**Chapter 5: His Prisoner of Fate**

The photo's in pieces. Blood dripping from my hand onto the marble floor. Each drop hitting like a fucking drumbeat.

I pick up the biggest shard. Sharp as hell. Cut right through my palm but I don't give a shit. Pain's nothing. Eve's backed up against the wall, shaking like a damn leaf in a storm.

"Your hand, it's bleeding—"

"Shut up." I walk toward her slow. Real slow. Blood's still coming from where the glass bit me. Let it flow. Let her see what happens when people cross me. "Not another fucking word."

But she opens her mouth anyway. Course she does. Women never know when to quit. I smear my bloody palm right across her face. Mark her up good. My blood on her skin. Perfect.

"You scared now?" I grab her chin. Force her to look at me. "You should be."

She's got fear in her eyes now. Took long enough. But there's something else there too. Something that pisses me off. Defiance.

My phone rings. Marco's name flashing on the screen.

"What."

"Boss, got the friend. Lina Rossi. She knows shit about your girl here."

Eve goes pale as a ghost. All that blood drains right out of her face. "Lina doesn't know anything—"

"Kill her." Simple as that. Don't even hesitate.

"NO!" Now she's fighting me. Nails digging into my arms like little claws. "Don't hurt her! Please, she's innocent!"

I grab both her wrists. Squeeze till she stops clawing at me. Till she realizes how weak she really is. "Should've thought about that before you started lying to me."

"I'm not lying! I don't know what you want!"

"Sure you don't." I laugh. Cold as ice. "Marco, you still there?"

"Yeah, boss."

"Put the bitch on screen. Let my guest here watch."

"NO! Please don't make me—"

"Shut the fuck up."

The big TV on the wall lights up. Takes a second for the feed to come through. Then there's Lina. Tied up tight in my warehouse. Face beat to shit already. Blood on her lips. Crying her eyes out like a baby.

She looks right at the camera. Right at us. "Eve... baby, if you're seeing this... I'm so sorry. So fucking sorry I couldn't protect you. Just give him whatever he wants, okay? Don't let me die for nothing."

I snap my fingers. Screen cuts to black.

Eve makes this noise. Like someone just ripped her soul out through her throat. Her legs give out and she falls right against me. Dead weight.

"You killed her." Whispers it like she can't believe it.

"Not yet. But I will." I yank her up by the hair. Hard. "Your friend knew too much about you. About where you came from."

"About what? I told you, I don't know anything!"

"Bullshit." Drag her toward the door. "You'll remember. Trust me on that."

She fights me the whole way. Digging her heels in. Trying to grab onto furniture. But she's nothing. A feather compared to me. I drag her through the house like she weighs nothing.

Past the old family pictures. Dead Valentinos staring down at us from their frames. Past the blood stains on the walls from last week's business meeting. Guy thought he could skim from my operations. Thought wrong.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere special. Just for you."

Get to my study. Looks normal enough. Books nobody reads. Big mahogany desk. Leather chair that cost more than most people make in a year. But that's not the real show.

I hit the switch hidden behind the bookshelf. Wall slides open with a quiet hiss. Steel walls behind it. Concrete floor. No windows. Air vents too small for anything bigger than a rat.

Built this room myself. Well, had it built. Killed the contractor after. Can't have people knowing about my private spaces.

"Welcome home, princess."

Shove her inside hard. She stumbles, falls on her knees. Door slams shut behind her. Sounds like a gunshot echoing through the house.

"DANTE!" She's up now, pounding on the steel door with her fists. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

I press the speaker button. Lean close to the microphone. "You stay put till you remember shit. Till you stop lying to my face."

"I'm not lying! I don't know what you want from me!"

"Sure you do." I laugh. Pull out my tablet. "Been watching you for months, sweetheart. Since last winter. Your whole apartment's bugged. Every room."

Silence from her side. Good. Let that sink in.

"Yeah, that's right. Way before we 'met' at that coffee place. Every phone call you made. Every time you cried yourself to sleep. Every pathetic guy you brought over to fuck."

Pull up the files. Hours of recordings. Pictures through her bedroom window. Video from the cameras I had installed in her kitchen. Her bathroom. Everywhere.

"Want to hear something interesting?" Hit play on file 47-B.

Her own voice fills the room through the speakers: "Had that dream again, Lina. About the guy with dark hair. It feels so real but I can never see his face clearly. Like someone erased it from my memory."

"Stop it," she says through the intercom. Voice shaking now.

"Oh, this one's even better." Play file 23-A.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm living someone else's life, you know? Like Eve Morrison isn't even real. Like I'm just pretending to be her."

"STOP IT! STOP PLAYING THOSE!"

"Getting interesting now, isn't it?" I'm smiling. Can't help it. "Still gonna tell me you don't know anything?"

"I don't! Those are just... just stupid things I said when I was upset!"

"Then explain this." Hold my tablet up to the security camera so she can see the screen. Bank records going back three years. Medical files with different names. Birth certificates. Death certificates. "Explain how Eve Morrison has paperwork from six different states."

She goes quiet. Real quiet. Can probably hear her heart beating through the microphone.

"How did you..."

"Money talks, princess. Judges listen when you pay them enough. Doctors do whatever you want when you own their gambling debts. Clerks file whatever paperwork you give them when their kids go to schools you fund."

Long silence. When she finally talks again, her voice sounds different. Smaller. Scared.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because you belong to me. Always have."

I hear her moving around in there. Probably looking for a way out. Good luck with that. Spent a fortune making this room escape-proof.

Glass breaks. Sharp sound through the speaker. She found the water bottle I left her.

Smart girl.

I wait a few minutes. Let her think about what she's gonna do. Then I open the door.

She's waiting for me. Standing right there with a broken piece of glass in her hand. Pointed right at my throat. Her hand's shaking but she's holding it steady enough.

"Let me go or you're dead."

"No." I don't even blink. "You won't do it."

"Try me." But her voice cracks when she says it.

She tries to stab me. Quick little thrust toward my neck. I catch her wrist easy as breathing. Been in a thousand fights. This isn't even close to one.

Twist her wrist till she drops the glass. It hits the concrete floor and breaks into more pieces.

"You wanna hurt me?" I push her back against the steel wall. Pin her there with my whole body. Get real close. So close I can smell her fear. "You wanna make me bleed like I made you bleed?"

"I hate you." Spits it right in my face.

"Good." Right in her ear so she feels my breath. "Hate me all you want. You're still not going anywhere. Ever."

Then I kiss her. Hard. Brutal. Take what's mine.

She fights it at first. Tries to turn her head away. Then she bites my lip. Hard enough to draw blood. I taste it on my tongue.

I laugh right against her mouth. "There she is. Still got some fight in her."

"Get away from me!"

"You taste the same. Feel the same in my arms. Fight the same way she used to."

"Stop comparing me to whoever she was!"

"Gonna break you down piece by piece, princess. Till you stop pretending. Till you remember who you really are underneath all this fake bullshit."

"You're insane."

"Maybe." I step back. Straighten my jacket like nothing happened. "But I'm also patient. Got all the time in the world to wait for you to crack."

Leave her there in the steel room. Lock the door behind me. But I don't go far. Stand right outside in the hallway, listening.

First she cries. Soft little sobs like a kid who lost her mommy. Then she gets mad. Starts screaming at the walls. Pounding on the door till her fists must be bleeding.

Then nothing. Dead silence.

That's when I lean close to the bars of the door's window.

"I'll burn this whole fucking world down before I let you go again."

I hear her breathing stop. Then start again. Faster.

"Everyone who helped you disappear. Everyone who gave you fake papers. Everyone who helped you lie to me. They're all gonna pay the price."

She slides down the wall. I can hear her body scraping against the steel.

"Sweet dreams, princess. Tomorrow we do this all over again. And the day after that. And the day after that. Till you remember everything you're trying so hard to forget."

I walk away then. But I know she can still hear my footsteps echoing down the hall. Know she's counting them. Wondering if I'm really gone or just waiting.

Let her wonder. Fear's a useful tool. And I got plenty of time to use it.