Seducing My Father's Killer

CHAPTER 1 Summer's POV "Strip." I froze in the doorway of Dante Moretti's penthouse office, certain I'd misheard, but those cold black eyes told me he never repeated himself. "Excuse me?" "You heard me, Summer," he said, moving around his massive desk with the kind of predatory grace that made my pulse spike, "You want this job? Prove you can follow orders without question." My heart hammered against my ribs because this wasn't how interviews worked, wasn't what I'd spent two years preparing for, but I couldn't walk away now. Three years since I'd found my father slumped over his desk with a bullet in his head. Three years of planning this exact moment. Three years of transforming Sophia Vanderbilt into Summer Hayes so I could destroy the man standing in front of me. And he was already testing me in ways I hadn't anticipated. "I'm not a prostitute, Mr. Moretti," I said, forcing my chin up even as fear crawled up my spine. His smile was devastatingly cruel, "No, but you're desperate enough to be standing in my office, and I need to know exactly how desperate before I let you anywhere near my world." He pressed a button on his desk and two armed men entered so silently I gasped. Both watched me with dead eyes that had seen too much violence to be shocked by anything. This wasn't a normal billionaire's office. This was something darker. "Viktor, Marco," Dante said casually, pouring himself whiskey even though it was barely nine in the morning, "Our new applicant seems hesitant about proving her loyalty." "We can escort her out, boss," the one with the scar across his jaw said, hand resting on his gun like it was an extension of his body. "No," I blurted before I could stop myself, panic rising because I couldn't lose this chance, couldn't let everything I'd sacrificed be for nothing, "I'll do it." Dante's eyes gleamed with dark satisfaction, "Then strip, Summer, before I change my mind about wasting my time on you." My hands trembled as I reached for my blazer, fingers fumbling with buttons that suddenly felt impossibly small while three dangerous men watched like I was tonight's entertainment. God, I hated him. Hated the smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. Hated how powerless this made me feel. Hated that somewhere deep down, a twisted part of me was responding to the power radiating off him. The blazer hit the floor. Then my silk blouse, each button revealing more skin while Dante's gaze traveled over me with an intensity that made my stomach flip in ways I absolutely refused to acknowledge. "Keep going," he said softly, and his voice was rough with something that sounded dangerously like desire. I unzipped my pencil skirt with shaking hands and let it pool at my feet, standing there in just my black lace bra and panties that suddenly felt like they were made of tissue paper. Every instinct screamed at me to run. To grab my clothes and get the hell out of this office. But I'd come too far to quit now. "Everything," Viktor said flatly. "Are you f*****g kidding me?" The words exploded out before I could stop them, fury finally overriding the fear choking me. Dante moved closer until I could smell his expensive cologne, until I could feel the heat radiating from his body, "Language, Summer. And no, he's not kidding. I need to know you're not wearing a wire, not carrying weapons, not hiding anything that could threaten me or my organization." "What organization?" I whispered, because this had gone so far beyond normal paranoia. His hand shot out and wrapped around my throat, not squeezing hard enough to hurt but tight enough to make breathing difficult, "The kind that makes people disappear when they ask too many questions. Now finish stripping or walk out that door and never come back." I stared into those merciless black eyes and saw my father's killer staring back at me. Saw the monster who'd destroyed everything I loved. And I made my choice. With fingers that wouldn't stop shaking, I reached behind my back and unhooked my bra, let it fall to his expensive carpet, then slid my panties down my legs until I stood completely naked in front of three armed strangers. I'd never felt more exposed in my entire life. Never felt more vulnerable or more furious or more determined. Viktor stepped forward and searched me with rough professional hands, checking everywhere, and I bit down on my lip hard enough to taste blood because I refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry. When he finally stepped back, I was trembling with rage and humiliation. "She's clean, boss," Viktor reported. "Good," Dante said, eyes burning into mine as they traveled slowly down my naked body and back up, "You can get dressed now, Summer." I grabbed my clothes and yanked them on as fast as my shaking hands would allow, buttoning my blouse wrong twice before getting it right. "What the hell was that?" I demanded once I was covered again, voice shaking with barely contained fury. Dante's smile was pure predatory satisfaction, "That was me testing whether you'd actually go through with it. And you did, which tells me you want something from me badly enough to endure complete humiliation." He circled me slowly like a shark that had just tasted blood in the water, "So tell me, Summer Hayes, what is it? Desperation or ambition that brought you to my door?" Revenge, I thought with savage intensity, I want revenge so badly I'd walk through fire to get it. "Both," I lied smoothly, meeting his gaze with every ounce of false confidence I possessed. "Interesting," Dante murmured, and suddenly his hand was fisted in my hair, yanking my head back hard enough to make my eyes water, exposing my throat in complete submission, "Because most women would have run screaming the moment Viktor pulled his gun. But you're still here. Still fighting. Still wanting this job even after I stripped away every shred of your dignity." His mouth hovered over my racing pulse and I felt his breath hot against my skin, making goosebumps rise despite my fury, "Tell me what you really want, piccola, and maybe I'll give it to you." "The job," I gasped, hating how breathless I sounded, "I just want the job." "Liar," he whispered against my throat, and I felt his lips brush my skin for just a second before he released me and walked back to his desk, "But I like liars who commit fully to their lies. Makes the game so much more interesting." He picked up a thick contract and threw it at me. I caught it against my chest with numb fingers. "Read every word, sign it, and understand that once you do, you belong to me completely," Dante said, his voice dropping to something dark and possessive that sent unwanted heat through my body, "Your time, your loyalty, your obedienceeverything becomes mine." I scanned the contract with trembling hands, reading terms that were basically indentured servitude dressed up in legal language. Clauses about availability, confidentiality, and penalties that made my blood run cold. But I'd come here to destroy him. And I couldn't do that from the outside. I signed Summer Hayes in elegant script across the bottom, my handwriting barely shaking. "Smart girl," Dante said, taking the contract back with a smile that promised danger, "Welcome to my world, Summer." Then he moved so fast I didn't have time to react, grabbing my jaw and crashing his mouth onto mine in a bruising kiss that stole my breath. His tongue demanded entry and I gasped in shock, letting him in, tasting whiskey and darkness and pure sin as he claimed my mouth like he owned it. Like he owned me. When he finally pulled back, his eyes were molten black fire, "Six AM tomorrow. Don't be late. And Summer?" "Yes?" I breathed. His smile was absolutely wicked, "Wear something much easier to remove next time." Then he dismissed me with a wave of his hand like I was already his property. I turned and walked to the elevator on legs that felt like they might give out any second, forcing myself to move with dignity even though I was shaking. The moment the elevator doors closed, I collapsed against the wall, gasping for air. I touched my lips where I could still feel him, still taste him. Whiskey and sin and something addictive that terrified me. I'd expected Dante Moretti to be a monster. And he was. But he was also devastatingly beautiful, dangerously intelligent, and so magnetic it scared me. I'd just signed away my freedom to my father's killer. But he had no idea who I really was. Had no idea that Sophia Vanderbilt had spent three years planning his complete destruction. Had no idea that every lie I told, every touch I endured, every piece of myself I sacrificed was all part of my plan to burn his empire to ashes and make hi m suffer the way my father had suffered. Game on, Dante Moretti, I thought, straightening my clothes as the elevator descended. Let's see who destroys who first.