Page 129 of Righteous Enforcer
Adriano has said similar words to me. Asking me why I didn’t trust him then. Why I didn’t trust him now.
“Like I said, the Dantes will kill me on sight. I’m no help to you.”
“I don’t know about that. Everyone knows when it comes to you, Adriano is a fool. It’s sweet, actually. Who’d have thought he had a heart? If anyone can get back into the Dante estate, it’s you, through him.” His gaze scrapes over my body. “Use your assets. He seems to like them.”
I want to slap him. "Kill me if you must. I won't betray him again."
“Again?” He laughs. “My goodness, if he took you back more than once, he really is a sucker.”
I’m resolved that no matter what, I won’t hurt Adriano again. I know it means I die, but I can live with that. I couldn’t live with being party to Adriano dying.
I’m back to those impossible choices. Four years ago, I chose to save my father. I can still picture his face, ashen, bruised as Maksim Vasiliev pressed a gun to his temple.
“Get into the Dante house. Find work. Fuck the sons. Doesn’t matter how,” Maksim ordered.
I was able to make myself useful to Lorenzo, working for him as an assistant. Maksim couldn’t be happier. At first, I wasn’t bothered by infiltrating the Dante home. To me, the Dantes and Bratva… all of them were scum.
But then I met Adriano at one of the Dante charity galas. I remember every detail of that first night. The way his hair fell slightly across his forehead. Those piercing gray eyes that seemed to see right through me. The slight quirk of his lips when he smiled, something I learned he didn’t do often, except with me.
"Dance with me," he'd said, not a question but not quite a command.
I should have said no. I should have maintained distance.
Instead, I placed my hand in his, and the moment we touched, electricity coursed through me. I’d never felt like that with a man before.
He pulled me close, one hand at the small of my back. "You're not like the others.”
I wasn't. I was worse. A spy. A traitor.
Yet as we swayed to the music, something blossomed between us.
Something warm and intoxicating that made me forget my mission, forget my father's life hanging in the balance.
Something that, despite everything that came after, I've never been able to forget.
Something that I know I’ll never experience with any other man.
At first, I told myself that this was part of the mission. How pleased Maksim would be and perhaps I could finally free my father from the Bratva threat.
I remember the exact moment I knew I'd made a fatal mistake, when I realized that the lie I was living had become real.
Adriano and I were on his balcony, the night air gently blowing. He'd pulled me against his chest.
"I love you," he'd whispered, lips brushing my ear.
Three simple words that shattered my world. Because in that moment, I realized I loved him too. Truly, desperately loved him. His fierce loyalty, his unexpected tenderness, the way his eyes softened only for me.
"You don't have to say it back," he murmured, misinterpreting my hesitation. "I just needed you to know."
I turned in his arms, guilt ripping me apart. "I love you too.” They were the only honest words I’d spoken in the Dante home.
That night changed everything. Each piece of information I passed to the Russians felt like a betrayal not only of Adriano, but of myself. Of my values.
But whenever I considered stopping, Maksim Vasiliev's voice would echo in my mind. "Your father's life is in your hands."
I can still hear him, even now, sitting across from his brother who watches me with the same cruel eyes.
Then came the morning sickness. The missed period. The realization that I carried Adriano's child inside me.
