Dante's POV
I don't loosen my grip.
Not when I step into the car. Not when we pull away from the warehouse. Not even when we pass through the gates of my estate.
Alessa stays in my arms.
Her body is still. Too still. The only proof that she's alive is the weak rise and fall of her chest.
Good. She's breathing.
She's still mine to break.
The car rolls to a stop in front of my mansion. My butler, Enzo, is already at the door, his posture rigid, his gaze flicking to the unconscious girl in my arms.
"Sir," he greets carefully. "Shall I—"
I glare at him.
Enzo freezes. He knows better than to finish that sentence.
"She stays with me."
His throat bobs. "Understood."
I stride past him, into the grand foyer, the dim lighting casting long shadows over the marble floors. The air is too clean, too untouched, and I hate it.
Because Alessa doesn't belong in a place like this.
She doesn't belong anywhere but under my control.
I ascend the stairs, moving through the halls with ease. Every corner of this house is mine, but she will only know one room.
Mine.
As I reach the top floor, an idea curls in my mind. A final seal on her fate.
I shift her in my arms, keeping her tucked against my chest as I pull out my phone.
"Marco," I murmur when my head of security answers. "Lock every guest room. I want 'Out of Order' tape across every fucking door."
A pause. Then, "All of them, sir?"
"All of them." My voice is quiet. Absolute. "And make sure the keys are kept far from her reach."
Another pause. Then a slow, understanding exhale.
"Right away."
I end the call and push open the door to my bedroom.
It's dark, the faint glow from the city skyline spilling through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The scent of leather and smoke lingers in the air—my scent.
She will learn it.
She will breathe it.
Because she will have no choice.
I walk to the bed and lower her down. She barely stirs, her face turned away, her hair a tangled mess over the pillows.
I stand there. Watching.
Claiming.
Then I step back, moving toward the door. With a final glance at her fragile, ruined body, I lock the door.