Welcome to another chapter my dearies.
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The interrogation room was still ringing with the echo of Dante's promise when he finally pulled away. He didn't leave my space, though. He remained between my knees, his hands resting heavily on the metal table on either side of my thighs.
His eyes were scanning my face, looking for the girl he thought he'd bought, that sobbing mother Teresa like girl. But Serena...the real Serena was long gone, rest in peace dear, i told myself.
I was a woman who had spent my previous life navigating office politics, a boring 9 to 6 job and cussing and throwing eggs at ICE agents; a mafia den was just the same thing with more expensive suits and bloodier consequences.
"Serena," he said, testing the name on his tongue as if it were a new vintage of wine. "You've been a very busy girl. My files said you spent your time painting watercolors and crying over your father's debts.Where did you learn about Swiss accounts and the Valetti family? I am really curious."
I leaned back slightly, the cold edge of the table getting into my skin, and gave him a cryptic and seductive smile. I couldn't tell him I'd read it in a 99-cent ebook on my lunch breaks and night pleasures.
"When you're a pawn in a game played by men like my father, Dante, you learn to read the board," I lied smoothly.
"You learn that the only way to keep your head is to know where the executioner keeps his axe."Dante's eyes narrowed.
He reached out, his finger tracing the line of my collarbone.
"And what else does the little pawn see on the board?",I took a breath. This was the moment I had to establish the Long Game.
"I see a storm coming for the Moretti family. Lucca was just the first consequence.
The Commission is meeting in three days, isn't it? They're going to vote on the distribution of the docks and right now, you don't have the votes."
Dante froze, his hand dropped from my collarbone to my throat, not to squeeze, but to feel the pulse there, his gaze was lethal.
This was information that only three people in the world should have known.
"You're either a genius," he whispered, "or you're a spy sent by someone much smarter than your father."
"If I were a spy, I would have let that sniper pull the trigger," I countered, meeting his gaze without blinking.
"I want to survive, Dante and in this novel..... I mean, in this world.....you are the only one capable of keeping me alive but I won't be a bird in a cage,i want a seat at the table."
Dante let out a dark, dry laugh.
He straightened up, finally giving me room to breathe. He walked to the corner of the room, pouring a glass of water from a purifier which looks like something that would cost my entire monthly salary and brought it back to me.
"A seat at the table," he mused.
"My associates would kill you before you finished your first sentence.They don't take kindly to women who think they're players."
"Then don't tell them I'm a player," I said, taking the water.
My throat was parched from the adrenaline. "Tell them I'm your latest obsession. Your toy as you put it. No one looks at the woman on the Boss's lap as a threat.They'll talk freely in front of me and they will understimate me. I'll gather every secret they drop like breadcrumbs."
Dante watched me drink, his eyes fixed on the movement of my throat.The lust was still there, simmering under the surface, but it was now joined by a calculating curiosity.
This was the Slow possessiveness, I thought to myself, the ML needs to be obsessed with the heroines mind as much as her body and I am going make full use of it.
"And what do you want in return, Serena? Beyond your life?"
"Protection," I said firmly.
"Total protection. Not just from your enemies, but from your own men and... I want my father's debt erased, not paid...erased. I want him gone out of my sight. Send him to a villa in Italy, give him a bottle of wine, and tell him if he ever contacts me again, you'll have him buried."
Dante stepped back toward me, his presence looming. He took the empty glass from my hand and set it aside.
Then, he gripped my waist and hoisted me off the table, setting my feet back on the ground.
"The debt is erased," he murmured, his face inches from mine "But your price has just gone up. If you're going to play this role, you're going to play it perfectly,you will stay in my house and You will be sleeping in my wing and when we are in public, you belong to me Completely, understand ?
If I touch you, you smile, If I kiss you, you kiss me back like you're starving for it."
He leaned down, his lips brushing against my ear , "Because if the Commission thinks for one second that you're anything other than my personal addiction, they'll use you to get to me. Do you understand?"
"I understand," I whispered, a shiver running down my spine.
"Good girl." He stepped back, buttoning his shirt."Go back to the bedroom. Marco will bring you a phone. It's encrypted and use it only to talk to me.
Tomorrow, we go to the tailor. If you're going to be the Queen of the Underworld, you need to stop dressing like a victim and a bar dancer." Saying that he gave a slow squeeze to my ass and walked away.
As I walked back to the elevator, my legs felt like breaking. I had survived the first night.
As the doors closed, a strange sensation washed over me.
A blue translucent screen flickered in the corner of my vision.
[ SYSTEM INITIALIZED........ ]
[ PROGRESSION: 2% ]
[ CURRENT STATUS: THE BOSS'S OBSESSION ]
[ REWARD EARNED: EYE OF THE AUTHOR (Passive Skill) ]
Ability: You can now see the Danger Level of any named character within 10 meters.
My heart skipped a beat. A Freaking System? The original novel didn't have a System and this wasn't a wuxia fantasy World.This was a new variable and It meant that my transmigration wasn't just a fluke...it was a like a game someone's playing, i really hope it isn't jesus. If it was a game, that meant there were levels, rewards, and likely..... a final boss.
I reached the bedroom and collapsed onto the silk sheets which now felt like paradise.
The scent of Dante was everywhere here, It was overwhelming, masculine, and terrifyingly seductive and intoxicating.
I looked at my hands, they were still shaking.
In the original book, Serena had been forced into Dante's bed on the first night itself .
He had been cruel, treating her like an object to vent his frustrations.By changing the plot, I had avoided that... Other than some squeezes and biting....for now.
But I had seen the look in Dante's eyes.
He wasn't a man who stayed patient for long.
A knock at the door startled me.
Marco entered, carrying a silver tray with a sleek black smartphone and a glass of wine.
"The Boss says to drink this.
It'll help you sleep," Marco said. His eyes lingered on me for a second too long.
Suddenly, a red glow appeared above Marco's head.
[ NAME: MARCO BOTTICELLI ]
[ DANGER LEVEL: 45/100 ]
[ LOYALTY TO DANTE: 98% ]
[ CURRENT THOUGHT: "She's dangerous, I should watch her" ]
I blinked.The System was actually working.
I looked at the wine, then at Marco.
"Thank you, Marco," I said, my voice smooth."Tell Dante I'll see him in the morning and Marco?"
He paused at the door. "Yes, Miss Serena?"
"Don't worry. I'm on his side."
Marco's eyes widened slightly before he nodded and retreated.
I took a sip of the wine. It was a rich, dark red, bitter and sweet at the same time, like those idiotic prime drinks, still much better.
As the alcohol began to dull the sharp edges of my nerves, I realized the scale of the task ahead of me.
I had to manage a Mafia King, navigate a System I didn't understand and survive a plot that was actively trying to kill me and then there was the biggest problem of all.
In the original book, the true heroine...the woman Dante was actually supposed to fall in love with wouldn't appear for another twenty chapters.
She was the daughter of a noble family, a Light to his Darkness. When she arrived, she would be my greatest threat.
Because in these novels, the Villainess or the Side Character always gets discarded when the True Heroine arrives.
I sat up, gripping the wine glass.
"Not this time," I whispered to the empty, luxurious room.
"This time, the Side Character is keeping the throne."
I lay back, closing my eyes.I needed to plan and I needed to use the Eye of the Author to scout the Moretti household.
More importantly I needed to find the hidden stashes of money and influence the book had mentioned but the important part is that , I needed to figure out how to keep Dante Moretti exactly where I wanted him: caught between suspicion and desire for me.
As I drifted off to sleep, the last thing I saw was the flickering blue screen.
[ MISSION TRIGGERED: THE TAILOR'S TEST ]
[ OBJECTIVE: Impress the Commission's Tailor and gain the Elegance stat ]
[ FAILURE PENALTY: Loss of Protection status ]
Author's Note:
The System has arrived! Surprise !
Serena now has a way to track her progress, but the stakes just got real.
Dante is watching her every move, and the True Heroine is a ticking time bomb.
What kind of Elegance do you think Serena should aim for?
The classic Mafia Wife look, or something more modern and dangerous? Let me know in the comments!
Will always wait for your feedbacks my sexy readers !!!