No One’s Pov

Dante left the mansion as soon as he had finished his work, the sound of engine enchoed as he sped away. Lucian followed shortly after, leaving the estate in a tense silence.

As Dante drove, the city lights blurring past his window. Suddenly his phone buzzed. He reached for it, expecting a report from his men, but instead found a message from an unknown number.

He opened the attachment.

The screen filled with high resolution photos that stopped his heart for a split second before, turning his gaze sharp.

It was filled with Elias and Viella’s picture. They were in a study likely Elias’s-

They were standing really close, facing each other. The photos were taken from a distance angle, making it impossible to see what’s going on but all too easy to understand their actions.

In one photo, Elias’s hand was outstretched toward her. in another, Viella was looking up at him, her expression seems soft.

Dante’s eyes became cold instantly, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel.

The air in the car turned suffocating. He was a man who lived by logic and proof, and his first instinct was to question the source.

These could be fakes, a desperate play by Elias to sow misunderstanding between them and bait him into a mistake. He knew that.

But logic couldn’t erase the fire of jealousy within his chest. The thought of Elias touching her, of Viella looking at another man with anything but affection, made his blood boil.

He tapped his Bluetooth and dialed one of his lead investigators.

"I just sent you a number and a set of images," Dante said, his voice a low. "Investigate it. I want to know who sent these, where they were taken, and I want a forensic analysis on the files. I want to know if a single pixel has been altered."

"Yes, Boss. Right away," the man replied, sensing anger in Dante’s tone.

"And find out exactly where Elias has been for the last forty eight hours," Dante added, his jaw tight. "Who he met last, I want to know about it."

He ended the call and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. He didn’t trust anything without proof, but the seed was planted.

As he accelerated, the car speed up. his mind flashed back to the way she had looked in his bed vulnerable, marked by him, and finally his.

"If you’ve been playing me, Vivien," he whispered, his eyes gleaming with a predatory light, "you’ll find out very quickly that I’m much less patient than the Author who created you."

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Viella felt a chill and woke up to find the room dark and dim. The only light came from the moon through the curtains. She squinted at the bedside clock, it was already past midnight.

She yawned, stretching her arms above her head. Didn’t Dante come back yet?

She hasitatly swung her legs over the side of the bed, bracing herself for the sharp soreness and pain, but to her surprise, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as before.

The ache had faded. So the medicine actually worked, she thought, a bit annoyed that she had to give him credit for anything. Besides he’s the one who caused the pain anyway.

She crept toward the door and reached for the handle. To her shock, it turned with a soft click.

Her eyes shined with sudden hope. He hadn’t locked it this time.

She quickly left the room, her bare feet padding silently across the cold hallway floor as she made her way downstairs.

The mansion felt too silent and lonely at this hour. In the dining room, a fresh spread of food had been placed. She ignored the luxury of it and headed straight for the door.

The front door was, as expected locked tigh. She moved from window to window, but they were all sealed. There really was no exit.

Defeated, she slumped into a chair at the dining table and began to chew on a piece of cold bread.

"What should I do now..." she muttered between bites, her eyes wandering over the hall.

The silence of the house was suffocating. She felt like a bug trapped under a glass jar, waiting for the giant to come back and decide what to do with her next.

Just as she was about to take another bite, the distant sound of engine broke the silence.

Viella froze, a half-chewed piece of bread still in her mouth. He’s back.

She scrambled to decide- should she run back upstairs and pretend to be asleep, or stay and face him? Before she could move, she heard the heavy thud of the front door unlocking.

The security system gave a ding of recognition.

Dante stepped into the foyer. He looked exhausted, his tie pulled loose and his hair slightly disheveled, but the moment his eyes landed on her sitting at the table, his entire posture changed.

He didn’t look angry- but somehow it felt odd and chilling.

"You’re up," he said, tossing his keys onto the couch. He walked toward her slowly. He stopped right behind her chair, leaning down so his cold minty breath brushed her ear.

"Did the medicine help, Vivien? Or did you just wake up early to plan your next escape?"

He placed a hand on the table, and she saw his knuckles were bruised. He had clearly been handling something or someone violently.

She gulped and answered, "I was just hungry," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Good," Dante whispered, his hand sliding from the table to her shoulder, his grip firm. "Eat well. We leave for the airport in four hours. But before that..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, sliding it down for her to see the pictures

Before Viella could question about the airport issue, her eyes looked down at the phone screen, her mind spinning. It was the picture of her and Elias standing together In his own mansion.

She remembered that day perfectly. It was the last time she had gone to see Elias especially to erase his existence. But She felt confused. She had been so careful. She was sure that no one else was alive in that house when she left.

So, who could have been hiding in the shadows to take these pictures?

Dante didn’t say a word. He just watched her, his eyes dark and cold. To him, her silence looked like guilt. He thought he had caught her red handed. The jealousy inside him started to burn like a fever.

"Care to explain what my fiancée is doing with another man?" he asked. His voice was like ice.

Viella looked up at him, her heart thumping. "If I told you I only went there to murder him... would you even believe me?"

Dante slowly shook his head. He didn’t believe a word of it. The pictures showed them standing close, looking like they shared something. To a man as obsessed as Dante, that was proof enough of a betrayal.

"Hey, but I really did kill him!" Viella shouted, her voice getting higher with panic. "I’m not joking! Go ahead and send your men to search his mansion. You’ll find his dead body exactly where I left it!!

Dante didn’t even blink. He ignored her confession as if she were just telling a silly story to get out of trouble.

He reached down and grabbed her, lifting her off her feet easily. He walked over to the large couch in the living room, his grip firm.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" Viella yelled, hitting his chest with her fists. "Don’t tell me your obsessive ass is imagining some secret romance! I hated the guy! I literally stabbed him!"

Dante didn’t let her say anything else. He was tired of her words and tired of the images of Elias in his head. He pinned her down against the soft cushions of the couch, using his body weight to keep her still. He wanted to wipe away every thought of another man from her mind.

He leaned down and crushed his lips against hers. It wasn’t a gentle kiss like before, it was a rough hungry move meant to show her exactly who she belonged to.

He kissed her with a deep passion, silencing her protests and making the rest of the world disappear.

Viella tried to push him away at first, but the force of his obsession was crashing over her, leaving her breathless and trapped in his embrace.

Dante’s kiss moved with a hungry rhythm, traveling from her lips to her jawline and finally settling on her neck.

He roughly bit down on the sensitive skin, sucking and marking her again as if he wanted to overwrite every other memory she had with anyone.

Viella let out a sharp gasp, her body arching in surprise. She tried to shove his heavy shoulders away, but it was like trying to move a stone wall. He was too strong, too fueled by the rage.

He pinned her hands above her head with one of his large palms, caging her perfectly against the the couch. Every time she tried to speak, his teeth grazed her skin, silencing her totally.

Flashback

Only minutes before Dante had pulled into the driveway, his car had been filled with a suffocating tension. His phone rang, and he answered it instantly.

"Boss, we have checked the pictures and the videos," his lead investigator reported, his voice steady. "They are indeed intact. There is no evidence of editing or digital manipulation. They are real. We are still tracing the origin of the phone number."

Dante listened, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel. The confirmation made his blood boil. He wanted to burn everything down.

"What about Elias?" Dante asked, his voice a low, "Anything suspicious? Did you check his mansion? Did you find a body?"

"There is still no sign of him, Boss. We sent a team to sweep the estate as you ordered. There is no trace of blood, no violence, and definitely no dead body. The place is empty."

"And who did he last met before disappearing?" Dante asked waiting for the reply before he strikes.

"It was...young lady from Viella household. Miss Calestine Viella".

For few seconds, Faint breathing could be heard with silence. Then Dante’s voice rang out.

"Find Elias at any cost!" Dante shouted, his voice echoing in the car. He ended the call and ripped the earpieces out, throwing them onto the floorboards with rage.

His veins popped on the back of his hands as he stepped on the accelerator. He didn’t care about proof anymore. In his mind, He already decided what’s about to happen.

The jealousy and the possessiveness inside him were burning like an uncontrollable fire.

Flashback Ends

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To Be Continued