Chapter 2 - The Golden Cage
I stared at the blackened metal on the table, my lungs completely forgetting how to process oxygen.
The tiny studio apartment I despised was the only sanctuary I had left in the world.
Now it was nothing but ash and rubble because I had dared to shield a mafia heir.
Dante watched my silent tears fall, his handsome expression remaining entirely stoic.
"The men who tried to kill my son tonight do not leave any loose ends," he explained calmly.
"They assumed you were an undercover bodyguard purposely placed at the restaurant by my family."
I let out a broken, hysterical laugh that hurt my stitched shoulder.
"I am just a waitress trying to pay off my electric bill!" I shouted at him.
Dante stepped closer, his imposing figure completely blocking out the moonlight from the window.
"You were a ghost who stepped into a war zone, and now you belong to my protection," he commanded.
The heavy oak door to the medical suite clicked open.
A tall man with a jagged scar across his neck stepped inside, holding a glowing tablet.
"Boss, we finished interrogating the other waitress from the restaurant," the man reported dutifully.
My heart leaped into my throat as I immediately thought of Chloe.
She was the clumsy girl who tripped and dropped the tray of lethal crystal goblets.
"She confessed that a rival family paid her fifty thousand dollars to stage the accident," the scarred man continued.
Dante did not even blink at this horrifying revelation.
"Where is she now?" Dante asked, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper.
"We left her in the river, just as you instructed," his lieutenant replied without hesitation.
I gasped in absolute horror, realizing the true, monstrous nature of the man who was currently protecting me.
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Dante turned his cold gaze back to my trembling frame.
"Welcome to the family, Clara," he said, sealing my terrifying new fate.
