A Dance with Danger

Chapter Sixty-Nine

**Estelle’s POV**

Just like rain, it comes and goes. That’s how I’ve come to think of the peace I’ve had lately—brief, fleeting, and always slipping through my fingers before I can fully grasp it. Tiberius had been walking on eggshells around me lately. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate his concern or his protective instincts. But after everything we’d been through together—after all the shit I’d survived—I was done being treated like something that needed constant babysitting.

That’s why I insisted on training. I was used to standing on my own, used to defending myself. Tiberius, bless him, was so damn careful with me, even now. Every morning, we’d be in the home gym. His strong arms guiding me through my training, showing me the best ways to fight back. By day’s end, my body was sore and exhausted, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to be strong. I needed to be strong.

We were getting there. We were growing together, building something strong. Something that made me believe that maybe—just maybe—life wasn’t always out to get me.

But, of course, things couldn’t stay calm for long.

That night, sleep had come easily. Too easily. My body was tired from the training, my mind was still buzzing from everything Tiberius had shared with me that day, and for the first time in a while, I felt… content. Maybe even a little safe. But that peace was shattered in an instant.

I was jolted awake by the sound of gunshots. It felt like the whole house shook with the force of the noise. My heart slammed in my chest, my eyes snapping open just as Tiberius’s heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway.

“Get up, Estelle!” His voice was harsh, urgent, and it cut through the fog of sleep in an instant.

“What the fuck’s going on?!” I gasped, my mind racing, still dazed. My hands scrambled to throw off the sheets, my feet finding the floor, but my legs felt unsteady.

“Tiberius?” I called, panic starting to seize me. He didn’t answer right away, but his shadow appeared in the doorway. His face was grim, eyes wide with that cold fury I knew all too well.

“Estelle, listen to me,” he demanded. “Get to the balcony stairs. There’s a guard waiting for you in the backyard. I need you to go to Ilya and Damien. They’ll take care of you. Understand?”

His tone left no room for argument. I saw the tension in his jaw, the way his fists clenched. He wasn’t just giving orders—he was trying to keep me alive.

I didn’t have time to question. I didn’t have time for anything but to do as I was told.

But as I turned to leave, that’s when things started to go wrong. As I rushed to the balcony, the panic of the situation hitting me full force, I saw the guard Tiberius had mentioned. He was standing there, waiting for me like he should’ve been. Only something about him felt off. The way his eyes didn’t quite meet mine, the way he was standing too still. And before I could even question it, a sharp pain shot through my arm.

My vision blurred. My body went cold. The room around me spun out of control as darkness overtook me.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on cold, hard ground. My head throbbed, and my mouth tasted like metal. I tried to sit up, my body screaming in protest, but my limbs felt too heavy. My heart pounded in my chest, a deep, steady rhythm that felt like a countdown to something I wasn’t ready for.

I shook my head, trying to clear the fog from my brain, but that’s when I saw him.

My blood ran cold, my heart stopping in its tracks.

Cesare Alfonso.

My father. The man who had tortured me for years. The man who had destroyed every bit of hope I’d ever had. The man who had driven me to the edge of insanity, only to pull me back just to break me again.

My nightmare standing right in front of me.

It didn’t matter that he was older now. It didn’t matter that time had weathered his features, left his hair thinner and his face more hollow. To me, he was still that monster who haunted my every dream. The same man who had kept me in chains, mentally and physically, until I’d finally escaped.

“Estelle…” His voice was low, but there was no mistaking the smug satisfaction in it. He smiled—something cold and cruel—and took a step toward me.

“Fuck…” My voice came out in a breathless whisper. I scrambled back, trying to put distance between us, but my body refused to cooperate. Every part of me was screaming to run, to fight, but my limbs felt like lead.

“Don’t bother trying to move, darling,” Cesare said, his tone almost affectionate in a way that made my skin crawl. “You’ve been drugged. You’re not going anywhere.”

I tried to shake off the haze clouding my mind, tried to focus, but the effects of whatever drug he’d used on me were too strong. I could feel it in my blood, in the sluggish way my thoughts moved. I tried to scream, to call for help, but my voice was too weak, too far gone.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” I managed to spit out, my throat dry, my mouth too numb to form any coherent words. “Where the hell is Tiberius? Where’s my—”

“Your precious Tiberius is nothing more than a memory now,” Cesare interrupted, his laugh echoing off the cold stone walls around us. “You think you’ve found something real, something worth protecting, but in the end, you’ll always be mine. You were never meant to escape, Estelle. You belong to me.”

The words hit me like a slap, a cold wave of dread crashing over me. I wanted to scream, to fight, but my body was betraying me, and all I could do was glare at him, hate burning in my chest.

“I don’t belong to you, you sick fuck,” I spat, trying to steady my breathing. “I’m not your property. You’re nothing to me anymore.”

Cesare’s expression darkened, the cold smirk turning into something dangerous, something darker. “You’ll learn, my dear,” he said, his tone thick with malice. “You’ll learn who you belong to, whether you want to or not.”

I gritted my teeth, trying to push through the fog, trying to keep some semblance of control, but my body was betraying me. The drug he’d given me had my head swimming, and the longer I stared at him, the more helpless I felt.

“No… no…” I whispered to myself, my thoughts scattered. “Tiberius will come. He’ll come for me.”

A laugh escaped Cesare, cruel and mocking. “Tiberius? He’s nothing but a man, Estelle. What can he do against me?”

I refused to believe that. Tiberius was more than just a man. He was a force—stronger, smarter, and more dangerous than Cesare could ever understand.

But I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on to that belief. With every second that passed, my body weakened, my thoughts becoming less coherent, and I knew that if I didn’t escape soon, I wouldn’t just be a prisoner of my father’s mind games—I’d be a prisoner in every sense of the word.

Cesare stepped forward again, his cold eyes never leaving mine. “You should’ve known better, Estelle. You should’ve never tried to run from me.”

“You’re the one who’s running,” I shot back, the words coming easier now. “You’re scared, aren’t you?”

He froze, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Scared? Of what?”

I smirked despite myself, feeling a spark of defiance deep inside me. “Scared of the truth,” I said. “Scared of losing control over me. You never had me. Not really.”

The silence between us stretched, thick and heavy. Cesare stared at me, his eyes flashing with something unreadable.

Finally, he spoke again, his voice dangerously low. “We’ll see about that, Estelle.”

And I knew, deep down, that this was far from over. It wasn’t just about me anymore. It was about everything I had fought for. Everything Tiberius had fought for.

And no matter what, I wasn’t going down without a fight.