Submerged

Chapter 6

Dante

Dante:
I'm here

It only takes a second for her to reply.

Alessia:
Okay

A smile tugs at the corner of my lips as I slip my phone in my pocket and exit my rental car. She knows we have plans but she doesn't know what we're doing yet. I didn't want to give her time to overthink or for the panic to set in before I'd even arrived so I kept it to myself. She probably won't be happy once she finds out where we're going but it has to be done and Viola hasn't helped things so I'm stepping in. She surprisingly hasn't questioned me over it but I'm sure that's due to her being happy with getting away from her family for a few hours and I love that I get to do that for her.

I approach the house and press the doorbell. A moment later Viola opens the door with a smile on her face, a guard standing close by monitoring our interaction.

She pulls me into a hug, planting a kiss on each of my cheeks as she beams up at me. "Alessia's still getting dressed but I'm sure she won't be much longer. Come in, I'll go let her know you're here."

I step inside, closing the door behind me and spot Riot and Luca lingering by the stairs as Viola climbs them and disappears onto the second level.

"Are you prepared to chase her when she runs?" Riot asks with a taunting smirk on his mouth and cold look in his eyes.

How anyone could look that man in the eyes and fall in love is beyond me but I'm well aware people aren't always as they seem.

"She won't run." I reply simply.

They're well aware of my plans and with Alessia's track record I'm sure they aren't convinced I'm right. But if there's one thing in this world I know for certain it's Alessia. All you have to do is pay attention to her, listen to her complaints and adapt things accordingly. She would be far more compliant if they'd just listen. Or maybe for them she wouldn't since they're pushing her into a marriage with me.

Viola comes back downstairs, giving me a reassuring smile. "She said she's putting her shoes on and she will be down in a minute."

"You know Dante, since I took over I've been going through a few things, looking through records, checking on properties, going over past deals." Riot states and I stiffen, unsure of where this is going. As far as I know my father hasn't been making any moves against the family and if he has I have zero knowledge of it. "One of the things I recently looked into were the records for incoming and outgoing flights over the last few years. I quickly noticed a very familiar jet coming and going even when the person who owns it didn't have business here. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

Fuck.

His lips curl up into a menacing smile as if he can see my panic straight through the stoic mask on my face. If it were any other man questioning my actions or whereabouts I wouldn't care but Riot doesn't ask questions he doesn't already know the answer to. Which means he knows, he knows I've been stalking Alessia.

"If it was my fathers jet, I tend to use it more often than him so it was most likely me." I answered him vaguely.

"Most likely." He repeats.

Viola glances between us nervously. "Lorenzo, where are you going with this? What are you doing?"

He ignores her, his gaze focused on me. "If I pull up the surveillance footage throughout the city what will I see, Dante? Why have you been visiting Easthill without checking in with me?"

I glance over at Viola feeling slightly uncomfortable with having this conversation in front of her. "I like to keep an eye on Alessia when I get the chance."