Dante stood on the wooden dock, looking at the huge white yacht rocking gently in the waves in front of him. To rent this boat, he had almost spent all the money he saved over the past few months.He wanted to make up for a late proposal to his wife Ginevra, out here on the sea she had always wanted to visit. He had even imagined the rare soft look on her face when she got the surprise.Footsteps came from the boarding ladder. Dante turned with a smile, but the light on his face froze at once.Ginevra had not come alone. Standing next to her was her male assistant, Luca."Why is he here?" Dante frowned, looking at the well-dressed man with a smile on his face.Ginevra stopped and fixed the collar of her coat. There was no anger on her face, only the usual light impatience."Dante, don't be so petty." Her tone was flat, like she was reminding someone who didn't know better. "Luca has been running projects for the company lately and lost some weight. I'm his boss. Taking him out for s

The icy waves beat against the beach. Ginevra struggled to help Luca out of the orange lifeboat and took out her waterproof phone."I have to contact maritime rescue right away." She swiped open the screen, a trace of urgency in her voice. "Dante is still on that boat."Beside her, Luca's body swayed. He leaned against the wet rocks. He did not cry out. He only pressed his fingers against his chest. His face quickly turned pale, and his breathing became fast and heavy,"Ginevra... sorry." His voice was low and hoarse, his eyes a little unfocused. "I... can't seem to catch my breath. I was in the water too long. My heart..."Ginevra's hand stopped. She looked at Luca's pale face and the cold sweat on his forehead. The finger that had been about to dial hung in the air."Luca? Is your heart acting up?""I'm fine..." Luca forced out a weak smile, his voice very faint. "You call and save Dante first... Don't worry about me. I can hold on."The more he spoke like this, the more the balance

Ginevra finally pressed the call button, putting her expensive phone to her ear. The loud, gruff voice of the maritime rescue captain boomed through the receiver immediately."Are you completely out of your mind?!" the captain roared, his heavy voice thick with raw frustration. "You’re calling us now? Three full hours after your luxury yacht was hit by a rogue wave?! Do you have any idea how dangerous the sea is tonight? Why on earth did you wait this ridiculously long to report a missing person? Do you actually want your husband to die out there?!"Ginevra gripped her phone tightly, her knuckles turning white. She glanced at Luca, who was sitting upright on the hospital bed, calmly buttoning his crisp suit jacket despite his sprained ankle."I had an urgent medical emergency to deal with first!" Ginevra swallowed hard, forcing her tone to sound commanding. "Just deploy your search boats immediately and stop lecturing me!"The captain slammed the receiver down. Ginevra grabbed her des

Ginevra let out a scream so sharp it echoed off the marble walls. She stumbled backward, her heel catching the edge of the rug, and nearly collapsed before gripping the console table for support."Dante!" Her voice came out raspy and wild. "What—how—they told me you were dead!"Dante stood in the doorway, completely motionless. His dark clothes were pristine, completely bone-dry. His cold eyes moved slowly from Ginevra’s ghost-white face down to the trembling creature on the floor. Luca had crawled backward until his spine was pressed flat against Ginevra's ankles, using her body as a shield. His soaked trousers clung to his thighs, a foul-smelling trail leaking across the marble.Dante’s expression didn't flinch. He looked at them as if staring at an overturned trash can—nothing but mild, distant disgust."Are you... a ghost?" Ginevra’s voice shook violently, her knuckles turning bone-white against the table.Dante let out a low, dark laugh. It was completely hollow—the sound of a ma

The woman pressed her back against the alley wall, still trembling, watching the three men groan in a crumpled heap near the warehouse. Her torn dress was soaked through and her bare feet were bleeding from the wet concrete, but her eyes were locked entirely on Dante."How did you do that?" Her voice came out breathless, caught somewhere between terror and pure disbelief. "You kicked them like they weighed nothing."Before Dante could respond, the scarred leader dragged himself out from under the pile. Blood dripped from a gash on his forehead and one of his arms hung at a wrong angle, but his eyes burned with unhinged fury."You think this is over?" He spat a mouthful of blood onto the pavement and reached for a phone in his back pocket with his good hand. "I have got twenty men within five minutes of here. Every single one of them is going to come down on you like a freight train. You just signed your own death warrant, you stupid fool."Dante looked at him the way someone looks at a