The Devil's Masquerade: The Poison (4 page)

“Very nice. All I could get my date to do was polish my shoes. I never thought of entertainment,” Saldean says. “She is going to have to leave soon though, so you might want to say your goodbyes now.” Shaking his head at the awkward woman, he exits the room.

“I guess you better go.”

“So, I will be seeing you again soon?” she asks.

“No, I don’t think so. You’re really boring and not even interesting enough to want to fuck, but thank you for coming over and wasting my time.” I escort her and her astonished expression out of my house. One thing Father taught me is to always tell people exactly what you want and what you think. That way, there is no way they can misunderstand you.

Chapter 4

Dante

I spend my days working at the site and keeping an eye on Sophia. She has started bringing me homemade lunch. It is barely edible. Sophia is a horrible cook, but I eat it anyway to make her happy. She always delivers it with a smile and a delicate touch to my hand, but I don’t let her leave without pulling her into an out of the way corner and taking in her lips. Our secret flirting becomes a game that we both seem to enjoy. Whether I sneak up on her or she surprises me with a kiss, it doesn’t matter to us. Every time I see her look up at me and smile, I can hardly remain focused on my overseeing of the building. She clearly has my attention, and it is a good thing, too. She has a lot of unruly customers come through. Anytime I hear someone raise their voice to her, I rush to her side, but she continuously holds me back with a hand on my chest.

“Dante, this is my business. You have got to let me handle it.”

“But he was being rude to you.”

“He was upset about his car being in bad shape, he doesn’t have enough money to fix it and, he needs his car to get to work. Of course he was angry, but not with me. He was just taking it out on me. It isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.”

“I don’t like it,” I say. “I think I should go get him and make him apologize.”

She rolls her eyes and turns me around. “Will you please go back to your job and let me do mine. I promise you, I can handle myself without your help.” Hesitating to move, I look back at her. “Dante, go back to work!”

I leave, but I keep an eye on her each day, making sure things don’t get out of control. She says she can handle it, but I have my doubts, and my suspicions prove true. As Sophia begins to close up one night, I notice a man sneak into the garage. The bays are empty, and the only person in the building is Sophia, finishing up some last minute business matters in her office. I can only imagine what his intentions are, and that alone is enough to ignite my veins. The man waits for Sophia to step out of her office while I wait in the dark, staying out of her business as I was told to do.

Once she exits, the man surprises her. “Hello Honey, remember me? I would like that special deal you offered me earlier with a little extra,” he says taking hold of her.

“Let go of her,” I say with a rugged growl.

“Dante, be careful. He has a gun!” Sophia yells as he spins around, clutching her neck within his beastly arm.

He has a plan to use her to kill me, but his mistake is made when he meets my swirling angry eyes. The sight of Sophia in fear and being handled so inappropriately pushes me into an uncontrolled rage. His stunned fear gives me ample opportunity to take hold of her before he drops to his knees. I whisper his death sentence, and he dies at our feet. His lifeless body is nothing new to me. I have killed before, and this man is certainly deserving considering his intent, but Sophia backs away, looking me over with fear in her eyes. Suddenly, I realize she doesn’t know me, not who I really am. “What did you do Dante? How?” I try to approach her, but she continues in her retreat.

“I won’t hurt you.”

“I don’t understand …” she says, avoiding looking directly at me. I beg her to listen to me, to try and understand what I am telling her. No matter how much begging I do, she still fears me, and I can see her desire to flee in her eyes.

I drop to my knees in front of her, with tears in my eyes, “Please, please Sophia, don’t be afraid of me. I would never hurt you. I only want to protect you from the rest of the world, to give you everything you have ever wanted. I want to marry you, to live a long life with you. Please don’t run from me. I would die inside.” Her feet catch my tears, but I fear she isn’t truly hearing me. “I can’t help who I am Sophia; I can only help who I love.” I look up at her with pleading eyes, and she looks down on me, falling to her knees with me.

“I love you too,” she says, embracing me. “I promise to allow you to hold and protect me and our child for the rest of our lives, Dante.”

Our child, my child, I look down at her and feel the need to quickly bring her back to my chest, to wrap my arms protectively around her more than ever. I know what this means, and I am going to do everything possible to make sure she never knows the threat of my father and his need to be the ultimate decider of who lives and who dies in his family. The only hope of protecting my family is to deal with my father face to face, bargaining for my future.

I tried to keep it simple, keeping my distance from her in hopes that I would be able to lose interest in her at some point, but nothing worked. So instead, I am diving in head first, hoping that I can talk my father into accepting our relationship, but I abstain from telling him about the child we are expecting.

“Dante, this woman is not right for you! You did not give my choice for you a chance.”

“She was boring and no challenge at all.”

“She would do whatever you asked her to do, Dante!”

“Exactly! Father, I love Sophia. I am going to marry and be with her. I don’t care what you say.”

My father doubts my love for Sophia and threatens to disown me. His fiery anger is directed at me with more force than ever before, but I remain solid in my decision. I want to marry her and be with her forever. When my stepmother comes in the room with Saldean, my father smiles and gives me last warning. “You either leave that woman and stay here and see to your responsibilities to this family or I force you out and make Saldean in charge. You will never be allowed back and will receive no protection from me or any of the other Lords who will surely want you dead the moment you step out that door. So what will it be Dante?”

I look over my stepmother and brother before looking back at my father with my head held high. “I choose her. I choose my freedom, and I know for a fact that no Lord will come after me if they know you have disowned me. I am no threat to them then. Don’t try and fool me Father. I am the smart one remember?” I grab my things and walk out of my longtime home with no regrets.

Chapter 5

Dante

Since leaving the family, I have been working with Sophia, helping her until I can find a more suitable job for myself. The few things Father let me take are moved into Sophia’s house. I leave with very little money. My father cut me off from all accounts, and I am forced to depend on Sophia, something she doesn’t mind, but I do. I try and do everything I can to find a better life for us. Every possible opportunity I attempt, my father blocks. He threatens anyone who helps me, and his efforts are beginning to affect Sophia’s business. She will be forced to close soon if I don’t do something.

If not for my sister, I would know nothing of what is happening with my family. If my stepmother has her way, I will be killed, but for some reason Father resists this idea. I have never understood why he protects me from her, or why he seems to prefer me over my siblings. He never speaks of my mother, leaving me to assume she didn’t mean that much to him, but maybe she meant more than I realize. I am hoping that, whatever is keeping him from killing me, is something I can use.

I show up at my father’s door, and my old tutor answers. Rabbie stares straight ahead and shows no emotion. “Hello Rabbie,” I say, but he says nothing. “I would like to see my father.” He nods and shows me to my father’s office. “Thank you, Rabbie. Please have some refreshments prepared for me and my son.” Rabbie nods and leaves us.

“What is wrong with Rabbie?”

“My assistant is now perfect. After you left, there was no reason for him to be here any longer, but I hated to let a good man go. So, I turned him into my new aide,” he says, looking up at me with no concern of how I would feel about that. My punishment. He seeks to cause pain to everyone around me to punish me. My anger builds, and I have a difficult time speaking. “I assume that you have left that woman and are ready to do as I say?”

“No, I have not left her. I love her, but I have come to make a deal with you since you feel it necessary to suffocate everyone around me.”

“I don’t make deals.”

“You don’t make deals that don’t benefit you. I know that, and I have come to offer you a deal that will benefit you. I will come back and work for you, offering the benefit of my intelligence and negotiation skills to use as needed for the family. In exchange, you allow me the family I want and you leave Sophia and I alone with any children we may have.”

My father instantly stands. “Children? She’s pregnant? Oh wonderful Dante! I swear, you will be the death of me.” He sits back down, swearing at me under his breath. “The child will need to go through judgment.”

“No, not my child,” I say, causing him to sit back with wide eyes. “We work together, but you leave my family alone, all of them, or else …” I feel my mother taking me over, and her spirit within me forces my father to accept my terms.

With my deal with my father behind me and my accounts available, I withdraw some money and buy a ring. Before I finish my plans for the night, I make one call to Sophia and ask her to accompany me on a special date. She meets me at the door in a red dress that nearly brings me to my knees. Our dinner is set up on a private balcony where we can feel free to do as we please. The dinner is perfect, but she is even better. There isn’t much room on the balcony, but we manage to dance together to the music flowing from inside the timelessly charming restaurant. I breathe in the scent from her neck and rest my heavy head against hers, her velvety hair cushioning the pain of my heart as it begins tearing its way through my chest to get to her. “Who are you?” I whisper through the foggy night air.

“Sophia, Sophia Simone. And you, who are you?” she asks, looking up into my eyes, awakening a soul within me I didn’t know existed.

“I am, yours. Forever and always, your Dante.” I reach into my pocket and get down on one knee. Looking up at her with pleading, loving eyes, I profess, “I love you Sophia, marry me, and be forever
my
Sophia?”

Her tears nearly drown out her gasping, “Yes, a million times, yes.” A thousand kisses from another could never equal one from my Sophia. I am sure my father must be wrong about her. There is no way someone that gives me such amazing feelings could be harmful to me.
Yes
, he must be wrong, and if he isn’t, then I will die never regretting loving her.

Working for my father is not difficult, except I do find myself debating him often on how to handle things. His frustration with me is building, and he continues to persuade me to rid myself of Sophia before it is too late, before she completely takes over my thoughts and turns me into her servant.

I love waking up with Sophia in my arms, but today, we are awakened by my father. I ask her to stay in the bedroom while I deal with him, but she wants to argue with me, suggesting that, maybe if he met her, things would be different. She doesn’t know him like I do though, and I insist with a kiss that she stay out of sight for her own good. When I open the door to him and his new aide, Rabbie, he looks over me with disgust. I nod in his direction while blocking him from entering our home.

“Cheap clothes my son? Is that what your life has become? Cheap clothes and cheap women… I am so proud of how far you have lowered yourself,” he says, looking around the neighborhood. “And what amazing creativity the poor have. It is simply marvelous that they are able to make do in such wretched conditions.”