Chapter 22: The Weight of Surrender
The moment the words left her lips—everything changed.
"I'm yours."
There was no taking it back.
No pretending she could still fight.
Dante had won.
And the way he looked at her made it clear—he knew it.
His fingers traced the curve of her jaw, slow, deliberate.
"Again."
The command sent a shiver down her spine.
Kavy clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms.
She had already given him everything.
And yet—he wanted more.
Always more.
"Say it again, Kavy."
His voice was like velvet and steel—smooth, but utterly unyielding.
She swallowed hard.
Her lips parted, but this time—no sound came out.
A flicker of defiance still lingered inside her.
Weak. Fading.
But it was there.
And Dante?
He saw it.
His smirk was slow, dark.
"Still fighting, little one?"
He tilted his head, studying her like a predator deciding how to devour its prey.
Kavy's breath hitched when his grip on her tightened.
One hand at her waist.
The other trailing lower.
Her heartbeat stuttered.
"Do you think I don't feel it?"
Dante's lips brushed her ear, his voice a dangerous whisper.
"The way your body begs for me even when you refuse to speak?"
Heat coiled deep in her stomach.
A slow, unbearable ache.
He was playing with her.
Pushing her. Breaking her.
And she was letting him.
Dante pulled back, his thumb dragging over her lower lip.
"You'll say it again."
His certainty was unshakable.
As if her surrender was already written in stone.
Kavy's chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven breaths.
Because he wasn't wrong.
She had already fallen.
She had already lost.
And when she finally met his gaze—
Dante smirked.
Because he knew.
She might not have said the words again.
But she didn't need to.
He could see it.
She was his.