived."

"But not from me."

He watched her. Eyes slow. Cold. Careful.

"You think what we did makes you safe?"

She walked over, leaned on his desk, eyes burning. "I think what we did makes you mine."

That smile again-the one that didn't reach his eyes.

He stood, walked around the desk, caging her between his arms.

"Say that again," he said lowly.

"Mine," she whispered.

He kissed her hard, lifting her onto the desk. Her legs wrapped around him, pulling him close.

Then-BANG!

Glass shattered.

Selene screamed. Dante yanked her down to the floor, gun drawn in an instant.

"Sniper," he growled. "Penthouse across the street."

"How-how did they-"

"They're watching us. Always were." He grabbed her wrist. "Get up."

Alarms shrieked. Men in suits flooded the hallway with guns drawn. Dante shoved a pistol into Selene's hand.

She blinked at it.

"You said you wanted in?" he snarled. "Now shoot or die."

---

In the car.

They drove fast. Tires screeching through the underground garage. Selene clutched the weapon with shaking fingers.

"What the hell just happened?" she asked.

Dante was calm. Too calm. "Allegra knows you're not alone anymore. She just declared war."

"Then take me to her. Let's end this."

Dante glanced at her. "Revenge doesn't work like that. We need allies, leverage-"

"I don't want leverage. I want blood."

A pause. Then his voice, soft like leather.

"Good. You're finally starting to think like me."

---

Somewhere else.

Allegra sat at a table in her father's old mansion. Her lips blood-red. Her nails sharper than her smile.

"She survived," her right-hand man said. "The sniper missed."

Allegra sipped her wine. "He didn't miss. He made a statement."

"And now?"

She set the glass down. "Now I give her what she came for."

A man entered-bruised, beaten.

Daniel.

Selene's ex. The boy who'd betrayed her for a piece of the Castille empire.

"She still thinks you loved her?" Allegra asked.

Daniel nodded.

"Then go," she purred. "Break her again."

---

Back in Dante's world.

Selene sat on the edge of the bed, Dante's blood still on her arm, her hands shaking.

"I thought I was ready," she whispered.

"You were."

"I was shaking."

Dante crouched in front of her, touched her thigh.

"You didn't run."

"I wanted to."

"But you didn't." He leaned in. "That's what makes you dangerous."

She kissed him-this time not out of lust, but out of need. A need to feel alive. To forget the bullet that missed her head by inches.

---

As she fell asleep in his arms, he watched the skyline, eyes narrowing.

He knew Allegra.

She wouldn't stop with a warning.

Next time, it wouldn't be a missed shot.

It would be war.