Chapter 3 - The Gilded Cage
The ride through the rainy streets of Chicago was dead silent.
Sadi sat in the back of the heavy, bulletproof SUV, staring out the tinted window as the city lights blurred past in the storm. Beside her, Dante Vance worked silently on a encrypted laptop, his face illuminated by the harsh blue light of the screen.
Ten minutes later, the SUV turned down a long, winding driveway flanked by high wrought-iron gates and heavy security cameras. The gates opened automatically, revealing a massive, gothic-style limestone estate nestled deep within a private wooded property.
This was the Vance Manor—a fortress built on money, power, and blood.
When the car stopped, Dante closed his laptop. "My sister is in the medical wing on the east side of the estate. The private doctor is treating her now. You will stay in the guest quarters until I decide what to do with you."
"Decide what to do with me?" Sadi pulled back, her eyes narrowing. "I'm not your prisoner, Mr. Vance."
"You are a witness to a war that is about to start," Dante replied, his voice chillingly calm. "Trent Sterling isn't just an abusive husband. He is the nephew of Senator Richard Sterling—the man currently trying to pass legislation to seize my family's shipping ports. Trent was using Chloe to spy on my family."
Sadi blinked. "He was using his own wife?"
"He was hurting her to break her spirit so she would give him my safe codes," Dante said, a dangerous edge creeping into his tone. "Tonight, you interrupted a high-stakes political assassination strategy. Trent’s family will burn this city down to find him. Until I neutralize the threat, this house is the only place in Illinois where you will remain breathing."
Before Sadi could argue, the SUV door was opened by a maid in a neat uniform.
"Follow Elena," Dante said, stepping out of the car. "She will give you clean clothes and food."
Sadi stepped out onto the wet gravel, watching Dante walk away with heavy, purpose-filled strides toward the medical wing. She felt trapped, terrified, but deeply aware that he was right. If she walked out those gates right now, Trent's powerful family would hunt her down like an animal.
Elena guided Sadi up a grand spiral staircase and down a long, quiet hallway lined with expensive oil paintings and antique furniture. She opened a heavy mahogany door into a luxurious master suite with a plush king-sized bed, a marble fireplace, and a private balcony overlooking the rain-soaked gardens.
"There are fresh clothes in the wardrobe, miss," Elena said respectfully. "And I will bring up a hot meal shortly."
"Thank you," Sadi whispered.
Once the maid left, closing the heavy door behind her, Sadi walked over to the large mirror hanging above the fireplace.
She stared at her reflection. Her face was streaked with dirt and sweat. Her hair was messy, and her apron was stained with grease and coffee. She looked like a girl who belonged in the back alley of a cheap diner—yet here she was, standing in a castle built by the city's most feared crime boss.
She stripped off her uniform, washed her face in the luxurious marble bathroom, and pulled on a simple black sweater and jeans she found in the closet.
A soft knock came at the door twenty minutes later.
Sadi opened it, expecting Elena with a food tray.
Instead, Dante stood in the hallway. He had taken off his suit jacket, rolling up his white dress shirt sleeves to reveal dark, intricate tattoos creeping up his forearms.
"How is Chloe?" Sadi asked immediately.
Dante looked at her, his expression unreadable. "The doctor stabilized her. The baby has a strong heartbeat. They are both going to survive."
Sadi let out a long breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Thank God."
"The doctor said if she had taken one more blow to her abdomen..." Dante paused, his eyes darkening. "She would have lost the child. You saved my nephew's life tonight, Sadi."
"I just did what anyone should have done," Sadi said quietly.
"Nobody does anything in this city without expecting something in return," Dante said, taking a slow step into the room. "Why didn't you take the money?"
Sadi looked him dead in the eye. "Because my father was a corrupt man who thought money bought forgiveness every time he hit my mother. I promised myself when I was twelve years old that I would never take a single dollar from a man who uses fear to control people."
Dante stood motionless, studying her face with an intensity that made her skin prickle. For the first time, the cold mask he wore seemed to crack, revealing a deep, complex intellect underneath.
"I don't hit women," Dante said softly, his voice dropping an octave. "I protect what is mine."
May you like
"And am I yours now?" Sadi challenged, stepping closer to him.
Dante looked down at her, his dark eyes burning with an unspoken, magnetic heat. "Until this war is over, Sadi... you are under my protection. Which means anyone who touches you dies."
