The Offer
1009 Words
The city never slept.
With her arms wrapping her, Luna stood at the entrance of Dante's mansion, looking out at the faraway rotating skyline. She could make out where her bookstore had been, now nothing but a charred ruin. Something inside her flared whenever she looked that way.
There came a soft knock.
She did not answer, but the door opened anyway. Of course, it did.
Dante entered, in a charcoal-gray suit with no tie. Casual, yet calculated. Control was all around him, and as soon as he stepped into the room, the atmosphere changed.
"You've spent all night awake," he said, noting the painful event.
"I didn't know I needed your approval to sleep," Luna replied without glancing at him.
He smiled. "You don't. But it's not healthy."
She stood in front of him, arms still crossed. "At this point, what do you really want?"
With both hands in his pockets, Dante rested against the wall. "To present you with a choice."
Luna's eyes opened in surprise. "A choice?"
"Yes," he replied quietly. "Leave the city tonight." A car and a false identity are already arranged. No strings. No attachments. You disappear and start fresh somewhere far removed from all this."
"And the alternative?"
"You stay." His voice dropped lower, softer. Under my protection. But that comes with expectations."
She lifted a brow. "What kind of expectations?"
"You follow my rules. You don't leave the house without letting me know. You stay close to my circle. You listen when I tell you to duck or shoot. In return, I keep you alive."
Her laughter was bitter. "So I get to choose between exile or being your prisoner."
"I didn't say prisoner," he said. "Control and protection aren't the same thing."
"Explain that to the remains of my bookstore."
Dante's jaw tightened, just for an instant. "Do you think I wanted that to occur?"
"I do not know what you want, Dante. And I'm tired of guessing."
He stepped hesitantly, nervously towards her and stopped a few feet from her. "Then he stopped guessing. Ask me.
"Fine," Luna snapped. "What do you want with me? Honestly. Why not let me go? Why not just kill me like all the other loose ends in your enterprise?"
His eyes pierced hers, dark and unblinking. "Because you aren't a loose end. You're a fuse."
She recoiled. "What?"
"You've been lit for a while, Luna. Like it or not, you're tied to everything now. This city, your father's debts, my enemies... me."
"I didn't ask for any of this."
"No one ever asks for it."
There was a charged, heavy silence between them.
Luna backed away from the window again. "Why do you even care if I leave?"
"Because if you go, they'll come searching for you," Dante whispered. And if they find you without me here, they won't have any reservations about using you. Bleeding you. Or worse."
She swallowed.
"I will take care of myself," she said.
"Maybe. But not against men who were raised in blood."
Luna was silent about that.
Moving in as if they shared a secret, Dante was inches from her, his voice barely above a whisper.
"You want to confirm the truth? I do not want you to go. I don't want to see them get to you. Not because you're useful. Not because of your last name. But because I've seen girls like you burn out before. Smart, stubborn, brilliant... and ground down under the heel of this life."
Her heart raced.
"But if you stay," he continued, "I will not baby you." I will not deceive you. I will keep you alive with everything I've got, but at a price."
She faced him finally, not sure whether it was bravery or exhaustion.
"What is the price?"
"You join my world. Not as my prisoner. Not as my guest. As one who understands the rules, even when she breaks them."
Luna laughed slowly. "And what if I break them out of spite of you?"
He turned his head to one side. "Then at least I will know where you are."
The room was still. Moonlight from the window silhouetted them both, two broken individuals sucked into a game neither had requested.
She walked toward him slowly. "So this is it? Your proposal?"
Dante nodded. "Leave the city tonight, and you'll be free. Or stay, and your life is mine to defend... and to change."
"You don't scare me," she barely breathes.
"I know," he said.
"Good."
"But this world should."
Luna turned away and gritted her teeth. "And what if I stay and hate every minute of it?"
He smirked again. "Then we'll have something in common.
She looked at him. Truly looked. Striving to look past the layers, the murderer, the heir, and the man who regarded her as if she were not a piece in his chess game.
She murmured, "You said I was a fuse." "What must I do if I blow up?"
Dante's eyes became darker, but something sparkled in them. Admiration? Excitement?
He answered, "Then we're going to burn everything down together."
The room was silent once more.
Luna could feel the pressure of a hard decision settling into her very heart.
She could walk away. She knew that. She could get in that car, disappear, and live a quiet life in another town, maybe change her name.
But the fire had already been lit. And a little, wicked part of hers did not want to go.
"I will stay," she told him, resolutely.
Dante's face didn't change. But his body relaxed just a fraction, as though he'd been holding his breath.
"Under one condition."
He turned his brows.
She stated, "You do not own me." "Not now. Not ever."
His smirk fell, replaced by something more restrained. "Fair enough."
She stepped around him, heartbeat racing. "Then we have a deal."
"Luna."
She stood in the doorway, turned away.
His tone is softer now. "You will never regret this."
She smiled; her gaze did not meet her smile. "We'll see."
- Writer
