Page 100 of Bound in Ruin

Dante walks in, flanked by two of his attorneys. He moves with a sickening, effortless confidence, his shoulders broad, entirely convinced that his violent threat on the highway three nights ago has broken me. He believes I'm sitting here terrified, ready to yield everything just to keep a bullet out of Dominic's head.

As he takes his seat directly across from us, his dark eyes flicker over to Dominic, burning with pure, unadulterated hatred.

Dominic doesn't flinch. He rests his chin in his hand, looking completely relaxed, his expression unreadable. I made him swear an oath before we left the house: he is not allowed to step in or take over unless I explicitly ask him to. He is keeping his promise, but the sharp, dangerous glint in his eyes says he's just waiting for a reason to snap Dante's neck.

The eldest neutral arbitrator clears his throat, bringing his heavy wooden gavel down once against the sound block.

"This formal arbitration regarding the estate, accounts, and proprietary intelligence of the late Luciano DeLorenzo is now in session."

Dante stands up, buttoning his jacket with slow precision, a triumphant smirk already playing on his lips.

"Honored arbitrators," Dante begins, his voice echoing smoothly through the silent room. "Luciano’s hidden accounts do not represent personal inheritance. They contain core DeLorenzo property—critical business records, encrypted clearance codes, binding contracts, and sensitive family assets. Rosalia, by nature of her marriage into the Kane family, faces an inherent conflict of interest. She cannot legally retain or transfer these materials. We demand a full surrender of them for immediate review."

I sit frozen for a moment. I maintain a completely calm exterior but let just enough of a subtle tremble filter into my breath to make Dante believe his midnight threat cut straight to her bone.

Across the wide table, my sisters exchange deeply worried glances, their knuckles white against their armrests. I don’t turn her head to meet my sisters' frantic eyes; I keep my gaze locked strictly on Dante.

"I don't want to fight anymore," I say, my voice quiet, carrying just the right note of exhausted surrender.

Dante’s smirk widens.

"I want no part of Luciano's legacy," I continue. "I am willing to return what belongs to the DeLorenzos. But only if Dante personally confirms, right here before these arbitrators, that this matter ends today."

Dante looks at me, practically vibrating with smug satisfaction. He believes he has broken me. He believes he owns the room.

He leans forward over the table, angling his head close to mine, his voice dropping to a low, toxic purr intended for my ears alone.

"You made the correct choice, Rosalia," Dante whispers, his eyes gleaming with dark amusement. "Women who listen keep their husbands alive."

Daniela bristles, her jaw tight, shooting absolute venom at Dante with her eyes.

I don't lose my composure for a single second. I slowly turn my head, giving my sister a reassuring look. "It's okay, Daniela."

I turn back to face Dante, the tiny, timid act dropping from my posture in an instant. I look over at Dominic, whose dark eyes are already locked onto mine, burning like hot iron.

"Now," I say quietly.

Dominic snaps his fingers.

In a flash, Keane springs into action. The overhead projector hums to life, casting a bright rectangular light over the wide screen behind the arbitrators.

Before Dante can even react, audio and crystal-clear video roar through the room's sound system.

It’s the night of the attack.

High-definition 4K footage from the concealed, military-grade wide-angle cameras mounted on the perimeter of Dominic’s armored SUV fills the screen. The footage plays Dante hauling me by my hair, the gleaming silver of the blade pressed tight against my throat, and his foul voice echoing through the speakers for every single person in the hall to hear:

“You are going to declare every single account, every clearance code, and every single document to be DeLorenzo property... Because if you drop a single word... I promise you, Rosalia, I will make sure Dominic Kane does not see another day.”

A slow, vicious smile spreads across my face as I watch the color completely drain from Dante's face. His eyes widen in absolute horror, his smugness evaporating into thin air. He had chosen that dark, abandoned stretch of highway precisely because there were no municipal street cameras or surveillance units anywhere near it. What the idiot didn't realize was that every vehicle in Dominic's personal fleet is a mobile, high-tech fortress recorded live to encrypted cloud servers.

Before Dante can even open his mouth to sputter a denial, Dominic's lawyer stands up, slapping a thick folder onto the center of the table.

"Furthermore," the lawyer announces, his voice ringing crisp and clear over the low murmur of the room, "we have full ballistic matches, serial numbers, and paper trails directly linking Dante DeLorenzo's off-book accounts to the mercenaries who executed Mrs. Kane's guards three nights ago."

Instant uproar erupts across the conference hall.

The three neutral arbitrators stand up in anger, slamming their gavels down in unison, while Massimo and the rest of the board start shouting over each other. Every single head in the room turns on Dante, their faces twisted with disgust, fury, and outright condemnation. The trap has snapped shut, and he is completely surrounded.