Shock and alarm bubbled in my chest. Was he drunk? He didn’t sound like the Kai I knew at all.
“Um…” I let out an uncomfortable laugh and tried to twist out of his hold, but it was hard in my dress. “You’re right. It is too soon. And, while I really like you as a friend…” I emphasized the last word. “I’m not sure I want to date right now.”
He wasn’t listening. He was too busy looking over my head with a wicked smile.
“Here he comes,” he murmured.
Before I could ask who he was talking about, a warm, familiar hand landed on my shoulder.
“Take your hands off my fiancée.” Dark and turbulent, the order was packed with so much tightly leashed danger it was a spark away from combustion.
“Apologies.” Kai released me, his expression strangely self-satisfied. “I didn’t realize…”
“I don’t give a fuck what you did or didn’t realize.” The lethally quiet statement poured ice down my spine. “Touch Vivian again, and I’ll kill you.”
Simple. Brutal. Honest.
Kai’s eyes flickered along with a ghost of a smile. “Noted.” He inclined his head at us. “Enjoy.”
I watched him walk away, too stunned to speak.
It was only when Dante whirled me around and clasped my hand in his that I found my voice.
“What are you doing here?” My feet followed his lead out of instinct, but the rest of my body tingled with alarm.
His presence was too powerful, his scent too all-consuming. It crowded my lungs, filling them with clean earthiness and rich spices.
When I was around him, it was easy to lose myself, no matter how upset or heartbroken I was.
My ability to breathe ceased when his eyes connected with mine.
Dark hair. Sculpted cheekbones. Firm, sensual lips.
It’d been less than a week since we last saw each other, yet he was somehow more beautiful than I remembered.
“I was invited. By you, I believe.” The cold brutality vanished, replaced with warm amusement. It was like Kai’s departure had flipped a switch.
I thought I detected a hint of nerves as well, but I must’ve heard wrong. Dante was never nervous.
“You know what I mean. What are you doing here, dancing with me?”
His palm practically burned mine. I desperately wanted to pull away, but I couldn’t with everyone watching. It seemed like every set of eyes was trained on us.
“Because you’re my fiancée, and this is your big night. You’ve worked months on the Legacy Ball, Vivian. Did you think I was going to miss it?”
The words were needles to my heart, injecting it with a rush of electricity and adrenaline before I forced it to calm.
If the past week had taught me anything, it was that every high came with a devastating crash.
“I’m not your fiancée anymore.”
Dante fell silent.
At first glance, he looked every inch the enigmatic CEO out on a night on the town. His custom-made tuxedo molded to his body, emphasizing broad shoulders and sleek, powerful muscles. The soft lights threw his bold features into sharp relief, and his chin held its usual proud, arrogant tilt.
But a closer look revealed the faint purple smudges beneath his eyes. Lines of tension bracketed his mouth, and his grip was tight, almost desperate when he replied.
“We had a fight,” he said, his voice low. “We didn’t officially break up.”
Disbelief roused from its slumber, joining its cousins shock and frustration.
“Yes, we did. I gave you back my ring. You took it. I moved out.” Sort of. I needed to get the rest of my belongings once I had a chance to breathe. “In my world, that means we broke up. And that’s not even touching all the…the complications between you and my father.”
The difference between this Dante and the one who’d watched me walk away four days ago was so stark, I was convinced an alien imposter had hijacked his body.
“Yes, well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” A swallow worked its way down his throat. All remnants of his playful mask disappeared, revealing nerves I never thought he possessed. “I fucked up, Vivian. I said a lot of things I shouldn’t have, and I’m trying to make it right.”
The words vibrated through the air and somehow reached my chest before they did my ears.
By the time my brain processed them, my heart was already twisted and in shambles.
He couldn’t do this. Not now, not here, when I’d just started functioning properly after the havoc earlier this week.
“It doesn’t matter.” I willed the words past my tongue. “Like you said, it was just business.”
Anguish darkened the edges of Dante’s eyes. “Mia cara…”
My throat constricted.
The rest of the ball fell away, disintegrating like crumpled pieces of paper thrown into the fire of Dante’s presence.
Mia cara.
He was the only person who could utter that phrase so softly and achingly, like it was a beautiful substitute for another set of words we were too afraid to say.
I blinked away the emotion in my eyes. “I left four days ago, Dante. You were happy to let me walk away then. Do you expect me to believe you did a one-eighty in such a short period of time?”
“No. I don’t expect you to believe anything I say, but I hope you do,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry you found out the truth the way you did. I should’ve told you earlier, but the truth is…” His throat flexed with another hard swallow. “I wasn’t ready to let you go. I pulled back after Paris and told myself I was easing you into the truth when in reality, I wanted the best of both worlds. To keep you and to fool myself into thinking I wouldn’t.”
“I hated your father, Vivian. I still do. And I hated the idea of him winning in any way, including…” Dante’s grip tightened around mine. “Including if I stayed with you the way I wanted. It wasn’t my finest reasoning or proudest moment, but it’s the truth. Yes, I was forced into the engagement, but everything that happened afterward? Our dates, our talks, our trip to Paris…no one forced me to do those things. They were real. And I was stupid enough to think I could get over them or you when…”
His voice dropped, turning raw. “You’ve been gone less than a week and I already feel like I’ve spent an eternity in hell.”
The breath fled my lungs. Oxygen solidified into something sweet and honeyed that dripped into my stomach, filling it with warmth.
A choked sob entered the mix before I swallowed it.
There was no one near us. Everyone gave Dante a wide berth, and the majority of guests had returned to their conversations instead of staring at us.
Still, I couldn’t afford any break in composure. One crack was all it would take for me to shatter completely.
“But nothing’s changed,” I said, my voice thick. “You still hate my father, and he still wins if we marry.”
I didn’t mention the disowning or company troubles yet. Those were whole other cans of worms.
“You’re wrong,” Dante said. “Something has changed. I thought I could live without you. That my vengeance meant more than my feelings for you. It took only a few days—hell, a few hours—to realize I can’t, and it doesn’t. I didn’t want to distract you while you were preparing for the ball, which is why I haven’t reached out earlier. But…” His throat worked with another swallow. “I love you, Vivian. More than I could ever hate your father. And more than I ever thought I was capable of.”