King of Wrath: An Arranged Marriage Romance

Dante works out his frustrations by boxing with Kai on their return to New York. He shares that he kissed Vivian, but Kai only sees it as a good thing that Dante is getting along with his fiancé, since he does not know about Francis’s blackmail.

Dante runs into Vivian at home, and she is surprised at his bruises and cuts from the blows Kai landed on his face. She teases Dante about his temper and then orders him to let her wash the cut and get ice for him. He is surprised that he likes it when she bosses him around, despite hating when anyone else tells him what to do. Once she cleans him up, Vivian admits that he was right to stop them from going further in bed. She knows that they will have sex eventually, but she claims that it’s too early. He agrees, and he knows that she is right, but he still does not like the conclusion.

Vivian and Isabella work in Vivian’s office. While they do, hundreds of dollars’ worth of roses arrive. Isabella assumes they’re from Dante, but the note reveals that they’re from Heath. He calls them a late New Year’s gift and says that he was thinking about Vivian; he tells her that he will still be there if she changes her mind. Isabella rants about how Heath needs to get over Vivian, and Dante arrives in time to hear the rant and Heath’s name. Isabella leaves, and Vivian explains that Heath is her ex-boyfriend but that she turned down his suggestion to try their relationship again. Dante continues to question Vivian and expresses anger at another man pining for her. He demands to know if she still loves Heath, and Vivian avoids the question, saying that she will turn Heath down again if he contacts her again. When Dante expresses anger at the idea of his wife pining for another man, Vivian lashes out, telling him that, as he has reminded her many times, their arrangement is a business agreement, and he has no right to her thoughts or feelings. He leaves, and Vivian checks the takeout bag he had brought and left behind, finding food from her favorite sushi restaurant.

Vivian, Sloane, and Isabella cook at Dante and Vivian’s home for girls’ night under Greta’s supervision (as the housekeeper and cook). Isabella asks if Dante is still sulking over the flowers, reading the tension in Vivian as she thinks about the distance that Dante has created between them since the encounter. Greta offers her own thoughts, agreeing that Dante is stubborn but sharing that he is also a good man who is not good at communicating, just like his grandfather. Dante and Kai arrive, picking up documents before going to Valhalla for dinner. He pointedly tells Greta that he is leaving for D.C. for a week; it is clear that this is for Vivian’s benefit, but he refuses to speak to her directly. Vivian realizes that the home will feel colder without him in it, even if they are at odds.

Dante, knowing that he could have handled his business without traveling to D.C., meets Christian in person. Christian tells him that they’re close to wrapping up the Lau issue, and he informs Dante that he found some dirt on Heath, claiming that there were some underhand business practices. Dante tells him to make use of the information before the company goes public. Dante’s security team in New York calls to inform him that Heath is at his home with Vivian now, and Christian hints that he sent a text to Heath pretending to be Vivian, inviting him to Dante’s home. He did so in revenge for Dante screwing with him by flirting with the woman in whom Christian is interested.

Dante rushes home and tells his security team to make sure that Heath doesn’t leave. After the flight, he enters his home to find that Heath has corned Vivian against a wall, showing her his phone, while Vivian insists that she did not send the text. Dante punches Heath and nearly does more, knowing that any lawsuits Heath might file would be unsuccessful, given how good Dante’s lawyers are.

The perspective shifts to Vivian’s. Vivian orders them both to stop, fed up with the behavior of both men. Heath leaves, and Dante confronts Vivian. She turns it around on Dante, asking once and for all if the engagement is just business or something more. When he tries to talk about her as “his” and emphasizes that he does not like others touching what is his, she reminds him that she is not a possession and poses her question once more. Dante seemingly cannot answer, admitting that he hates when others make her laugh or touch her and that he hates how he loses control with her when he never loses control with anyone else. He references Heath not doing anything to keep Vivian until discovering her engagement, letting her go when her parents threatened to disown her. He admits that if Heath loved Vivian like he claimed, he would have never let her go. They both acknowledge the hypothetical part of his statement, but before Vivian can leave, Dante kisses her.

Vivian and Dante have sex, releasing six months of pent up frustration, anger, desire, and more. Despite Dante’s roughness, Vivian recognizes vulnerability under the surface and feels some hope. Afterward, she recognizes that their relationship will never be the same, although she does not yet know what it will be from now on.

Vivian tries to sneak out of Dante’s room in the morning, both to handle her work emergency (needing a new venue for the Legacy Ball) and to escape the awkwardness and uncertainty of her relationship with Dante. He wakes and stops her, dismissing her work emergency and insisting that she had wanted to talk and that they could do so now.

Dante admits that their relationship is no longer business to him. He has cut short business trips to either check on Vivian’s safety or confront her insistent ex, so he realizes that things have changed between them, given that he has never cut trips short before. Vivian in return shares that she turned down Heath because she no longer has romantic feelings for him and may instead be developing those feelings for someone else. When she insists that now she really should handle the work crisis and mentions returning to her room, Dante tells her that his room is now hers as well. He claims that, given how things have changed, they need to renegotiate their original agreement about their life together. He suggests that they share a room, that they no longer sneak out in the mornings, and that she cut off contact with Heath. Given Heath’s inappropriate behavior the night before, Vivian agrees. She demands her own boundaries as well, saying that Dante can no longer slip away for long business trips with little notice unless they are true emergencies, that Dante cannot shut down emotionally when he does not get his way, and that they go on dates once a week. Dante agrees more readily than Vivian expected, and he suggests that, since she does not need to be in the office to handle her work crisis, they have breakfast together as their first official date while Vivian considers how to handle the Legacy Ball problem.

Dante takes Vivian to the Moondust Diner, the diner he had told Vivian about and where he and Luca used to spend time as kids. It is his favorite place in the city, although he has not been back since his grandfather discovered them and forbade them to return to such a low-status place. Their conversation is easy, and Dante recognizes that he sees Vivian separately from the Laus now. He finds being with her easy, and he knows that, for the first time, he is letting his heart win out over his mind, despite knowing that things will get messy when he destroys her father. Vivian also shares her problem with the venue, and after they go through a list of possible venues and she tells him that they are all booked, Dante offers to convince the committee at Valhalla to let her use the club for the ball, despite their rule about not hosting outside events.

After a week of them settling into their new normal, with a shared room and shared meals, Dante confronts Heath alone before Heath heads back to California. Dante threatens Heath, claiming that he will destroy the man and his company if he talks to or approaches Vivian again. Heath agrees but is clearly resentful. Walking away, Dante does not want to let Heath leave with only a broken nose, so he calls Christian and tells him to tank Heath’s major upcoming business venture.

A month into their revised agreement, Vivian and Dante ride in one of his cars to a secret destination for a date Dante planned as a surprise for Vivian. Trying to get the secret out of him, Vivian teases him and they have sex. Afterward, Vivian looks outside to find that they have arrived at Valhalla, where Dante gives her a more complete tour than on their last visit. Finally, he takes her to what he calls a multipurpose room, one that has been used for a variety of club members’ needs and wants. He has turned it into a planetarium, with her favorite constellation, Orion, in pride of place. He admits to talking to Vivian’s sister and discovering her love for the stars, and Vivian is moved by his thoughtfulness. After they eat dinner in the planetarium, Vivian shares memories of her family’s pre-wealth camping trips with Dante, sharing how much she loved those family trips and how she and her sister would sneak out of their tent at night to watch the stars and make up stories together. Dante admits that his grandfather would never have allowed him and Luca to camp; their vacations were always in Italy, at one of the many Russo houses, so that they remained connected to their culture. When Vivian brings up their wedding, Dante stiffens; Vivian has noticed that he deeply dislikes her father. They discuss the wedding date, and she shares that her father wanted that date, August 8, specifically because eight is his favorite number and a lucky number in Chinese culture (their family is Chinese American). As they return to watching the stars, Vivian wonders about the animosity between her father and Dante, but she dismisses it as normal for a father and son-in-law.