The Ultimate Payback 7

Posted by admink, ? Views, Released on April 5, 2025

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Chapter 7

When Rosalie regained consciousness, she found herself back in Dante’s penthouse bedroom.

Heated voices drifted in from the living room. Carefully, she made her way to the door and opened it just enough to see Dante confronting the men who had attacked her. His security team had them

restrained.

“You were paid to scare her, not to pull a knife,” Dante was saying, his voice so controlled it sounded dangerous. “Who changed the plan?”

The men remained silent, visibly terrified.

Dante’s associates stood nearby, watching with uneasy expressions.

“Jesus Christ, Wolf,” Marcus said cautiously, “take it down a notch. This is getting way out of hand. Remember what we discussed? Darcy fakes an injury so you have a reason to leave. We make excuses to step out. These guys come in to rough her up a little–just enough to spook her into running back to LA. Nobody was supposed to actually cut her.”

“Yeah,” Tyler added, nervously adjusting his designer watch. “The whole point was to send your message without any permanent damage. That knife wasn’t part of what we agreed to.”

Rosalie stood frozen, her breath caught in her throat.

She had desperately wanted to believe that Dante hadn’t orchestrated this nightmare. That in saving her, he had proven there was something genuine beneath all the deception. But now the uuth was clear–he had approved the original plan. He just hadn’t expected it to escalate so far.

“I don’t give a fuck what the original plan was,” Dante growled. “I’m handling this my way now.”

Jason exchanged concerned glances with Tyler before carefully asking what they were all thinking: “Wolf, I’ve gotta ask… have you actually fallen for her? I mean, she’s Alistair Lima’s sister, for Christ’s sake. You two have been trying to destroy each other for years. If you’ve caught real feelings-”

Dante’s expression darkened dangerously. He slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a dent in the expensive plasterboard.

“I haven’t fallen for her!” he snarled, a hint of desperation bleeding through his anger. “She’s nothing but leverage. I’d have to be completely out of my mind to care about Alistair Lima’s sister. Happy

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The Utunate

When I Married Your Lovestry My Stepbrother

now? Get the hell out all of you. I need some space.

After everyone had left. Dante stood alone by the floor to ceiling windows. He pulled out a cigarette. lighting it with practiced ease. The Manhattan skyline glittered beyond the glass, but he saw none of

It

smoke curled around him as his expression grew increasingly troubled. He took a deep drag. holding the smoke in his lungs before slowly exhaling. His mind was in chans, repeatedly flashing back to the scene at the club–Rosalie pinned down, a knife at her face. Her terror and desperation had cut into him like a physical wound.

He couldn’t make sense of his own emotions toward her. This relationship had begun as nothing but

calculated revenge against Alistair Lima. A simple plan.

So why had seeing her threatened sent him into a murderous rage?

This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t who he was supposed to be with her.

The words he’d spat at his friends echoed in his head: “I haven’t fallen for her!” But even as he’d said it, something inside him had recoiled at the lie. His friends had seen it–that’s why they’d asked. They knew him too well.

He thought of all the nights she’d lain beneath him, so trusting and tender, her eyes filled with genuine love. Like a gentle creature that had somehow wandered into his cold, calculated world and

made herself at home.

But today, those same eyes had held nothing but fear and desperation.

He couldn’t let himself dwell on what that meant. The implications terrified him more than any business rival ever had. Was it just concern about things going too far? Or had he actually developed real feelings for Alistair Lima’s sister?

The latter possibility sent a wave of panic through him. That outcome wasn’t part of the plan. That outcome would mean his entire scheme had backfired spectacularly. That outcome would make him

the fool, not Lima.

The deeper he probed these questions, the more his chest tightened with anxiety. Better not to examine it too closely. Better to focus on damage control.

Halfway through his cigarette, he suddenly remembered how Rosalie hated the smell of smoke on him. With a frown, he stubbed it out in the ashtray, leaving it half–finished.

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The Ultimate Payback When I Married Your Enemy, My Stepbrother

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Chapter 7

Only after extinguishing it did he realize what he’d just done another small, unconscion accommodation for someone who was supposed to be nothing but a pawn.

He turned toward the bedroom, deliberately softening his footsteps, afraid to wake her. More evidence of a care he refused to acknowledg

When she heard his footsteps approaching the bedroom, she quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. Her fingers gripped the edge of the blanket tightly, afraid he would detect her charade.

Dante stood beside the bed, watching her for what felt like forever. She felt his hand gently brush a strand of hair from her face, his touch uncharacteristically tender, before he quietly left the room.

Over the next few days, Dante didn’t return to work. He spent all his time with Rosalie, treating her as if she were made of fine porcelain.

He showered her with extravagant gifts–diamond jewelry from Cartier and Tiffany, fresh flowers delivered each morning, gourmet meals he insisted on preparing himself despite never having

cooked before. The coffee table soon disappeared beneath boxes from Manhattan’s most exclusive

boutiques.

Rosalie looked at the mountain of presents with empty eyes. She understood what he was doing–trying to buy her forgiveness, to paper over the cracks with wealth and luxury. But her heart had become a frozen wasteland where his gifts could find no purchase.

Neither mentioned what had happened, but both were acutely aware of how Rosalie had changed.

Her smiles, once so readily given, grew rare. Her eyes, once bright with adoration, now held a dull, distant look. She moved through the penthouse like a ghost, physically present but spiritually gone.

Finally, after dinner one evening, Dante could bear it no longer. He pulled her into his arins, his

voice rough with what sounded like genuine emotion.

“Baby, I’m sorry. I should have protected you better. Can we just move past this? I’ll do anything you

want–absolutely anything.”

Rosalie looked up at him, studying the dark eyes that had once seemed so sincere when they told her he loved her. The same eyes that had approved a plan to terrify her just enough to send her running. The same eyes that had watched her record those videos that were meant to humiliate her brother.