He heard the creak of the stairs even from his room. It was an old, winding house, and so the noises multiplied over the centuries of use since the Renaissance, when the first Falzone bought this land and started developing an empire. An empire that stood to this day, and that these walls testified. A legacy build on blood, duty and order.

He glanced at the watch she had given him for his last birthday. The ticking hands of the Swiss quartz clock pointed out that it was just past three AM.

Sighing, he turned over and buried his face in the pillow. He knew what was coming, and he hated it with a passion. It was the same every night, after all, and he is always awake to bear witness to it, partly because of his honed ears developed over years of service towards the family, and partly because he is masochistic and somewhat must deserve this sort of terrible punishment. He could hear the door to the next room slowly creep open, causing his pet cat to stir in his bed, but stay asleep nonetheless.

Dante envied it. What he would give for the sweet release of sleep…

Bed springs creaked and a girly giggle could be heard, along with a low male murmur. It was silent, then a small moan.

Dante's chest tightened painfully. He could not bear it any longer; he just wished for once that maybe her and Nicola would take their business elsewhere so that he would not be subjected to this torture. His cousin has his own villa elsewhere in Burlone, and if that is too much of a hassle, having it on the guest room she occupied further down the hall would already be swell.

Dante Falzone wished for that circumstance many times, a brief respite from his daily suffering, but it never happened. It seemed almost intended, and more than once he wonders what sort of ill must he had done for his cousin to submit him to this punishment, and then he realizes he has never even told Nicola how he felt about her.

Honestly, he does not begrudge them happiness. Yes, he loved that girl unwaveringly for over twenty years at this point, and yes, he dearly wished that she loved him in return, but the terrible thing about love is that you merely want the other person to be safe and well. She is better off with Nicola, so Dante will learn to live with it.

Besides, he also loved his cousin dearly, and if there is one thing that the older man is these days is absurdly happy. Over all the people she could have fallen in love with, Dante believes that Nicola is the better option, so he also have this as a consolation.

Nevertheless, he is a criminal kingpin, not an ascetic monk. He is not used to such level of self-denial, and it is a learning process. He wishes they would stop rubbing the what could have been on his face every night.

Alas, for now, he was stuck awake each and every night at the same time, unwillingly listening as the woman he loved, Liliana Adornato, made love to his almost brother in the next room, and Dante could not help but wish it was him in that bed, that it was him coaxing those beautiful moans out of Liliana, that it was him holding her after all was said and done, but he was not, much to his chagrin.

One could argue that it was his duty, his God-anointed prerogative, to have the Key Maiden by his side. Perhaps, if only he forced her hand for a few months, she would see that her place was with him, and everything would be alright. Perhaps Nicola would be disappointed, but he proclaimed more than once his aversion to monogamy and marriage, he would get over it quite soon.

For a few weeks, while his beloved was held with the Visconti, he held on to this idea, just a shove away to actually attempting it. However, when he learnt about Chloé and his parents, he came to realize how swiftly love and divinity spiralled into obsession and pain, and that was not what he desired for Lili.

So, he let go of his forceful ideas of captivity and coercion, and decided to take a more orthodox approach. She was still unattached then, and with his resources and the sanctity of his love, it should not have been too hard to convince her.

Yet, he had gone and let that chance slip out of his fingers. Dante had barely survived the fire at the Casino, and when he woke up from being knocked unconscious by a falling brick wall, he had resolved to ask Liliana Adornato to be his after all these years, but it had been too late.

Nicola had won her heart and asked for a formal courtship but thirty minutes before, and he remembered how his heart broke when he saw them entwined in each other in the waiting room of the hospital in Bari.

The bed springs creaked next door even louder, and the moans increased. Dante bit his lip to prevent himself from screaming angrily.

He was so stupid. So, so stupid. If only his father had brough Lili to the manor earlier, if only he did not care about blood and tried to woo her before becoming the boss. If only he had even said something earlier.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, two long drawn-out moans pierced the night air, and the bedsprings creaked one last time as the couple seemed to settle.

Dante sighed, covering his head with his pillow.

Tomorrow night would just be the same, but he did not care as he drifted off to sleep, thinking about making love to Liliana Adornato. At least, he is still lord of his dreams, and there, he can possess that woman for as long as he desires.