"Ex-fiance, hmm?"

Without a word of warning, he slipped his arm under her knees and the other behind her back, effortlessly lifting her off the seat and into his arms.

"Yelp!" Viella hissed, her legs kicking the air. She started throwing punches against his chest. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Brother, what are you doing?! You have a wife at home! You have Alina! You can’t cheat on her with your ex-fiance! Think of your reputation!"

Dante stopped in the middle of the aisle, leaning his face down until his nose brushed hers. His voice was a low, "Say that word ’brother’ again, and I will make sure you can never speak another word at all."

He wanted her so badly in that moment- the defiance in her eyes only fueled the dark fire in his gut. He turned and began carrying her down the plane’s stairs.

Viella shut up for exactly three seconds before her survival instinct kicked back into high gear.

She started screaming at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing across the windy runway.

"EX-FIANCE! LET ME GOOO! PLEASE, GO BACK TO YOUR WIFE! HELP! KIDNAPPING!"

She was kicking and thrashing, her wig slipping to one side as she fought his iron grip. Dante stayed perfectly calm, his expression unreadable as he marched toward the waiting helicopter. He ignored her punches and kicks as if they were nothing more than light feather.

"Keep screaming, Viella," he whispered darkly, "No one is coming to save you from me this time. Not the police, not Elias... and certainly not your ’brother.’"

He stepped into the chopper and tossed her onto the seat, the cabin door slamming shut with a heavy thud. Viella tried to scramble back, her breath hitching, but Dante was already over her, his massive frame casting a shadow on top of her.

Before she could even open her mouth to scream again, Dante seized both of her wrists in one hand, pinning them firmly above her head.

He pressed her down, the weight of his body making it impossible for her to move.

Then, he crashed his lips onto hers.

It wasn’t a gentle kiss but much more hungrier one. He kissed her with a desperate ferocity, as if he were trying to swallow her soul to ensure she could never leave his side again.

Viella’s eyes flew wide, her heart pounding hard. She could feel the possessive hunger in his movements.

The heat in the small cabin became unbearable.

As the kiss deepened, the air seemed to vanish from the room. Viella’s lungs began to burn. Her vision started to blur, the world spinning..

Was he planning to kill her with a kiss? She felt lightheaded, her strength draining away as she struggled to draw even a single breath. Just as she thought she might lose consciousness, Dante pulled back just a fraction, his lips lingering against hers, his breath coming in ragged, heavy gasps.

"You’re not going anywhere, Viella," he rasped, his voice low, his eyes burning with an unhinged fire. "Not to Germany, not to another city, and especially not away from me. You are mine, and I will burn the whole world down before I let you take another step toward the exit."

Viella could only gasp for air, her chest heaving as she stared up at the man who had officially destroyed her dreams of freedom.

Her watery eyes watched in a daze as Dante reached into his pocket. He took out a small, translucent capsule and placed it between his own teeth. Before she could even process the sight, he leaned down again.

His lips reclaimed hers with a punishing force. Viella tried to twist away, her hands feebly pushing against his rock hard chest, but her muscles felt like jelly from the previous act. She was too exhausted to fight.

As his tongue forced its way past her teeth, she felt the capsule break. A cool, bittersweet liquid slipped into her mouth, and he tilted her head back, ensuring the fluid slid down her throat.

"Drink it, amore mia," he murmured against her skin, his voice a husky. "Sleep now. When you wake up, the world will be exactly as I want it."

Not long after, the world began to tilt. The sound of the helicopter started to fade and the heavy weight of his body felt like a war blanket.

Her eyelids became heavy, and she felt her strength leave. Her head lulled to the side, her consciousness slipping.

Dante pulled back, watching her body finally go limp beneath him. Her face was beautifully flushed, her lips swollen and bruised from his hunger, and her dark lashes rested against her pale skin. Seeing her so helpless, so utterly under his control, caused his eyes to darken to a terrifying bottomless black.

He didn’t move away. Instead, he reached down and hooked his arms under her, lifting her unconscious frame with a possessive grunt. He settled back into the seat and pulled her firmly onto his lap, hugging her to his chest as if she were a precious treasure.

He buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her hair while pressing lingering kisses along her jawline and forehead.

"You fought so hard to leave," he whispered into her ear, his hand stroking her hair with a tenderness. "But in the end, you always come back to me. Even if I have to put you to sleep to keep you still."

The helicopter banked sharply, turning away from the airport and toward the isolated mountains where his private estate waited. .

_________________

Viella’s POV

Ugh... a groaned escaped my lips. It felt like someone was banging my head with a hammer from the inside out. My throat felt dry asf and every time I tried to open my heavy eyes, the world tilted and spun.

Slowly, my vision began to settle, and a dark ceiling came into view.

I need to get up.

I tried to sit up, but I immediately felt something heavy holding me down. It felt like a solid weight draped across my waist and chest, pinning me into the mattress. I tried to wriggle out, to find some air, but the moment I moved, the pressure only got tighter, pulling me backward into the soft bed underneath.

I turned my head slightly to the side, my eyes straining in the dim light, and I saw... muscle. Thick corded muscle underneath the blanket.

Holy shit! Where am I?! Who is this?!! Did I get drunk and have a one night stand with some random hot guy?

Then, like a bucket of ice water being dumped over my head, everything returned.

Don’t tell me Dante kidnapped me again! I wanted to fucking scream, to thrash, to claw his eyes out- but I forced my jaw shut. I stayed frozen. I was sure he could feel it through his chest. I didn’t want to wake him. God, I definitely didn’t want to wake him. Who knows what he would do now.

I looked down at the arm draped over me. His grip was possessive even in sleep.

Questions kept racing through my mind like a chaotic storm. First of all, why the hell did he kidnap me? Does he want to kill me? Is this some twisted form of revenge? I shook my head, trying to clear the fog.

There was no way someone would kiss you that deeply if they just wanted you dead... Suddenly, I felt my cheeks go hot, and I shook my head again. Focus, Viella! Whatever.

But does this mean he’s been acting this entire time? If so, what happened to Alina? What exactly is he planning? A million questions were screaming for answers, but one thing was certain. I refused to end up as a broken bird in his golden cage.

Then, a thought popped into my head. I looked down, holding my breath. Thankfully, I was still wearing my own dress. Dante was the one who was shirtless, looking far too comfortable for someone who had just committed a crime.

Slowly, I slid my hand inside my inner garments, my heart skipping a beat as my fingers brushed against something. My eyes glinted in the darkness. The dagger. It was still there.

It seems the great Dante Moretti didn’t check me as thoroughly as he thought. A dangerous smirk played on my lips as I slowly dragged the blade out. I held it steady, the tip pointing directly at his bare chest, right over his sleeping heart.

The power had shifted in a single second. I looked at his calm, handsome face and felt a surge of cold resolve. Should I just do it? Should I just kill him now and end this entire Chapter once and for all?

Before I could do it, my hand stopped halfway. My fingers trembled, and for some reason, the blade just wouldn’t move forward. I stood there, frozen, staring silently at his sleeping face.

Without the cold, gloomy darkness in his eyes, he looked almost... innocent. His lashes were long, casting soft shadows on his cheekbones, and a stray lock of dark hair had fallen over his forehead. There was no denying it-

His face was one of the most majestic things you could see once in a lifetime. He looked less like a monster and more like a fallen angel.

"Maybe that’s why Alina is so obsessed with him," I muttered under my breath, my grip on the dagger loosening just a fraction. But just as I was about to pull away-

His eyes snapped open.

The transition from deep sleep to predatory awareness was instantaneous. His dark, piercing gaze moved from my face down to the dagger pressed against his chest, then back up to my eyes.

Oops. Caught red handed... I stayed completely frozen, the tip of the blade still hovering over his heart. My breath hitched in my throat.

I expected him to roar in anger, to disarm me, or to pin me down again.

Instead, his chest began to vibrate under the blade. A low sound filled the quiet room. He let out a amused chuckle that sent a shiver straight down my spine.

"Beautiful," he rasped, his voice thick with sleep. "You really were going to do it, weren’t you, mia cara? You are so desperate to always runaway from me aren’t you?"

He didn’t even move to take the knife away. In fact, he leaned forward slightly, pushing his chest into the point of the dagger.

"Go on then," he whispered, his eyes locking onto mine with an unhinged intensity. "If you want to be free of me that badly... drive it in. But I warn you, Viella- if I’m going to hell, I’m dragging you down with me."

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TO BE CONTINUED