Chapter 2 - The Sickness of BetrayalInside the dim room, Sophie lay beneath heavy wool blankets. Her breathing was shallow, interrupted by faint, shuddering gasps. A saline drip fed into her bruised arm, and the harsh white bandage wrapped around her forearm hid the branded serpent symbol.
Dante sat slowly on the edge of the mattress.
For six months, he had let his brother whisper poison into his ear. “She was never one of us, Dante. She was just a maid from the south side. You gave her too much trust.”
Julian had played the grieving, supportive brother, stepping up to take over the ledger management while Dante buried his rage in violence and territory wars.
And all the while, Julian had been the one torturing her.
Why? Because Sophie had discovered something in the financial records. She had found the discrepancies linking Julian’s secret debts to Silas Vane. She hadn't stolen the ledger—she had hidden it to protect Dante from his own blood.
Dante’s hand hovered over Sophie’s pale, freezing cheek. He gently brushed a strand of tangled honey-blond hair away from her forehead.
She stirred, her eyelashes fluttering open. For a second, terror flashed in her eyes, but as she focused on the dark silhouette leaning over her, the panic slowly receded into something infinitely more fragile.
“Dante...?” she whispered, her voice like dry paper.
“I’m here, Sophie,” he said, his voice cracking with a rawness he hadn't allowed himself to feel in years. “I’m right here. I’m sorry.”
A tiny, heartbreaking tear slipped down her cheek. “It was... your brother... he said you knew.”
Dante’s chest seized. Every drop of blood in his veins turned to ice.
“I didn't know,” Dante swore, his thumb gently wiping away her tear. “I swear to you on my life, I didn't know. But I’m going to fix it.”
Sophie closed her eyes again, exhaustion pulling her back under. “Don't go...” she murmured.
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“I’m not going anywhere,” Dante whispered.
He stood up slowly, walked out of the bedroom, and locked the door behind him.
