Chapter 5

Dante reached for the gun in his waistband and sprang up from his chair.

The scream had stopped, but he was sure he had heard it.

He had dozed off behind his desk as he had been doing lately.

The shock quickly morphed into anger at the thought of an intruder.

Did they come for the girl? He should have just finished her off. He thought as he opened the door.

He was expecting the worst on the other side.

He expected to see his men down or at least clashing with whoever had dared to penetrate his fortress.

Instead, his men were standing upright with their ears cocked towards the direction where the scream had come from.

One of them was speaking into his ear-clipped speaker.

“What the fuck was that?” he asked in annoyance.

“Carl is checking it out, boss.”

Dante swore beneath his breath and headed towards the landing. His men followed him instantly.

Nothing out of the ordinary was going on downstairs. His men were at their posts without signs of a struggle.

Dante knew for sure that none of his domestic staff would dare scream like that in the house unless the person was done with life.

His head cocked towards the main entrance with his hand still on his gun, as he heard the door open.

Carl entered before Angelo. Angelo stopped and looked upward. He quickly entered the elevator and was with him in seconds.

“It was her,” Angelo said automatically as he stepped out of the elevator.

“Her?” Dante asked in a monotone.

“The girl,” Angelo answered with a chagrined look. “I was trying to get her to fess up. She tried to roll off the bed and let out that goddamn scream,”

“So, you were right. She is guilty. Get her to talk and get rid of her.” Dante said and turned to leave.

“That would be a bit tricky at the moment, boss. She fainted while screaming. Doc said the scream had affected the intracranial pressure she had earlier. Now, there is a bit of bleeding in her head. They are sending in more equipment at the moment. She needs intensive care now.”

What was the point? A girl like that would be a weak link to whoever sent her anyway. “Get rid of her,” Dante said dismissively.

Angelo hesitated before he nodded and said, “Okay, boss.”

He turned to leave but turned back immediately.

“I am sorry, boss, but I think you should see her first.”

“Why the hell would I want to see a decoy?” Dante asked with growing annoyance.

Angelo looked hesitant for a moment before he blurted. “Because she looks like her.”

Dante didn’t need to ask who. There was only one her who mattered enough.

---

They met in college.

After setting him in the ways of the underworld, his father sent him as far away as possible from Acadia to get his education in business management.

Hartville was a perfect choice.

He had done his best to keep a low radar, unlike his daredevil cousin, Naville.

Still, violence had found him in Massachusetts of all places.

They had gutted Naville and staked him open like a pit boar.

That was the first time Dante had gone on a rampage.

In Acadia, nobody dared the Cazadors. No one would dare to lay a finger on their family without losing every limb of his whole generation in turn.

But with distance, people have grown bold.

Naville was all hell and no grit. He was not cut for the business and intended to go world-travelling after graduation.

That never happened.

He was out on one of his reckless sprees when some assholes realised that he was a Cazador.

They killed him to make a statement.

And Dante made a bigger statement in turn.

The underworld of Massachusetts trembled before he was done.

Everyone who had anything to do at all with the killer paid.

Everyone connected to them paid.

Dante had been so furious then that he grew a bit reckless in cleaning up after his mess.

He was almost caught in one of his sprees. Isabella saved him.

He had met her on campus once. He had been drawn to her like a magnet at that one time too, but he stayed away from her.

Women were trouble, and he was just there to gain the knowledge his father wanted him to get.

After that, he wanted to go back home to the life he had known since birth.

But she had to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Dante spared no witnesses apart from her.

“Please, let me go and I won’t tell. Your secret is safe with me.”

Dante would have snorted at such a stupid statement any other time before pumping her full of lead.

But there had been something about her voice.

It got to him even before he saw her fear-dilated emerald eyes.

She knew who he was. The rule was to get rid of her.

But somehow he had told her if he heard a peep from her about the incident, he was going to hunt her down and make her life hell.

Then she saved him from being caught later.

As a result, they had to spend a night together in the hideout she took him to.

That was all it had taken to get Dante hooked.

He had never cared about knowing anybody apart from his family. But before the night was over that day, he had learned about how she came to be in Hartville.

She was an orphan who was in Hartville based on a scholarship.

Before the search was over and Dante got the all-clear signal from his men the next morning, she had stopped looking at him with so much fright in her eyes.

She relaxed and even made a few jokes about his cold looks.

Dante was hooked by her smile and everything about her.

Before the end of his sessions at Hartville, he had been able to convince her that they belonged together.

She followed him to Acadia after graduation and connected instantly with his dad.

The two had been like father and daughter before his father died the next year.

Manuel’s death had been a great shock to Dante and he had lost it.

He distanced himself from Isabella and plunged himself into his work.

He could see that she was miserable, but he had not been able to do anything for her.

Then he got a call from Angelo one evening while he was getting himself sucked off by a willing piece of ass.

Isabella had stopped telling him her plans for the day as she always did.

He told himself he didn’t care as he plunged himself into showing the underworld that the death of his father would not make him weak.

Isabella had gone to a club and gave her guards the slip.

By the time they caught on to her, it was too late.

Once again, she had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Shit went down at the private party that she sneaked off to, she was caught right in the middle and didn’t come out alive this time.

Dante was like a raging bull when he got to the scene.

Though Angelo and his men had taken care of every single one of the motherfuckers before he got there, Dante still pumped their bodies full of lead.

That was the first time he had come close to killing Angelo.

Then, after he carried his dead wife’s limp body out of the house, he told his men to burn the house down to the ground.

He had never forgiven himself since then.

And now?

A decoy looked like his Isabella?!

He had no idea he had moved until he wrenched the door open.