CHAPTER 21 — THE CRACK BEGINS
D A N T E – P O V
The world outside the towering glass windows of his office looked like a city he didn't recognize.
Dante sat behind his desk long after the meeting with Adrian and Auri ended, staring blankly at the skyline. The city lights used to give him clarity. Structure. Control.
Tonight they only reflected the chaos raging inside him.
He loosened his tie, something he rarely did, and dragged a hand over his face. His thoughts returned—again and again—to the moment Auri looked at him across that meeting table.
She looked…
Terrified.
Angry.
Confused.
Avoidant.
But beneath it all?
Hurt.
He knew that look.
He'd seen it in the resort when he pushed her too much.
He saw it again today.
It punched him harder than any business downfall ever did.
The memory of her voice echoed in his head:
"Dante… please stop."
She said it without saying it.
Her eyes screamed it.
Her shoulders tensed like his presence exhausted her.
He hated that.
And the worst part?
He caused it.
He leaned back against the leather chair and exhaled loudly.
He had dragged her out of her workplace.
He kissed her in the car like a starved man.
He let jealousy dictate his actions when he saw her smiling—forced or not—beside Adrian.
He shouldn't have done that.
But the moment he saw Adrian's hand near her waist, something inside him… snapped.
He clenched his jaw.
He had always been in control.
He built empires by eliminating emotions.
Feelings only slowed people down.
Or so he thought.
Until Auri came into his life like a damn storm—
wild, unpredictable, destructive…
and the only place he found peace.
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, letting the guilt eat through his chest.
He fucked up.
He knew it.
But what scared him more was the realization that he didn't know how to stop wanting her.
His phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
OLIVIA:
We need to talk. Please. I'm at your penthouse.
His stomach tightened.
Olivia.
Of course she'd come.
He ignored it at first.
Tried to work.
Tried to breathe.
But after ten minutes of staring at a single spreadsheet without understanding a single number…
He grabbed his coat and left the office.
Arriving at the Penthouse
When he opened the door, Olivia was sitting on the couch—perfect posture, perfect hair, perfect smile.
The perfect fiancée.
Her eyes lit up when she saw him.
It made something in his chest twist.
"There you are," she said softly. "I was worried."
Dante hung his coat on the stand.
He didn't answer.
He walked straight to the minibar and poured himself a drink.
Whiskey. Neat.
Olivia watched him.
She noticed everything.
"Dante… you look tired."
He didn't respond.
She stood, walked toward him with slow measured steps.
"Is it the company?" she asked gently. "Another board issue? You've been so stressed since—"
Her sentence froze in the air.
She corrected herself.
"—since the vacation."
Dante's fingers tightened around the glass.
Olivia exhaled shakily.
"That trip changed you."
He swallowed.
She took another step forward.
"You haven't looked at me the same way since then. You barely kiss me. You barely talk to me. You don't even sleep beside me anymore."
Her voice cracked.
She shook her head, trying to keep her composure.
"Dante… I'm not stupid."
That made him look at her.
And she saw the truth in his eyes immediately.
She stepped back as if slapped.
"Oh," she whispered. "So it is true."
Dante set his drink down with a hard clink.
"Olivia—don't assume—"
"I'm not assuming," she whispered harshly. "I'm observing."
Her eyes glistened.
"When I arrived at the resort that day… when I saw her—Auri—I thought she was just some girl. A vacationer. I even talked to her because she seemed sweet."
Dante's body went rigid.
Olivia's lips trembled.
"She pretended she didn't know you," she continued with a broken laugh. "But I saw it in her eyes. She recognized your name. She froze."
Dante's chest tightened.
Olivia swallowed hard.
"I watched you from afar at the resort. I saw how tense you were. How you kept disappearing. How you avoided me. How your eyes looked restless—like you were looking for someone."
Her voice weakened.
"And now… I understand why."
Dante turned away, bracing a hand on the shelf behind him.
"I didn't intend for this to happ—"
"But it happened," Olivia said sharply.
Silence thickened the room.
"You love her," she whispered.
"You don't have to say it. I already know."
Dante closed his eyes.
He didn't confirm it.
But he didn't deny it.
That alone shattered her.
Olivia's Pain
Olivia laughed softly, tears finally spilling down her cheeks.
"You know what's funny? I waited for you for years. I stayed by your side through everything. Family meetings, business dinners, events. I learned to fit your world. I shaped myself into the woman your family wanted."
Her voice shook harder.
"I did everything right.
Yet the one you fell for is the woman who doesn't belong in any of it."
That hit him.
Hard.
He turned around.
"Olivia…"
She raised her hand—stop.
"I'm not blaming her. I'm not even blaming you."
She sniffed.
"I just want the truth."
Dante's throat tightened.
The truth was simple.
Auri changed him.
Auri ruined him.
Auri saved him.
Auri destroyed all his walls.
She was everything he wasn't supposed to want—
yet the only thing he couldn't live without.
He looked Olivia straight in the eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Not an explanation.
Not an excuse.
Just the truth of everything he couldn't say.
Olivia's face crumpled.
"I see," she whispered.
"And what am I supposed to do with that?"
Dante exhaled. "We'll fix this—"
"No."
Her voice was gentle but final.
"I won't force myself into a life where I'm second. I won't fight a woman you chose without even realizing it."
Her fingers touched her engagement ring.
She slid it off slowly, painfully, placing it on the coffee table.
Dante stared at it.
At the symbol of a future that was never truly theirs.
Olivia wiped her tears and lifted her chin with grace.
"I love you, Dante," she whispered. "But I love myself too. And I deserve someone whose eyes light up when I walk into the room… the way yours light up when she enters."
He swallowed hard.
The truth cut deeper than he expected.
"I don't hate you for this," she added quietly. "I just wish… it didn't hurt this much."
She walked toward the door.
Dante didn't stop her.
He had no right.
Before leaving, she turned one last time.
"Does she know?" she asked softly. "Does she know how much she changed you?"
Dante's chest tightened.
"No," he murmured.
Olivia nodded sadly.
"Then maybe she should."
O L I V I A – P O V
When Olivia stepped into the elevator, the world blurred behind a film of hot tears.
She pressed the button and leaned her head back against the wall.
Her heart was breaking—
quietly, gracefully, painfully.
Dante.
Her childhood friend.
Her almost-husband.
Her everything.
She always knew he was aloof.
Cold.
Hard to reach.
But he was hers.
Or she thought he was.
Until Auri.
The wild-eyed woman from the resort.
The woman who carried sunlight and defiance like a perfume.
The woman Dante risked his composure for.
Olivia replayed their encounter at the resort—the day she sat beside Auri unknowingly.
She remembered the girl's shy smile.
Her awkwardness.
The way she dropped her gaze when Olivia mentioned Dante's name.
Olivia had assumed it was because he was intimidating.
Now she understood.
She wasn't angry at Auri.
Auri had seemed sincere.
Sweet.
Lost, even.
Olivia had even pitied her for vacationing alone.
What a fool she'd been.
Olivia wiped her eyes as the elevator descended.
She thought of the way Dante looked earlier—
unhinged, restless, burning.
He didn't look like a man stuck between two women.
He looked like a man who already belonged to one…
and was being torn apart by it.
Olivia stepped out into the parking garage, inhaling a trembling breath.
She wasn't weak.
She wasn't a villain.
She wasn't a victim.
She was a woman who loved.
And she was a woman smart enough to know when to let go.
She slid into her car, stared at the steering wheel, and whispered:
"Auri… I don't know who you are. But he chose you long before he ever admitted it."
She started the engine.
"And I hope… for your sake… you choose him too."
D A N T E – P O V (End)
After Olivia left, Dante remained motionless.
Unable to breathe.
Unable to move.
Unable to stop thinking of the one woman who had no idea what she'd done to him.
Auri.
He rubbed his jaw hard.
He had tried staying away.
He had tried moving on.
He had tried pretending his engagement mattered.
But nothing worked.
There was no plan, no strategy, no board meeting he could hide behind.
He wanted Auri.
He wanted her laugh.
Her fire.
Her stubbornness.
Her softness when she let her guard down.
The way she fought him.
The way she kissed him back like she hated needing him.
He wanted everything.
And now that Olivia was gone?
There was no more excuse.
No more hiding.
No more guilt pinning him down.
Nothing stood between him and the woman he couldn't forget.
Only Auri herself.
He grabbed his phone.
His thumb hovered over her name.
He didn't press call.
Didn't send a message.
No.
He would see her.
Face to face.
Standing in front of her.
With nothing left to hide behind.
He grabbed his keys, eyes burning with determination.
"Auri," he whispered.
"Avoid me all you want. Run all you want."
He stepped out of the penthouse into the night.
"But I'm coming for you."