My Boyfriend Made Me Kiss His Brother, So I Chose Him Instead

My boyfriend lost a dare.

And the punishment was that I had to kiss his brother on the spot.

He did not ask whether I was willing. He did not look at me, did not care about my expression, and did not even bother to consider how humiliating it was for me.

Instead, he laughed as if it were all just harmless fun, then turned to his brother and said, "Dante, this is my fault. I've put you in a difficult position."

I stared coldly at Luca, the man I had been with for three years.

A chill spread through my chest.

The private room at the back of the social club was thick with cigar smoke and the clink of heavy tumblers. Half the men at that table carried guns they weren't supposed to have. The other half carried ones they were. And Luca sat at the center of it all, loose and grinning, like a prince who had never once been told no.

I had told him more than once that Dante looked at me strangely. I had told him that his brother's eyes made me uncomfortable, that Dante's attention toward me was not innocent.

But every time, Luca dismissed me with impatience.

"What are you thinking? Dante is the Underboss. Why would he be interested in someone like you?"

"Don't flatter yourself. What are you compared to him? Why would he ever look at you?"

At the time, those words had already hurt. But tonight, watching him push me toward Dante like I was nothing more than a prop in his game, I finally understood.

Luca was not unaware. He simply did not care.

All night, Dante's gaze had been fixed on me like a predator watching prey. That stare was greedy, direct, and impossible to ignore. He sat apart from the loudest of them, his signet ring catching the low light each time he turned his glass, and he watched me with the patience of a man who had learned to wait for what he wanted.

Yet Luca continued laughing and drinking with his associates, pretending not to see anything. Or perhaps he truly believed that I was not worth being desired.

I let out a soft, mocking click of my tongue.

Fine. If he wanted to treat me like a joke, then I would make sure this joke landed hard enough to hurt.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, I walked straight toward Dante.

Then, without hesitation, I sat on his lap.

The room exploded with cheers and whistles. Someone's hand slapped the table hard enough to rattle the glasses.

Dante's body stiffened beneath me. I looked into his eyes, seeing the dark hunger he had tried so hard to hide all night. Then I leaned down and kissed him.

The moment my lips touched his, the noise around me seemed to fade. The laughter, the clinking glasses, the vulgar cheering, all of it blurred into a distant hum. Somewhere behind the closed door a bodyguard shifted his weight, and even that sound dissolved.

I closed my eyes and deepened the kiss.

The instant our tongues touched, I felt Dante tremble. His hands clenched at his sides, as if he was barely restraining himself.

Five minutes. It was only five minutes, but it felt endless. Every second made my skin crawl. Every breath felt suffocating. But I forced myself to continue.

Since Luca had chosen to humiliate me, then he could watch the result of his own stupidity.

When the time was finally up, I pushed Dante away and stood.

The entire room had gone strangely quiet. The cigar smoke hung motionless, and not one of the men at that table moved. Everyone was staring at me in disbelief.

But when I turned my head, Luca was still casually chatting with his friends, as if nothing had happened. As if I had not just kissed another man. As if I was not his woman. As if none of this mattered.

A cold laugh escaped my throat.

I turned and walked out of that suffocating room without looking back.

Behind me, someone teased Luca loudly.

"Luca, aren't you mad that your girl just kissed someone else?"

Luca's answer came almost immediately, careless and dismissive.

"What's there to be mad about? It wasn't real."

My steps faltered for half a second.