Page 3 of Ivory Crown

He was still boxing me in, his face so close I could see the ridges of his lips, the edges of his stubble.

His finger traced the outline of my face, a touch that felt like both a caress and a chain. “You’ll get everything you need,” he murmured, his eyes holding mine captive. “But you can’t leave here. It’s not safe. I’ll keep you happy.”

The trail of his fingers slipped down my neck, igniting a trail of heat that betrayed my body’s betrayal. His intention was clear as his touch lingered suggestively toward my nipple. “I promise I’ll keep you satisfied. You won’t have to worry about anything.”

His hand slid further, down my stomach, toward my legs. He slid his fingers down over the fabric of my panties, taking a deep breath as he did. “Fuck, you’re already so wet,” he said.

My breath hitched as his finger traced the wetness that had betrayed me. His touch was a promise, searing through the thin fabric of my panties and into the very core of my desire.

“Dante,” I gasped, involuntarily arching into his hand.

“See?” He murmured, his breath hot on my neck. “You want this too.”

I opened my mouth to protest, to remind him of our disagreement, or perhaps just to ask him not to do this right now - but dissolved instead into a moan as his fingers dipped deeper.

“You’ll be happy here,” he said, removing his fingers from my pussy, licking them clean as he looked into my eyes. “And you’ll be mine.”

I opened my mouth to argue.

He traced his thumb over my lips. “You’re already mine.”

And before I could think of what to say, he was walking away from me, closing the door behind himself…and locking it from the outside.

Chapter Two: Dante

She was pregnant.

She was going to have a baby.

We were going to have a baby.

I stepped out of the bedroom, the door clicking shut behind me with a softness that mocked the chaos in my head. This penthouse, high above the city I ruled with an iron fist, had become a gilded cage–not for me, but for her. Jade. The woman who stormed into my life like a hurricane, tearing down walls I didn’t even know I had.

With every step across the cool marble floor, the weight of my choices anchored me to a reality I was beginning to question. Power, control, it all blurred into insignificance against the backdrop of what I felt for her. My city sprawled outside the panoramic windows, lights twinkling in the early morning haze, but it may as well have been another world.

I paused by the grand window, taking in the concrete jungle that bowed to the Moretti name. Somewhere down there, Caruso’s men were stirring, restless serpents ready to strike at their master’s bidding. I needed them to turn on Lorenzo, to see him for the snake he was, but damn it if patience wasn’t a virtue I struggled with.

I hated the waiting, the not knowing, but I’d learned long ago that the most brutal wars were often silent and unseen.

Caruso had to fall. For the family. For Jade. For the future I hadn’t allowed myself to dream of until now.

The soft sounds of Jade moving in the bedroom reached my ears, a contrast to the silence that hung over the rest of the penthouse. I felt my stomach twist, the contents threatening to rebel as I leaned against the cool windowpane. The city, with all its menace and grandeur, had nothing on the feeling that surged through me at the thought of her in the next room.

It wasn’t about owning her; hell, no one could own a spirit like Jade’s. It was the terror that clawed at my insides—the visceral need to shield her from the predators circling our world. The life growing inside her made it all too real. My hand instinctively clenched into a fist. I’d die before letting anything touch them.

I pushed off the glass and strode across the living room, my feet warm against the cold tile. My fingers traced the contours of the leather sofa as I passed, seeking some small comfort in its familiarity. This place was supposed to be a sanctuary. For Jade, though, it was a luxurious prison.

I couldn’t blame her for that.

Imagining her wandering these halls, a ghost lost among treasures she never asked for, twisted something deep within me. Her laugh used to echo off these walls, full of life and curiosity. Now, I imagined it would sound hollow, a reminder of the freedom she traded in unwittingly when our lives collided.

“Damn it,” I cursed under my breath, the words barely audible. She should be out there, in her lab coat, eyes alight with discovery, not trapped here in my world of shadows and blood debts. But I couldn’t risk it, couldn’t expose her to the filth and betrayal that lurked beyond these marble floors. Not now. Not with Caruso’s ambition casting a long, dark shadow over everything we held dear.

Jade was the light in my darkness, an unexpected beacon that showed me a path I never thought possible. And I, Dante Moretti, would move mountains to keep that light burning. With each step I took, the resolve hardened in me. For her, for our child, I’d wage wars and broker peace. I’d become the monster everyone expected, or the savior they never saw coming.

But what I became didn’t matter.

She deserved the world, and I’d give it to her, no matter the cost.

---