BILLIONAIRE's ADDICTION

CHAPTER FOUR

Lily's Pov

The weight of Dante's menacing presence pressed down on me like a vise as I struggled to keep my composure.

Every instinct screamed at me to retreat before his feral, uncompromising power.

But I knew if I showed the slightest weakness now, he would devour me whole.

"Is that so?" I managed to keep my voice measured despite the riot of emotions churning inside. "Because from where I'm sitting, you're the tiny speck, Mr. Castellano - a minuscule virus eating away at the healthy body you've leeched from."

His eyes flashed dangerously at my bold insolence, but I pressed on, raising my chin in defiant challenge.

"This criminal edifice you've constructed through corruption, greed and exploitation? It's a hollowed-out husk just waiting for the proper spark to burn it all to ashes. And I'll be damned if I just sit idly by and let that happen on my watch."

Dante's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, the only crack in his icy mask before he threw back his head and laughed - a deep, rumbling baritone that reverberated through my bones.

"You've got fire, I'll give you that much," he mused once his rich chuckle subsided. "But even the most dazzling flames are nothing but ephemeral sparks in my world. Snuffed out after serving their momentary purpose."

His gaze bored into me with renewed, unsettling intensity.

"I built my empire from rubble, Rita. Every brick, beam, and foundation stone - laid with these two hands while entitled mouths like yours suckled at society's teat. You and your little crusade don't even register as a mosquito's buzz in my mirrored canyon kingdom."

Maybe it was the way he purposefully butchered my name to demean me.

Or the sheer arrogant disdain dripping from his every word.

But something inside me finally snapped at his blatant belittling.

"Since you seem to have forgotten how to act like a decent human being, allow me to remind you," I bit out, rising to my feet so we were nose to nose. "This is evidence - evidence of your companies' flagrant criminal misconduct. Tax evasion, extortion, money laundering, illegal stock trades based on insider information , I could go on for hours."

I shoved the report into his chiseled chest, heedless of the danger glittering in his onyx gaze.

"This isn't some game for you to arrogantly dismiss, Castellano. People's lives, livelihoods and futures are being stripped away by your greed. Good, honest people."

He opened his mouth, no doubt to unleash another withering volley, but I kept after him with the full force of my building fury.

"And just so we're keeping score on that front, my father worked construction for thirty years, breaking his back daily so my family could get by. My mother pulled double shifts at a diner, missing birthdays and school events so her kids could have healthcare and food on the table. Those are the good, honest people whose lives you've built your filthy fortune on the backs of."

Fire seared across Dante's chiseled features as the echo of my diatribe seemed to reverberate through his cavernous office. His grip tightened on the papers I had handed to him while a dangerous smirk played on his lips.

"And you believe those so called evidences?" He questioned, calmly, but in a way that sent shivers down my spine.

"Yes, it's right in front of you." I sounded bolder than I felt. This man was the most intimidating creature I'd ever come across.

He looked as if he were moments from detonating, lips peeled back from his teeth in a savage snarl.

The predator had awoken and was squarely fixed on me as its prey.

"So unless you actually have shriveled balls rattling around in that six thousand dollar suit after all, put your money where your rancid mouth is. Shut. Me. Down."

My final challenge hung in the air, daring him to follow through on his bravado.

He stepped towards me slowly, with calculated steps as his eyes bored into mine, like they were staring darkly into my soul.

"You went as far, as going that deep into information because you hate me, do you not?" He tilted his head lightly, still stepping towards me while I stepped back. "I would give you a hundred for investigation, but a zero for observation."

"Do you want to deny the truth? The fact that you have done all these corrupted things and refuse to accept your fault?" I questioned.

"I could fire you, or sue you for your accusations."

For several moments, the only sound was our twin heaving breaths mingling in the tense space between us

"I very much doubt that, you may be powerful but you're not above the law."

He let out a hysterical laugher, filled with no humor.

"You have no idea who I am little bird. But I guess rather than tell, I should show you that, instead."

Then he moved, so fast and with such explosive violence that I flinched automatically.

His big hands seized the report gripped against his chest, hurling it aside to slam against the tinted window with a ricocheting clatter.

His other calloused hand clamped around the back of my neck in a crushing vise, yanking me flush against his powerful frame.

The force of his move slammed the air from my lungs. My pulse thundered in my ears as the intoxicating sandalwood musk of his cologne filled my senses.

Our bodies were fused together, his heat and elemental masculinity swallowing me in dizzying waves.

Then his mouth crashed down onto mine with searing, punishing force.

A strangled sound escaped me as Dante's full lips moved against mine with relentless hunger, his free hand burying itself in my hair to angle my head to his plundering.

The kiss bordered on violent, teeth nipping and grazing as his tongue surged between my parted lips.

And despite the aggression, the blatant dominance play of his actions making my head spin, a shocking frisson of molten pleasure lanced through me.

I should have revolted, pushed him away with every ounce of strength I possessed.

Yet my body seemed to have traitorous designs, arching helplessly into his powerful embrace as an unexpected moan slipped free.

Dante wrenched his mouth from mine, and we stared at each other, wild-eyed and panting.

His midnight gaze smoldered, suddenly more intense and undisguised than I'd ever witnessed before.

"You have no idea what you've just unleashed, little warrior," he rasped with savage calm..

Then his lips crashed down on mine once more, and for a blinding, rapturous instant I thought he might consume me whole. Part of me hoped he would.