Chapter 205: Play-Date
NO ONE’S POV
Two days later.
Viella yawned lazily as she sat at the grand dining table enjoying her breakfast. She looked over at Lily, who was standing quietly nearby, and her eyebrows furrowed. Lily looked unusually troubled, her mind clearly miles away.
"What’s wrong, Lily? Is someone giving you a hard time?" Viella asked, resting her chin on her hand.
Lily shook her head gently. "No, My Lady. Everything is fine."
She stared down at the polished floor, her mind racing. It was so strange... Ever since they returned from the mountain trip, Dante had been completely quiet. He hadn’t given her a single instruction, nor had he asked about Alina- apart from randomly wiring that absurd ten million dollars into her bank account.
Today was the final day of Elias’s deadline. She had only until tonight to make a move against Viella’s family estate, or Elias would come after the few people she cared about.
Across the table, Viella looked down at her plate, a sudden, mischievous smirk spreading across her lips. She had her own secret plan brewing for today, completely oblivious to the storm brewing around them.
Meanwhile, inside Dante’s top-floor executive office.
The curtains were drawn, leaving the vast room in cool shadows. Dante’s head assistant walked in quickly and placed a black USB drive onto the desk.
"Boss, we managed to restore the corrupted security footage from the old estate’s hidden cameras."
Dante reached out, plugged the drive into his monitor, and hit play. His dark eyes locked onto the glowing screen.
As the blurry black-and-white video played, he watched a move through his dark hallways right before Lily had arrived that night. The figure paused under a hallway camera, revealing just enough of his masked face to identify him.
Dante’s eyebrows raised slightly, his jaw clenching with dangerous recognition.
Elias.
So this was the bastard who dared to break into his sanctuary and provoke him. Dante’s eyes turned terrifyingly cold as he connected the dots. Elias wasn’t just targeting the Moretti empire- he was actively manipulating and using his long-lost little sister as a pawn in his sick game.
Dante slowly closed the laptop, a dark aura settling over the office.
"Find out where Elias is staying right now," Dante commanded. "It’s time I take care of him myself."
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Lily was quietly pacing in her room, trying to figure out how she could leave Viella’s side for a few hours to investigate Lucian’s personal files and find something to satisfy Elias’s deadline. Just as she was weighing her options, the door swung open and Viella walked in, looking bright and determined.
"Lily, let’s go."
"Where are we going, My Lady?" Lily asked, quickly masking her anxious thoughts.
"To Lucian’s office," Viella replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "I have some unfinished business to take care of." She turned on her heel and started walking down the hallway.
Lily gave a quiet nod and followed closely behind her.
At the main corporate head office.
Lucian sat behind his wide desk, utterly restless. Ever since they returned from the mountain trip, he hadn’t been able to focus on a single piece of work. "I should have never gone on that stupid trip," he muttered to himself under his breath, instinctively pulling his shirt collar up to hide the faint mark still sitting on his neck.
Sitting across from him in the executive conference room were Dante and Alina.
Lucian narrowed his eyes at Alina, maintaining a strictly professional distance as they wrapped up the morning business meeting. As soon as the contract discussion concluded, Lucian stood up, motioned for Dante to follow him, and they both walked out toward his private corner office, leaving Alina behind in the boardroom.
Once the office door clicked shut, Lucian turned around, leaning against his desk as he looked at Dante. "Are you really falling for that maid now, Dante?"
Dante stood quietly, his dark eyes locked onto Lucian’s. He knew now that Lucian was the very person who had burst into the old study and saved his little sister from his own gunshot that night. Deep down, Dante felt a strange, profound sense of gratitude. If Lucian hadn’t tackled him, Dante would have unknowingly killed his own long-lost sister, losing her forever before even realizing who she was. Just the terrifying thought of it made his fingers tremble slightly.
Taking a slow breath, a teasing smirk rose onto Dante’s face.
"Are you asking me that... or are you asking yourself?" Dante replied smoothly.
"You- !" Lucian’s face instantly flushed a brilliant shade of red. "Why in the world would I ever fall for Lily?!"
Dante tilted his head, his smirk widening. "Who said anything about Lily? I thought we were talking about Alina."
Lucian’s face turned even redder, pure embarrassment making his voice rise. He opened his mouth, ready to scream at his friend for messing with him, when the double doors of his office suddenly burst open.
Viella stepped inside with a radiant grin, with Lily trailing right behind her.
The moment Lucian’s eyes met Lily’s, he felt his heart leap into his throat, beating at an absurdly fast pace. Panicking, he instantly ripped his gaze away from her and locked onto his sister instead.
"What are you doing here?" he grumbled, trying to sound authoritative.
"Can’t your precious sister come to meet you now?" Viella smirked, leaning against the doorframe.
Lucian narrowed his eyes, not falling for her innocent act. "Get to the point, Viella."
"Tsk, fineee!" Viella threw her hands up in dramatic defeat. "You have a meeting today with a certain prominent businessman’s daughter. Don’t tell me you forgot about the blind date Mom set you up with?"
The second the word date left Viella’s mouth, the energy in the room completely shifted. The room went dead silent. Dante, Lucian, and even Lily snapped their attention straight toward her.
Viella immediately caught Lily’s sudden gaze and flashed a subtle, triumphant smirk.
"What kind of rubbish is this?!" Lucian yelled, standing up so fast his chair rolled back. "Didn’t I tell Mom I don’t want to waste my time on these stupid blind dates?!"
Dante, who had been quietly watching from the couch, leaned back with a calm, amused expression. "Your friend is already engaged, Lucian. You should really start looking for someone now, too." As he spoke, Dante shifted his dark eyes toward Viella.
Catching Dante’s intense look, Viella felt her cheeks instantly burst into a bright pink, and she quickly looked away toward the window to hide her blushing face.
"Don’t you start, too!" Lucian huffed, throwing his hands in the air.
Meanwhile, Lily stood near the door, her face a completely blank mask. Yet deep down inside her chest, an unfamiliar irritation flared up. It’s probably just because I need to finish my mission as soon as possible before Elias’s deadline, she reasoned with herself, tightly clenching her hands inside her pockets to ignore the strange sting.
Ring-!
Viella’s phone suddenly rang with an incoming text notification. She pulled it out, checked the screen, and her smile widened.
"Oh! It seems like she’s already arrived downstairs. Let’s go!" Viella announced happily.
"WHAT?!" Lucian roared, his jaw dropping. "You invited her directly to my own office building without even telling me?! I’m not going! I have important meetings to attend!"
"What meetings?" Viella asked, raising a single eyebrow at him. "The ones I already personally cleared off your schedule for today?"
Lucian was utterly furious, but before he could argue any further, Viella marched over, grabbed him tightly by his forearm, and forcibly dragged her complaining brother toward the private elevator.
As he was being yanked out the door, Lucian desperately turned his head back, trying to catch a single glimpse of Lily’s expression to see if she cared at all but Viella pulled him away far too fast, giving him no chance to look back.
Dante began to walk past Lily, his quiet footsteps echoing off the marble floor of the executive hallway. Before he could take another step, her cold voice rang out in the quiet space.
"Why would Lord Dante buy out all my dark market contracts?" Lily asked, her eyes fixing onto his back. "Ever since you made that transfer, every single hit on my list has been canceled. I am no longer receiving any new deals from the underground network."
Dante stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly to look at her. His dark eyes softened as he looked at his younger sister.
"Because from now on, you will not work as an assassin for anyone," he answered smoothly, his voice leaving no room for argument.
Lily raised her eyebrows slightly, saying nothing.
"More money will be transferred to your account shortly, so rest assured," Dante added softly. Without waiting for her response, he turned and walked away down the hall.
Lily glanced back through the cracked glass door into Lucian’s empty private office, her dark eyes quickly scanning every inch of the room. She immediately spotted two hidden security cameras pointed straight at the main desk and file cabinets. Stealing the documents right now would be impossible without triggering the alarm.
I still have eight hours left before Elias’s deadline, she thought silently, pulling her jacket closer. She turned on her heel and started walking toward the private elevator.
"Let’s see who this girl Young Master is meeting really is," she muttered under her breath.
A few moments later, at an exclusive rooftop café down the street.
Dante, Viella, Lily, and Lucian were all present. Sitting directly across from Lucian at a reserved table was a young woman wearing a heavily sequined, shiny dress, her face painted with thick, elaborate makeup.
Lucian sat stiffly in his seat, shooting a fierce, deadly glare at Viella across the table. Viella simply offered him an innocent, glowing smile in return.
The girl tapped her manicured nails on the glass table and looked around awkwardly at the crowd standing around them. "Uh... could we perhaps have a little privacy, please?" she asked, flustered by the audience.
Viella immediately leaned down and gave Lucian a push on his shoulder. "Go on, go on! Don’t keep your date waiting!"
Lucian gritted his teeth and stood up, following the girl toward a quieter dining alcove near the edge of the terrace.
As they walked off, Viella nudged Lily with her elbow, looking at their retreating backs. "Don’t they look so cute together?"
Lily gave a flat hum in response.
Out of the corner of her eye, Viella suddenly spotted Alina sitting alone near the lounge bar, sipping a glass of wine. A mischievous, evil plan instantly sparked in Viella’s mind.
"Uh... you guys stay right here! I’ll be back in just a minute!" Viella announced excitedly, slipping away to go torment Alina.
Over in the private alcove, Lucian was thoroughly annoyed by his date’s endless chatter. He casually glanced back over his shoulder toward the entrance- only to see Dante and Lily standing side-by-side near the balcony, while Viella was nowhere in sight.
The sight of Dante standing so close to Lily instantly set a roaring fire of jealousy blazing in Lucian’s chest. His jaw clenched tightly, his eyes narrowing as he glared across the venue.
Noticing his sudden change in expression, the girl tilted her head, tapping his arm softly. "What’s wrong, Mr. Lucian?"
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TO BE CONTINUED