Chapter 1
“What the fuck? What fiancée?” The tendons in Dante’s neck almost popped out upon hearing what the person on the other end of the phone said. He was at the Thorne Mansion. He went to the Mafia Boss to show him the head of Isidro Regueler, the Boss of Oxiris—the rival group they defeated—before he hung his head on the wall of the Thorne Syndicate headquarters.
The Thorne Syndicate—the feared and most powerful Mafia organization—and he held the second-highest position as Underboss.
From sitting on the sofa, he stood up straight. He could feel the sudden pulsing of the vein in his temple.
“Mr. Dante Thorne, your fiancée is in the hospital right now. She was stabbed below her shoulder,” replied his caller, who had introduced herself as a nurse earlier.
“Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear my question? What fiancée are you talking about?” The tone of his voice rose with the sudden kick of annoyance in his system.
“Uhm, wh-well, Miss...” She stammered.
“Ireta. Ireta Regueler,” a female voice said.
The nurse cleared her throat. “Ms. Ireta Regueler, Sir.”
“Ireta?” The image of Isidro Regueler’s daughter flashed in his mind. Was that Ireta the one pretending to be his fiancée? “Give the phone to that Ireta,” he ordered the caller firmly.
A moment later, he heard the young woman’s voice. “Hi, love. Do you want to talk to me?” The woman’s voice was calm. Affectionate. Melodic. It was as if she wasn’t the woman who wailed while tied to her seat when they captured her.
She was imprisoned in their custody along with Isidro when they caught him. It was just a shame that Elias, the ‘brain’ of the Thorne Syndicate, let her go. If it were up to him, he would have pushed her into the grave along with her father.
“Love my ass, shithead. Who the fuck are you? Fix your answer to me, because if I don’t like it, I will literally cut your tongue out!”
The young woman gasped exaggeratedly, then let out a low laugh that annoyed him even more. “Who am I? You know me. I’m Ireta, your fiancée.”
“‘That’ Ireta?” He wanted to be sure if this was indeed the Ireta who was the daughter of the Oxiris leader.
“Yes, love, ‘that’ Ireta.”
“I will kill you, Ireta,” he said firmly, a sharp threat in the tone of his voice. His molars were almost shattered from grinding so hard. He couldn’t figure out why, instead of staying away and hiding, she was now pretending to be the woman he was going to marry.
“You saw what I did to your father. I will do to you what I did to him. I will also chop off your fingers one by one, remember that,” he snapped at her.
“Sure, but you have to fuck me first. I don’t want to die a virgin. Let me experience how it feels to reach seventh heaven. I want my eyes to roll back in pleasure first.”
Dante’s fists clenched. His eyebrows met. This wasn’t the Ireta who was Isidro’s daughter. That Ireta was afraid and incapable of answering him like this. The Ireta he was talking to now had a calm voice and even seemed amused by their exchange of words.
“You’re going to fucking regret saying that,” he hissed at the woman.
“Why? What’s wrong with what I said? Is it bad that I want us to have sex? I want to taste you, and I want you to taste me too. Who knows, we might like each other’s taste. You might even end up looking for me.”
“You’re a fucking whore.”
“Hmm, nuh-uh. I haven’t taken a dick inside me yet. Yours will be the first. So, fuck me. Fuck me hard, Dante Thorne. I’m offering you my virginity. My body is clean, fresh, and like newly cooked rice waiting on the table, still steaming hot.”
Dante’s teeth ground together. The woman he was talking to was fucking with him. He really should have chopped off her fingers, too, like her father, or he should have sliced her head off, too, so she wouldn’t be clucking like that. His ears were ringing. He was irritated. “I am not interested. You can keep your pussy or your virginity to yourself.”
The woman feigned a gasp, but not a second later, she suddenly giggled. “Or maybe you just have a secret you don’t want to show? Wait, I already assumed that yours is 'big.' I’m not wrong, am I? I’ve imagined yours to be... hmm... maybe around 7 inches? Or bigger? It’s even bigger than 7, right? 8? 9? Tell me, how big is that thing you’re hiding inside your pants, really?”
His teeth ground together. The woman seemed to have no value for her life if she were talking to him just like that. “None of your fucking business.” Then he suddenly realized the woman was intentionally annoying him. He slapped his forehead because he let himself be carried away by her teasing him. He let out a mocking laugh.
He sat back down on the sofa. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lower lip. The tip of his tongue touched the lip ring pierced at its corner. “Listen, clown.”
“Yes, love, I’m all ears. What is it?”
“You’d better shut the hell up now before I stitch your filthy mouth shut. And you know I’m not just all talk; I am very capable of doing what I’m telling you right now.”
The young woman on the other line laughed. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“I know you can, no doubt. But I’ll only shut up if you give me what I want.”
“Want? You mean if I fuck you?”
“Yes, love!”
“No way. That will absolutely never happen. You’re just wasting saliva and tiring out your throat.”
“Unfortunately for you, I don’t accept rejections easily. Come to me here at the hospital. I’ll wait for you. If you don’t show up, I’ll call reporters. I’ll broadcast to the whole world who you are, who Lucian Thorne is, and Elias Thorne.”
The young man’s jaw cracked. “Are you threatening me?” He let out a laugh full of edge. He wanted to laugh while his hands slowly wrapped around the woman’s neck.
“Am I threatening you? Uhm, I’m not sure.” She giggled.
Before Dante could even respond, the woman was already gone from the other line. The smirk on his lips vanished, and his face darkened. He irritably threw his cellphone.
“Shit! Crazy woman!” His jaw tightened, then a dangerous smile carved onto his red lips. “You want crazy? I’ll give you crazy.”
The nurse cleared her throat slightly and looked at Ireta. “Uhm, Ms. Regueler, are you sure the person you asked me to call is your fiancé?”
She smiled broadly at the woman. “Of course! Do you think I wouldn’t know my own fiancé? He is the man I will marry and who will become my husband. I will carry his children in my womb. So, of course, I’m sure!”
The nurse nodded hesitantly. “Ah, okay. Get some rest for now, Ms. Regueler. Your fiancé is probably on his way here.”
“You’re right, he’ll be here in a bit.” She knew Dante would come. He would come because she was the very first woman who dared to pretend to be his fiancée. The question was what he planned to do to her.
He’s unpredictable. That was one of the reasons why many feared him. It was hard to guess what was running through his brain.
But she’s curious. And she’s not afraid.
Come for me, love, her brain said, and she smiled very sweetly. She lay down on the bed and stared at the white ceiling while retracing in her mind the root of it all that became the reason her interest in Dante Thorne was born.
A few days ago...
Caution: THIS MAN IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
“I want him.”
Ireta’s eyes were sparkling while staring at the square photo of the handsome man on the table in front of her. She didn’t care about the warning written about him.
“Extremely dangerous? Pft.” She poked the photo and smirked broadly. Her finger traced the line of the man’s face. Her delicate finger moved covetously. She wanted this man in the picture.
She was inside her condo in Miami, Florida. She had someone investigated, and the photo of ‘that person’ was what was resting on her table now, Dante.
“I want this man. Good to look at. Beautiful face. Well-built body. Looks strong and sturdy.” And above all, she could see a strange restlessness in the balls of his black eyes. That was what she liked the most.
Just one look at the glint in his eyes, and she already determined that he wasn’t the type of man who would let himself be tied down. He wasn’t the ‘normal’ type of man like others. He’s different. She could feel it.
He was a handsome man. Sturdy posture. Strong appeal.
The man’s face was chiseled, with hard, angular features. A palpable sense of wickedness seemed to lurk behind his penetrating eyes. He had a sharp jawline. His hair, which reached down to the line of his broad shoulders and was neatly buzzed on either side, added to his brutal charm.
His nose rose proudly from his face, exuding a strong aura with its impressive height and slender bridge. The sharp arch of his nose seemed to have been sculpted with great precision, bestowing upon him an air of ruthlessness. The sadistic grin on his lips would tell anyone that he was neither forgiving nor merciful.
Her stare lingered on the man’s earring at the side of his lower lip and his earring on his earlobe. Her eyes also traced the tattoo she could glimpse on his neck.
Written in the information accompanying the photo was that the man was tall. He was about 6 feet, 7 inches tall. Below his photo, there were bold, crimson letters spelling out:
Beware, this man is dangerous. He doesn’t hesitate to kill.
