Camilla’s POV
I did the hundredth lap up and down the living room, shaking fingers and clasping my phone.
Guards outside whispering among themselves.
Of some attack and someone getting shot.
My heart had its own rhythm in my chest.
Again, no call from Dante.
Not a single word.
The more I waited, the worse my dread grew inside me.
It was the creak of the front door that pulled me from my reverie.
I spun around, my heart jumping to my throat.
He entered with his face tensed, shirt bloodstained.
I caught my breath.
“Dante?” I whispered, shaking.
“What happened?”
He said nothing at first, just shut the door behind him with a heavy sigh.
He looked exhausted as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.
And maybe it did.
“I overheard the guards,” I said, pushing another step in on him.
“They were saying something about an attack. Your Dad… is he-?”
“He’s alive,” Dante interrupted, his voice low, even, firm.
“The bullet missed anything vital. He’s going to be fine.”
Relief washed over, but it wasn’t sticking.
There was more to this, I could see it in his eyes, in the tension pulled in his jaw.
I crossed my arms, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
“You need to tell me what’s going on. We had a deal, no more secrets, Dante.”
He turned to me then, and for one second, his eyes flashed darkly before he stepped further into the room.
“It was Rocco. He ambushed the shipment today. Tried to send a message.”
“A message?” I spat, anger boiling over inside.
“You call almost killing your father a message?”
Dante’s eyes snapped to mine, cold and unyielding.
“This is life, Camilla. This is how our world is.”
I swallowed hard, but my racing heartbeat refused to slow up.
“And what of Jasper? What of us? I cannot live like this, always waiting for the next attack, for the next bullet to fly. Tom and John are still out there too.”
He ran a hand through his hair, blowing a sharp breath out.
“That’s why I’m doing everything in my power to protect you and Jasper.”
I took another step closer, my chest tight.
His face was carved from granite, but I saw something flicker beneath the surface, guilt, perhaps, fear, but it was gone again in an instant, hidden under layers of that stoic mask he perpetually wore.
I hated it.
He finally said, after a moment, his tone softer, “I’m trying to protect you the only way I know how. But you need to trust me.”
I laughed bitterly.
“I trust you, Dante, I do, but yet you still keep me on the outside.”
He moved closer to me then, the space between us thinning as his massive presence swallowed me whole.
“That’s why I’m proposing something different.”
By that time, I had frowned, the confusion mingling with the friction that raged inside of me.
“What do you mean?
Few words were said, and his voice was not hysterical but firm in delivery.
“We have to register this marriage. Make it legal.”
My eyes grew wide.
“You’re. Are you serious?”
“As serious as I’ve ever been,” he said flatly.
“Tom and John would come for us, sooner or later, you need protection. You need to be really seen as my wife. That gives you power, Camilla. And it gives me leverage. They won’t touch you if they know you’re tied to me publicly.”
I’d shaken my head and stepped back.
“So, this is what this is? A strategic move? A business deal?”
He gritted his teeth.
“It’s the only way to keep you and Jasper safe. This has nothing to do with love; this is survival.”
It was all unraveling before my very eyes, with bitterness brimming in my mouth.
This life with Dante once was what I wanted before all the madness.
Long-forgotten memories of the time spent working in the house as a maid and watching him, secretly aching for him in my heart.
But she was gone, taken by the girl who knew all too well the darkness of this world.
“And what’s in it for me?” I said softer.
“Besides more targets on my back?”
Dante’s eyes softened for a moment, as if he sensed the turmoil I was feeling.
“You get protection, Camilla. Never again you or Jasper have to struggle over money. I’ll make sure you’re well provided for, and you also get a share in the company. We can work out all the details in a contract. Strictly business, Camilla. No useless strings.”
I faltered, my mind racing.
This was the safe option, wasn’t it?
Being tied to Dante would mean protection, power, and Jasper… he would grow up with the security that came with the Draven name.
But at what cost?”
I don’t know if I can live this way,” I whispered.
“Having all this danger always associated with us. What if something happens? What if it’s not enough?”
He moved closer to her, his voice graver now.
“It’s not just you, Camilla, but it’s Jasper, too. I need an heir that my father can see as a legitimate successor. You and I have a son; that sufficed to make everything tangible.” You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.
My heart had hit my stomach.
So that was it.
It had more to do with Jasper than it did with me.
But could I blame him?
Jasper deserved some stability, and if that was the only way to get it, then perhaps I didn’t have a choice.
It must have been then that Dante noticed the uneasiness in my eyes, adding, “I’m not asking you for anything more than that, a partnership. We don’t have to be anything more than that.”
I turned away, catching my lip between my teeth as I weighed my options.
Deep in my heart, I knew I still cared about Dante.
Always had, no matter how hard I’d tried to convince myself otherwise.
But this wasn’t the fairy tale I’d once hoped for.
It was cold.
Calculated.
Necessary.
“What if I don’t want to solidify it?” I asked softly.
His eyes didn’t release mine.
“Then I’ll find another way of keeping you safe. But this is the best option. For both of us.”
Dead silence filled the room, thick tension palpable between us.
The foreboding, the fear of what this decision would bring upon me, upon my son was reeling in my head.
But the fact stared me right in the face, that looking out for any other alternative would indeed be futile.
Finally, I looked up at him.
My voice was so much stronger than inside.
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
Dante nodded impassively.
“Good. We will sort out the contract tomorrow. I’ll have my lawyer draw up the papers.”
“What about us?” I asked him.
“What’s going to happen with us now?”
He held my gaze steady, his tone unyielding and serious.
“We keep things professional. Respectful. But we do not mix emotions with this. It’s business.”
I nodded, while in my chest a thick tangle was hard in an ache.
“Business,” I repeated.
We sat at the table, the weight of our decision hanging heavy between us as we outlined terms.
I settled upon a monthly allowance that would keep me financially secure, and in return, I was to play wife to him in public, standing by his side whenever the case may be.
Our relationship would remain strictly professional, with no strings attached, even when we have a son together.
Yet the mere fact of sitting here, with him talking terms and conditions, pulled on the tension in me.
My head told me to keep it distant, cold, and calculated, as Dante was making it.
My heart, though, wasn’t quite convinced.