Surrender To Me

DANTE

When Vannucci referred to her heritage and she didn’t catch on, I thought the fear of her finding out had passed. I thought it was over until I see her marching over to me, with Nico a few steps behind her. I don’t wait for her to say more. Without thinking, I take her hand and lead her to the villa. The vast dining room we’re in doesn’t feel private, but I make sure it is by closing the doors. When I turn back at her, she has her arms crossed, still angry and confused. She looks like she wants to harm something, probably me. I would want to kill me too if I were her. If only Nico hadn’t run his mouth. If only I didn’t leave her alone with them.

“Well?” she says. “Are you going to explain yourself?”

Explain. What should I tell her? I could deny it. Tell her Nico is talking out of his ass and knows nothing. I doubt she would fall for it, especially considering my initial reaction to the possibility of her finding out was to make sure we talked about it in private. Nor would she fall for a lie that it has nothing to do with her. That there’s another daughter, and it’s not her. Anyway, that wouldn’t explain why I kept her close to me. Why she’s my ace card.

“What did Nico tell you?”

“Some bullshit that I’m Saccone’s daughter, except,” her eyes narrow, “It can’t be bullshit right, because that would explain everything. The tests you had me take specifically by your own doctor, the,” she waved the wrist with the tracker bracelet in the air, “monitoring, hell, the reason you’re interested in me in the first place. The reason I’m here. But it must be bull, right?”

The desperation in her eyes makes me want to like her. But I can’t. “I wanted to tell you soon. After the wedding.”

She vigorously shakes her head. “It can’t be true. We’re not related. There must be some mistake.”

“There isn’t. I had the samples tested with three different labs. They came to the same conclusion. You’re Saccone’s daughter.”

“Liar.” Even as she says it, it’s obvious she doesn’t believe her words. “Why?” she asks next.

“A few years ago, Saccone killed my sister. I was in college back then and I couldn’t do anything about it. It was a senseless killing. She was using my father’s car when she was gunned down at a traffic stop. My father was the intended target. Obviously, this knowledge killed him. Slowly, but living with the thought of being responsible for his daughter’s death was too much for him to live with. He died of a stroke a few years later. I couldn’t do anything about that either. I hated Saccone and everything that he represents. I still do. And ever since then, I’ve vowed revenge against him.”

“And where do I fit in?” She sounds cold, deliberately so. And even though I’m not looking for sympathy points, her lack of acknowledgment for revealing a part of me I’ve never let anyone see before is a blow on its own. I push through it. “You’re his daughter.”

“So I die to avenge your sister?” Her flat tone is unsettling. It’s as if she’s closed off herself from me. “Is that the plan? Kill me while he sees? Too bad, because Saccone doesn’t know me and doesn’t care. So it would be futile to do such a thing.” There’s never been a time when I wanted to kill her despite what she thinks and what I’ve led her to think. Finding out that she was Saccone’s progeny made me hate her, but that was then. The thought of seeing her dead now is unsettling to me.

“He’s looking for you.”

“So you’re keeping me as what? A bargaining chip?”

Maybe in the beginning, but not anymore. But how do I say that in a way she will believe me? It’s hard for me to explain even to myself. “I don’t know any more.”

“But I was initially a bargaining chip.”

“Truth is, I knew there was a daughter of his he was looking for and I thought I look for her at the same time. In that abstract construct, you were nothing more than a pawn, until I found out it was you.” She doesn’t believe me.

She’s still stone cold. “So, what are you going to do to me?”

“I’m not going to kill you.”

“I can breathe a sigh of relief, I guess.”

“Corina.” I take a step towards her. She flinches. I step back. She’s now practically hugging herself and I want to comfort her, but I don’t know how, when I’m the one plunging the metaphorical knife in her back.

“How am I supposed to react to just finding out that not only who my father is, but he’s your enemy you intend to kill?”

“I was planning on telling you.”

“Why do I find that hard to believe?”

“I know how it looks.” I take another tentative step towards her. “I know it looks bad, but I really wanted to tell you. I just didn’t know how.”

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

I don’t know what to say. I’m angry at Nico for telling her. I’m angry at myself for not. Maybe if it had come from me at first, she wouldn’t have reacted like this. I say the only thing I can think of at the moment. Something I’ve never said to anyone in my life. At least not sincerely until now. “I’m sorry.”

“I need to be alone.” It’s as if she didn’t hear me.

“I can’t let you do that.”

Her eyes widen, and her face changes from shock to hurt to hate. I almost want to take it all back, but I can’t. I’m afraid I will lose her. She has tried to run away before and there’s nothing to stop her from doing the same thing now and especially in a foreign country. Not to add the new intel I got from Sal, which could mean that Saccone might know that I have her. “Can you at least give me five minutes?”

“Fine.” Reluctantly, I walk out of the room and stand outside the door. As soon as I’m out, I hear her sobbing. The sound is low and muffled, but loud enough for me to hear. It grips at my heart. I harden it. All of this is water under the bridge. She might think my plan is to kill her while her father watches, but in truth I don’t know what I want to do.

After what feels like five minutes, she comes out of the room looking stoic and resolved. If she hated me before, she despises me now. We return to the reception in silence. Everything has changed between us and it’s palpable. Even Nico, who was still standing outside the villa, looking apologetic when we come out, can sense it. Corina has said nothing to me since then and I have found nothing sensible to say. Our fractured state is a mirror image of the wedded couple. Gio looks angry and so does his bride. I don’t know what happened when we were away, but whatever it is, seems to have soured the mood of the festivities even more.

Gio’s gaze meets mine, and he smiles slightly as he leads the bride to the center of the area between the tables for their first dance. They look great together and move to the music in sync you’d think they’ve been dating for years. After a while, the floor is opened to all the other couples and

I turn to Corina. “We should probably dance.”

I expect her to scream, say something snarky, retort. But she stands up silently and we make our way to the floor. We move to the sound of the music along with other couples. Even with the tension between us, I want to pull her away from the crowd and make love to her. She, however, is deliberately gazing away from me, focused on the spot above my right shoulder. I know she can feel my hardness. It’s apparent and yet she’s so rigid it’s as if I’m dancing with a plank. There is something about her lack of reaction that makes me want to provoke her into saying something. Anything.

“We have to say something to each other. People are staring. Soon they’ll begin wondering why we aren’t talking.”

“I doubt anyone cares whether you talk to the woman you came with.” Maybe before. Maybe if it was someone else, but things have changed. Even Vannucci noticed I cared for Corina.

“I,” it’s difficult to say out loud, but I feel like I’m losing her, so I say it, “care about you.”

For the first time since we started dancing, she looks directly into my eyes. Is she trying to assess if I’m telling the truth? I stare right back, open like a book. Her face changes, her features softening, and for a moment I think I have melted the ice and my heart warms up, but then she looks away.

“What about your girlfriend?” she says.

I frown. “What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t think you were going to deny it, but I guess that’s one way of doing it.”

I’m dumbfounded for a second, trying to figure out what or who she could be referring to. Ever since she came into my life, I haven’t thought about anyone but her. I say the only thing I can think of to assuage her fears. “The only woman in my life right now is you.”

“So the girlfriend you visited that time after the birthday party does not exist?”

Fuck. Of course. “Did Bruno tell you about this?”

“Surprised that I know something that isn’t filtered through the walls you’ve built around me?”

“So it came from Bruno. If you should know, Leah is a friend of mine and that’s it.”

“Dante and Leah have a nice ring to it.”

I’m about to bite back when I realize something. She wouldn’t be bringing this up if she wasn’t feeling anything.

Hope swells inside me. “Are you jealous?”

“What? No!”

“It’s okay to feel something for me. I feel something for you too.” I lower my hand to her waist and draw her closer to me, letting her feel my cock, “This,” she tries to wriggle free, but I hold her firm, “is how I’ve felt ever since we’ve been together and you’re the only person who’s done this. No one but you has ever made me feel like this. And no, I did not fuck Leah that night. In fact, I went there wanting to sleep with her.”

“Oh, so you admit it?”

“Wanting to sleep with her in an effort to wipe you out of my mind, but I failed. I didn’t even touch her. I couldn’t. I wanted no one but you. I want no one but you.”

Maybe it’s the force in my voice. Maybe it’s that I’m trying my best to convince her, but something seems to seep through. She staring at me; her pretend aloofness gone. She’s stunned into silence. Right there and then I realize I would do anything for her. Before I can tell her this, however, Nico comes over. He asks to speak with me alone. I don’t want to leave her, so I move a little away from her from a spot where I can still see her and listen to what Nico has to say.

What he tells me shocks me to the bone. I turn to face Corina. She must not be here.