Surrender To Me

DANTECòntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

I’m rendered speechless for a moment. All I can do is listen as she recites what feels like a rehearsed speech. “I’m grateful for what you did to save me, but I don’t think you and I should be doing whatever this is that we’re doing. After all, I’m no longer in your debt.”

“Debt?” What the fuck is she talking about? If anyone was in her debt, it was me for treating her like shit. I made the twins disappear because I had a speech of my own prepared. After she nearly went out of my life, I realized something I had been refusing to face. I love her. I’ve never loved anyone like this and I want to tell her all of that. To tell her she’s my reason to live and I will do anything to have her stay by my side forever. And the amends, I am willing to atone for all of my past actions, but I can’t say any of that, not when she’s talking about the opposite of what I want to talk to her about.

“The money,” she says. Just as I’m about to ask what money I remember the pact I made with her. Somehow that feels like a long time ago. Some bygone era where we were both different people. In a way, we were and we’ve come a long while from then.

“Does that matter anymore?” I say. “There’s more to us than that and you know it.”

“Really? What is it?”

The words hang in the air. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I came back and found this place bloody and empty. I’ve been thinking about it as I searched for it, I’ve been thinking about it as she lay asleep for three whole days. But now, as she stares back at me looking for a response, somehow, I can say those three little words.

Part of me knows she won’t believe me if I tell her. I haven’t earned that yet and I need to show her how much she means to me before I can tell. Before now, I thought I had that time, now, not so much.

She shrugs her shoulders and says, “You’re holding onto something that isn’t there. Let me go.”

“What if I say no?”

“Please don’t do that.”

“I-” This is not going the way I expected. I can feel my life crumbling and I have to hold on to her somehow. In some way. My hand reaches out for hers. It feels warm and fragile. “When you were gone…” for a moment, I’m at a loss for words. I have to tread carefully. “When you were gone, for what I thought was forever, I realized that the time we had was more precious than any time I’ve spent with anyone else-”

“Dante-”

“It’s true. I may have been a bad person in the past and I’ll be the first to admit that. And I am willing to show you I’ve changed if you give me the chance.”

She turns away from my gaze and focuses on nothing in particular as she says, “I don’t know.” She begins to withdraw her hand, but I hold on. “It might sound like I’m lying to you, but I’m not. All I’m asking for is a month and after that, if you still want nothing to do with me, you can leave.”

“Why are you dragging this out? We have nothing in common.”

“We have a lot in common and if you give me the chance to show you, I will prove it to you.”

“You’ll be wasting your time.”

“Time with you is never time wasted.”

She draws her breath and drops her head as if in deep thought. Time slows down as I wait for her response. Finally, her gaze goes up to mine. “Two weeks.”

“Are you saying…” I can’t believe what I’m hearing and even though two weeks feel short, I don’t want to push it.

“Fine. I’ll give you the best two weeks you’ve ever had.” Week one had already passed, and nothing was going the way I expected. Everything I was doing wasn’t working, and I had done a lot already. All of my attempts to win her over were either met with a slight raise of an eyebrow, a scoff or a shrug. I’ve taken her to so many places already. A trip to Paris, a trip to one of my private islands, a concert by her favorite artist. She enjoyed that one, but it was clear she didn’t enjoy my being with her. I made sure to dine with her every night and talk about all her favorite things, but she barely contributed anything. She was either quiet or nodded along to whatever I said. By the end of the week, I was feeling frustrated until I received a call from the caretaker of my villa in Tuscany. The harvest was ready, and he wanted to know if I was coming. I had already made plans to go with Corina to one of her favorite shows, but I also didn’t want to miss this. It would be the first time our factory produced anything edible. Maybe it would be better if I go with her. She might enjoy the place. But then again, the last time I was with her there, her father wanted to kill her and she had to be whisked out by helicopter for her safety. It was also the same place where she discovered who her father was.

Just as I’m mauling over whether I should ask her to come with me or not, she walks in. She enters the apartment with shopping bags in hand and Colin with another set of bags in tow. My heart swells. This is the first time I’ve seen her use my money to buy something of her own. She turns to face me and I feel a gut punch. She’s so beautiful. “Oh hi,” she looks like a kid caught doing something she shouldn’t. And in a way, so does Colin. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I

thought you’d be at work.”

“Finished early. I see you’ve done some shopping.”

“This? Um, I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to get something for your men. Thank-you gifts for saving me.” My gaze jumps from her to Colin. His face turns a little red. “The miss insisted,” he says without being prompted.

“It’s the least I can do,” she adds. “I hope you don’t mind.”

And here I was thinking she had finally gotten comfortable with me enough to want to use my money. I don’t know why she didn’t want to use anything that was in my name. She hardly spends anything of mine unless we’re at a dinner or event I invited her. She even insisted on going back to work, which I agreed after making sure there would be people on the floor watching out for her safety. I gave her a credit card ages ago, and the first purchase she makes is for my men. “Not at all,” I say. She smiles and whatever apprehensions I had disappear.

“I’m going to Tuscany on business.”

“You’ll be leaving me here?”

“Only if you don’t want to come with me.”

“I do, if you think I won’t be in your way.” I almost want to punch the air with joy. I didn’t realize until she said yes, that I desperately wanted her to. This is it. Tuscany will be my final chance and I’m going to make sure to bring my A game.