Page 35 of The Enforcer (Damn! #2)

His piercing blue eyes swept the table, settling briefly on Zane, then Lily, before locking onto Titus again. “Our families cannot continue down this path of endless retaliation. The blood spilled between us has weakened both sides. It’s time to end that.”

Leif paused, the only sound filling the room was the crackle from the large, marbled fireplace.

“And the only way to ensure lasting peace…” His voice dropped, the weight beneath his calm demeanor bleeding through. “Is to align our futures. Permanently.”

Titus’s expression remained unreadable, but his gaze sharpened, cutting through the stillness with surgical precision. “A marriage.”

The words hung in the air like a grenade with the pin pulled, the tension thick enough to strangle. Leif didn’t speak immediately, letting the gravity of what he’d proposed settle into the room.

“Yes. A marriage.”

Cade spoke up for the first time. “Why?”

Leif hesitated a moment. “To ensure this alliance lasts. To bind our families in a way that cannot be undone.” He paused, his tone softening just a degree, but the substance remained beneath. “My father’s mistakes cannot define the future. I won’t let them.”

Silence slammed into the room.

Lily’s pulse spiked. Zane’s body went still beside her, a lethal kind of stillness that sent a chill down her spine.

“I propose that one of my sisters marries your brother,” Leif said, his tone sounded smooth as silk, but his words were pure iron. “To solidify the bond between our families. A gesture of trust. Of alliance.”

Titus’s eyes narrowed fractionally. “You’re asking for a lot, Severin.”

Leif didn’t blink. “I’m offering a lot.”

And they all knew exactly how much. The information he had from Blackthorn Holdings was a loaded weapon aimed straight at the heart of the Dantes.

He had access to records, offshore accounts, and deals that could unravel the family’s carefully constructed empire.

If that information ever made its way to federal authorities, it wouldn’t just hurt the Dantes, it would destroy them. Completely.

Titus knew this. They all did. Wresting that capability from Leif wouldn’t be easy. Not without igniting a war that could scorch everything in its path.

The air vibrated with unspoken tension, decades of blood and betrayal hanging heavy in the silence. This wasn’t just a business deal. This was a power move. A bid to tie the Severins to the Dantes in a way that couldn’t be easily severed.

Zane’s voice cut through the quiet like a knife.

“And what happens if this… alliance doesn’t hold?”

The threat was subtle, but it echoed through the room like a gunshot.

Leif met Zane’s gaze head-on, his expression unyielding. “It will hold.” His tone was a promise, and a warning. “Because I am not my father.” His blue eyes landed on Lily and went ice-cold. “And I won’t make his mistakes.”

Zane’s expression remained unreadable, but the air around him vibrated with barely restrained violence. Lily could feel it, simmering, waiting for the smallest excuse to explode.

Titus’s gaze never wavered from Leif. “And if you do?”

Leif’s expression didn’t change. “Then you won’t need to come for me.” His voice was quiet, but the significance behind it was absolute. “Because I’ll already be dead.”

The room fell into a silence so complete it was suffocating.

Lily’s breath hitched, her heart pounding as she processed the magnitude of what had just been said. Leif Severin wasn’t offering a deal. He was offering his life as collateral.

Titus’s lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Bold.”

Leif’s gaze remained steady. “Necessary.”

A minute passed. Two.

Titus leaned back, his expression unreadable. But Lily knew the look in his eyes.

He was considering it.

Titus’s gaze sharpened, his voice slicing through the heavy silence. “And who, exactly, are you proposing for this… alliance?”

Leif’s expression didn’t change. If anything, his gaze cooled further, the ice in his blue eyes turning glacial. “Cade.”

The single name landed like a hammer.

“Cade?” Titus repeated, his tone soft, but the undercurrent of danger was unmistakable.

“Yes.” Leif’s words were clipped and precise, carrying the vital importance of a decision that had already been made. “One of my sisters will marry Cade to cement this alliance. To ensure that our families remain… aligned.”

Cade, seated to Titus’s right, had been silent throughout the exchange, his expression disciplined and unreadable. But at Leif’s words, his mouth tightened ever so slightly. His dark gaze locked onto Leif, assessing, calculating, while he considered what was being asked of him.

“Cade.” Titus’s voice was calm, but there was an edge of warning beneath it. “Thoughts?”

Cade’s gaze didn’t shift from Leif. “It’s a bold move.” His tone was even, but Lily didn’t miss the slight tension in his shoulders. “But alliances built on marriage…” He let the words hang in the air, a warning in itself. “They only hold if both sides are truly committed.”

Leif met Cade’s stare without flinching. “My family is committed.” His tone was steady, but an unspoken challenge lingered beneath the words. “Are you?”

Cade’s lips curved, but it wasn’t a smile. “I guess we’ll find out.” But then his expression hardened, his gaze narrowing on Leif. “How many sisters do you have, Severin?” His voice was low, edged with something that was just shy of insolence.

“Four,” Leif replied, his tone cool and restrained, but there was a flicker of something darker in his eyes. Protective.

Cade’s brows lifted, and his mouth curved, this time with something far closer to a sneer. “Then I’ll meet each one. And I’ll choose.”

The words landed like a slap, deliberate and biting, his meaning crystal clear. He wasn’t going to be handed a bride like some pawn in this twisted game.

Titus’s expression didn’t change, but the flicker of approval in his eyes was impossible to miss.

Zane, on the other hand, leaned back, his posture deceptively relaxed, but the glint of satisfaction in his gaze spoke volumes.

Even Leif’s men exchanged brief, unreadable glances, as though silently recalculating the balance of power that had just shifted in Cade’s favor.

If the Severins wanted an alliance, they’d play by his rules.

Leif’s gaze sharpened, the chill in them deepening to something far more dangerous.

“You’ll meet them,” he said, his tone cool but threaded with a warning.

“But don’t mistake this for a game, Dante.

My sisters are not prizes to be paraded and chosen at will.

You’ll meet them, but the choice won’t be yours alone. ”

Cade leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as his voice dropped to a lethal murmur. “Ah, but it will.” His lips curved into something that was more threat than smile. “My choice and my choice alone, right up until we say, ‘I do.’”

Titus didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he let the silence stretch, his gaze pressing down on Leif like a physical force.

“You’re making a lot of promises, Severin,” Titus interrupted the byplay, his voice quiet but edged with finality. “But promises mean nothing without consequences.”

Leif’s smile was cold. “Then let the consequences fall on me.”

Another moment of silence.

Titus’s gaze flicked to Zane. A silent conversation passed between them, one that spoke of years of brotherhood, trust, and understanding.

Zane gave a single, almost imperceptible nod.

“Fine,” Titus said, his voice final. “We have a deal.”

Before the tension could ease, Zane spoke, his tone laced with cold, lethal promise.

“I’m sure your family’s business will be in good hands with you, Severin.

” His voice remained quiet, the tone behind it anything but.

“Let me make one thing clear: one misstep, one excuse for your family to betray us, and I’ll hold you personally accountable.

We’re finished with your family’s games. ”

A chilling silence followed, stretching thick and heavy as Zane’s eyes locked onto Leif’s.

The threat wasn’t loud, it didn’t need to be.

His words pressed down on the room like a loaded gun with the safety off, pointed straight at Leif’s head.

The memory of those bullets meant for Lily, the blood that had soaked Zane’s shirt, was etched into his soul.

And he hadn’t forgotten. He never would.

“You can talk about alliances and futures all you want,” Zane said, his voice now a deadly murmur, barely above a whisper. “But if one of your men so much as breathes wrong in Lily’s direction again, I won’t stop until there’s no one left to carry the Severin name.”

The air went ice-cold. The promise in his tone wasn’t just a threat, it was a vow. And everyone in the room felt it.

Leif inclined his head, his expression giving nothing away.

But Lily saw it. The slight shift in his posture. The barely-there stiffening of his shoulders.

The Severins had just bought themselves a future.

But at what cost?

As the deal was sealed, Lily couldn’t shake the feeling that this was far from over.

Because Leif Severin wasn’t his father.

And that made him far more dangerous.

THE LIVING AREA in the penthouse was quiet, but the air between Zane and Lily vibrated with tension. The aftermath of the Severin meeting still clung to him, his body taut with a dangerous edge that hadn’t yet dissipated.

Lily stood near the window, her arms wrapped around herself as she stared out at the glittering Dallas skyline. Her mind was a whirlwind, torn between the relief that the danger had passed and the ache of knowing how close she had come to losing Zane.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him standing between her and death, willing to sacrifice everything for her.

And now… now, she was carrying a part of him.

A secret she wasn’t sure how to share without changing everything.

But her mind wasn’t on the city. It was on the man behind her, the one who had risked everything to protect her.