NO ONE’S POV

As the men walked in, Viella followed close behind.

"See? There is no one here. What else do you want, huh?" she snapped. "First, you break into my house without permission, and then you have the nerve to enter a lady’s private room. What else?"

As she spoke, her eyes darted to the desk. The book and the papers were sitting out in the open. She moved casually, blocking their line of sight, and slipped them behind her back.

The men stood there, speechless. They had been so certain they’d tracked someone to this balcony.

"Miss Viella, we are just doing our duty," the lead guard stammered.

"Duty? Seriously? Who does your boss think he is?" Viella crossed her arms, staring them down.

The guards stayed silent, their eyes scanning the room one last time. Then, one of the men looked up. His eyes locked onto the hole in the plaster. The bullet hole.

"Are you sure no one came in here miss?" he asked, pointing at the ceiling.

"You think I am lying?" Viella sneered thinking about an excuse.

"I hope you are not. But looking at that ceiling, it seems like something else happened here."

Viella looked up at the hole and didn’t even blink. Without a word, she reached into her waistband, pulled out her own gun, and aimed it straight up.

BANG.

A second hole appeared right next to the first. Inside, she whispered a silent apology to Lucian, now there weren’t just one, but two holes in his expensive ceiling.

"See?" she said, blowing the smoke from the barrel. "It’s my brother’s house. I can do whatever I wish. Now, be glad this was only the ceiling and not your forehead."

The men in front of her shivered.

The Villainess reputation was clearly doing its job.

"We understand... apologies for the interruption," the lead guard said, bowing his head with a frown. They turned to leave, and Viella felt a wave of relief wash over her.

But just as they reached the door-

THUD.

A heavy sound echoed from inside the closet. It sounded like something heavy falling down.

The lead guard stopped in his tracks, a slow smirk spreading across his face.

"I thought you said there was no one, Miss," he said, turning back toward the closet. "Seems like there is definitely someone hiding in there."

Inside the closet, the hooded man’s body slumped to the floor with a heavy thud.

Dang it, Lily muttered under her breath. She was now trapped in a confined space with a fresh corpse. Her fingers tight around the hilt of her knife. She held it steady, ready to burst out and slaughter every man in the room if that door creaked open.

Outside, the lead guard ignored Viella’s protests. He reached for the closet handle, his face set in a stubborn sneer.

"You dare to go through a lady’s closet? Do you not fear your luck or what?!" Viella shouted, her voice reaching a frantic pitch.

But the man didn’t listen. Before Viella could lung forward to stop him, a hand appeared out of nowhere. A large, gloved hand clamped onto the guard’s wrist with the force of a bear trap.

Viella’s head snapped up, her breath hitching in her throat.

Dante!

The shock hit her. When? How? Where? He hadn’t been in the hallway, and the balcony was empty. It was as if he had materialized out of the shadows. I mean it’s inside a book afterall.

Dante held the guard’s hand, slowly increasing the pressure until the man’s bones began to crush. The guard let out a choked cry of agony, his knees buckling under the weight of Dante’s presence.

"Who gave you the permission to even enter my fiancée’s room, let alone her closet?" Dante’s voice was like ice. The room suddenly became colder than usual.

"M-Mr Dante..." the man gasped, sweat pouring down his face.

Dante didn’t soften. He twisted the man’s arm further, the sound of straining tendons filling the silence.

The other guards standing behind him shivered, their bravado completely gone. One of them, panicking, reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, likely to message Elias.

BANG.

Another gunshot rang out. The phone flew out of the guard’s hand, shattered into pieces, and the man let out a howl of pain as he clutched his bleeding fingers.

Dante slowly lowered his gun. He had been holding it in his other hand, the barrel still smoking. He looked back at the man whose hand he was still twisting,

"Seems like your boss never warned you what it is like to mess with Dante Moretti and his people," he whispered.

Viella stood there silently.

"Lord Dante, please listen... ugh!" the man groaned, his face contorting as he tried to catch his breath. "It’s Lord Elias’s command. Please, don’t interfere. We are just doing what he ordered us to do!"

He let out another guttural cry of pain as Dante’s grip tightened, the pressure becoming unbearable. "He won’t tolerate it... Lord Elias won’t..." The guard’s voice trailed off into a wheeze as it felt like his bone finally snapped under the pressure. He collapsed onto the floor, a heap of agony and broken pride.

Viella stood paralyzed, watching the horrible sight. She felt a cold sweat prickling at her hairline. He’s forgetting that Dante has the same power as Elias, she muttered to herself, her eyes darting between the fallen men and Dante.

Dante didn’t seem bothered by the threats or the mention of Elias. Instead, he slowly crouched down, his expensive suit trousers straining slightly as he brought himself to the man’s eye level.

The room fell into a suffocating silence.

"Elias’s command?" Dante whispered, his voice dangerously low. He tilted his head, staring into the guard’s blown-out pupils. "You seem to be under the impression that his name serves as a shield in my presence."

He reached out, his gloved fingers tracing the collar of the guard’s uniform.

"Go back to your master," Dante said, his eyes flashing with a dark predatory light. "Tell him that if he wants to search my fiancée’s room, he should come and do it himself. I’d love to see him try to open that closet door while I’m standing in front of it."

The man tried to scramble to his feet, his face pale with terror, but then again-

BANG.

Another gunshot echoed, hitting him precisely in the joint of his leg. He collapsed back to the floor with a harrowing scream, clutching his shattered knee.

"What happened? Can’t go to your boss?" Dante mocked, "Stand up and go."

"Our boss... he won’t let this slide, Mr. Dante—" the man gasped through gritted teeth, trying to maintain some shred of authority even while bleeding out.

BANG.

Another bullet grazed the floor inches from the man’s head, silencing him instantly.

"Hmm. I think you’re right," Dante said, slowly standing up and holstering his second weapon. He looked down at the whimpering men as if they were nothing more than insects.

"Then shouldn’t I just clear the entire path so you can’t mention what happened today?"

The room fell into another silence. No one dared to breathe. At a sharp nod from Dante, Lucian’s personal guards, who had been waiting in the shadows of the hallway marched in. Without a word, they grabbed the wounded men by their collars and dragged them out toward the basement. The sound of their boots scraping against the floorboards was the only thing that filled the silence.

Dante turned his head slightly, his dark eyes locking onto Viella’s as she stood frozen in the corner, still clutching her own gun.

"Clean the floor," he commanded the remaining servants, his gaze never leaving her face. "My fiancée doesn’t like the smell of blood."

The maids rushed in with buckets and cloths, frantically scrubbing the blood stains from the expensive rugs.

Dante took a slow step toward Viella.

Dante looked over her face, then his gaze swept down her body. She was dressed in simple clothing yet it made her look unexpectedly elegant. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun, strands falling loosely around her face, and her cheeks were flushed a deep red from anger.

A sudden mist fell over Dante’s eyes.

He walked toward her until he stood directly in front of her.

"You really bring trouble wherever you go, don’t you, Viella?" he asked. His voice was a low and teasing.

"I didn’t invite them here," she muttered, forcing herself to look away from his burning eyes. It felt odd to see him standing there so perfectly. She scanned his features, searching for any sign of the wounds from their last encounter, but his face was clear and handsome, as if the injuries had never existed.

Despite the danger he represented, she felt a strange, unwelcome tingling in her heart, though she shoved the feeling down immediately.

"Hmm. Is that so?" Dante’s eyes shifted. They didn’t just look at her anymore, they landed on the closet door, then flicked back to her.

"Seems like trouble just follows you around," he said, "no matter if it’s in my mansion or Lucian’s."

He mentioned the last part with a harshness that made her flinch. He’s mad... definitely mad because I ran away, Viella thought.

Dante reached out, his gloved hand coming up to tilt her chin so she was forced to look at him

"I think you’re forgetting something," Dante said, his gaze dropping from her eyes to linger on her dry lips.

He stepped even closer, his presence overwhelming.

"Today is a very important night for both of us, Viella. And you want to insult me by looking like this?" His tone was harsh, biting with authority, yet it didn’t quite match the dark flash of desire hidden deep in his eyes. "I expected better from my fiancée."

Viella felt the heat of his gaze and bristled. She reached up and roughly shoved his arm away, stepping back.

"Oh, really? I thought you only cared about that maid," she snapped. "Since when did you start caring about your fiancée, huh? Oh wait you still don’t. All you care about is your pride and your perfect face, isn’t it?"

The moment the words left her mouth, Viella froze. What the heck am I saying?! she screamed internally. Why am I provoking him? Do I have a literal death wish?

Dante didn’t explode. Instead, a slow, dangerous smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah... you’re right."

He took one final step forward, leaning in until his breath fanned over her cheek. "Prepare yourself, Viella. A lot of surprises are coming ahead tonight." With that ominous promise, he turned on his shoe and walked out, leaving her standing alone in the middle of the room.

Viella let out a long, shaky breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. "Wait... what did he mean by surprises?"

Outside, Dante’s expression shifted back to stone. He signaled Lucian’s men with a sharp flick of his wrist. "Silence those men in the basement. Permanently."

He strode toward the garage. He stopped in front of his favorite car, the one that now bore ugly scratch on front. His jaw tightened. He climbed inside and drove of the driveway.

Up on the balcony, Viella was peeking through the railing, her heart sinking into her stomach as she watched the car disappear.

"Oh, damn... I am so done," she whispered. "He already saw the scratches. No wonder he said there are surprises waiting. He definitely has a whole itinerary of torture planned for me tonight."

"Definitely," a voice whispered right beside her ear.

Viella jolted back in pure shock, nearly tripping over her suit pants. Lily was standing right there, having emerged from the closet like a ghost, her expression as calm as if she hadn’t just been sitting with a corpse. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

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TO BE CONTINUED