Bound By Fire
579 Words
Episode 1 – Embers and Exile
They didn’t speak for hours.
Aria stared out the window of the car as the city disappeared behind them, replaced by endless highway and a sky threatening rain. Dante drove like a man running from his own ghost—focused, silent, jaw locked tight.
Finally, she spoke. “Where are we going?”
“A cabin. In the mountains. One of my father’s old safehouses.”
“Great. So we’re hiding in dead men’s shadows now.”
He didn’t answer.
When they arrived, the place was cold and silent. Dusty, but secure. Bulletproof glass. No neighbors for miles. She wandered the halls like she was haunting someone else’s past.
That night, she found him in the kitchen, alone, staring at a scar on his hand.
“I killed my first man when I was sixteen,” he said, like it was nothing. “Rafe made me do it. Said I couldn’t inherit unless I proved I was loyal.”
She didn’t move.
“You think I’m a monster,” he said.
“I think you’re what they made you.”
And when he looked at her—really looked—Aria felt something shift. Not trust. Not yet.
But something.
Episode 2 – The Devil’s Bargain
The peace didn’t last.
At dawn, Dante took a call and vanished into the woods to take it.
Aria followed.
She overheard everything.
“She’s not part of this, Rafe. Leave her out.”
“That’s the thing, brother… she’s the only part that matters now.”
Aria stepped on a branch. Dante turned—caught. Angry. But not surprised.
“You were going to leave me,” she accused.
“I was going to protect you.”
“We’re past that. I don’t want protection. I want revenge.”
Dante hesitated.
And finally, he gave her what she wanted.
A plan.
Episode 3 – Inferno
Rafe’s trap was elegant. A meeting. Neutral ground. A fake offer of peace.
But Aria had fire in her blood now—and fire doesn’t play by the rules.
She wore black.
She walked into the meeting like a queen walking into war.
Rafe greeted her with a smirk. “Back from the dead, Mrs. Alessi?”
She smiled coldly. “Just long enough to bury you.”
The confrontation erupted fast. Guns drawn. Words sharper than bullets.
And then Dante appeared, flanking them from the shadows, outmaneuvering Rafe at his own game.
The tables turned.
A gun pressed to Rafe’s head.
But Aria stopped Dante’s hand.
“No,” she said. “He doesn’t die like this. He dies knowing we beat him. That everything he wanted… is ours now.”
Rafe was arrested hours later. Betrayed by his own crew.
For once, the fire didn’t destroy.
It purified.
Episode 4 – Vows Rewritten
Weeks passed.
The Alessi empire was fractured, but still standing—with Aria and Dante at the helm.
They visited her father’s grave together. She said goodbye. Not to the past. But to the pain.
“I don’t forgive you,” she told Dante softly. “But I’m starting to believe you.”
He nodded. “That’s enough for me.”
Later that night, in the cabin where they once hid, Dante knelt—not to beg.
To ask.
“For real this time,” he said. “No lies. No enemies. Just us.”
Aria stared at him.
And this time, her yes meant everything.
- Writer
