“I Bought You So You’d Beg”—The Billionaire Crime King Paid $50 Million for the Wrong Daughter

Gunfire shattered the silence of the mansion.

Dante moved with terrifying speed. Before the first mercenary could pull his trigger, Dante pulled Evelyn down behind a thick marble pillar, drew his gun, and fired three rapid shots, dropping three Vance soldiers instantly.

“Move! To the basement!” Dante yelled into his radio, grabbing Evelyn’s hand and pulling her down the narrow corridor behind the main staircase.

Marcus, Dante’s enforcer, provided suppressing fire with his submachine gun, holding off the advancing enemy soldiers while Dante unlocked the heavy steel security door leading to the mansion’s underground escape tunnels.

Sparks flew off the stone walls as bullets ricocheted around them. Evelyn ran as fast as her heels allowed, her hand locked tightly in Dante’s grip. She could feel the immense strength in his fingers, grounding her amidst the chaos.

They rushed down a flight of concrete stairs, slamming the heavy steel fire door shut behind them. Dante pulled a digital control box from his pocket and pressed a red button, activating the emergency locking pins that sealed the door permanently.

The loud thuds of explosives detonating above echoed down the stairwell.

Evelyn leaned against the damp concrete wall, her chest heaving, her silk dress torn and covered in dust. “They’re going to blow through that door!”

“That door is four inches of reinforced tungsten,” Dante said, breathless but completely calm. He reloaded his pistol with a fresh magazine. “It will take them two hours to cut through it. By then, my secondary strike team from Manhattan will be here.”

He walked over to her, his dark eyes scanning her body for injuries. “Are you hit?”

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I’m... I’m okay.”

Dante reached out, his thumb gently wiping a streak of black soot from her cheek. His touch was remarkably tender, completely contrasting the violent war raging above their heads.

“You stood up to Marcus Vance,” Dante murmured, looking deep into her eyes. “He could have granted you unlimited wealth, luxury, and safety. Why did you refuse to go with him?”

Evelyn looked up at him, feeling a lump form in her throat. “Because he looked at me like I was a piece of jewelry he owned. Just like you did when you paid fifty million dollars for me.”

Dante’s expression softened, a rare flash of genuine regret passing over his sharp features.

“I was wrong about you, Evelyn,” Dante said quietly, his voice dropping into a sincere baritone that echoed in the quiet stairwell. “I thought you were the daughter of a traitor. I thought buying you would give me peace for my family’s deaths.”

He stepped closer, resting his hand on the wall beside her head, trapping her in his warm, protective presence.

“I didn't buy a weak victim,” Dante whispered, his dark eyes locking onto hers with an intensity that made her pulse soar. “I bought the strongest woman I’ve ever met. And if we survive tonight... you are no longer my prisoner.”

Evelyn stared at him, her heart hammering against her ribs. “Then what am I?”

Dante leaned down, his lips brushing against hers in a slow, deep, breathtaking kiss that sent a wave of liquid fire rushing through her veins.

Evelyn gasped against his mouth, her hands moving instinctively to grip his suit jacket, pulling him closer as she kissed him back with all the pent-up passion, fear, and desire that had been building between them for weeks.