I tugged at the corners of my mouth and looked at him, calm as still water.
"If a game is all it takes for you to kiss another woman in front of everyone, then what were these eight years to you?"
Luca frowned and tried to explain.
"Bianca, you know my history with Adriana. She left me for some Bellini cousin with a bigger name and a fatter inheritance. That's always been a sore spot. So when she showed up out of nowhere last night, I just... I wasn't over it."
My eyes burned as I cut him off.
"You weren't over it, so you kissed her, held her, draped your jacket over her shoulders? And me? Your actual woman was sitting in the corner, and you didn't even glance my way."
"I was afraid your brother would find out—"
"Enough."
I couldn't listen to another word. "It's always about my brother finding out. You've been hiding behind that excuse for eight years. Aren't you tired of it?"
Luca went quiet, his eyes dropping to the ground like a soldier caught breaking rank.
Every time he'd made that face before, I'd softened.
Not this time.
"Luca, we're done."
I turned and walked away.
He grabbed my wrist. "Bianca, can you really bring yourself to end this?"
"There's nothing left to hold on to."
When I got back to the compound, I dug out every single thing Luca had ever given me.
Necklaces, handbags, clothes, stuffed animals he'd won at some boardwalk carnival and smuggled into my room like contraband. All of it. Every tribute, every hush offering dressed up as devotion.
I shoved them all into a garbage bag and threw the whole thing in the dumpster behind the gatehouse where the soldiers smoked between shifts.
Then I pulled up his contact information.
If it was going to end, it was going to end completely.
For two straight weeks, I didn't see Luca once.
Some nights, glancing out the window without thinking, I'd spot him standing below the estate wall on the street side, waiting. Hands in his coat, breath fogging in the dark, just beyond the reach of the security lights.
I never responded. I just pulled the curtains shut.
Until the day I left the front office.
Luca was waiting downstairs outside the building.
He looked worse than before. Dark circles carved hollows beneath his eyes, and the rims were red as he stared at me. The silver lighter was in his hand, clicking open and shut, open and shut, the rhythm unsteady now.
"Bianca, why have you been avoiding me all this time?"
"I know I was wrong. If you want to go public, we'll go tell your brother right now. I'll stand in front of the whole table and name you—"
I pulled free of his grip. "It's too late."
I turned and left.
Luca stood rooted to the spot, his voice raw. "Too late? What does that mean..."
But no one was there to answer him anymore.
Over the next two weeks, Luca searched for me like a man losing his mind.
He even showed up at my brother's social club, fishing for any news about me.
Matteo didn't know we'd been together, but he could tell something was off.
None of that reached me, though. What I heard was that Luca and Adriana had gotten back together, spending more and more time side by side, going to the hospital together, shopping together. The Bellini princess on his arm again, just like the old days, as if I had never existed between them.
One evening Matteo came home to the estate, sat down on the leather couch in the den, and studied me for a long time.
"Bianca, what's going on between you and Luca?"
My expression didn't shift. "Nothing. Why?"
"He keeps coming to me, beating around the bush trying to ask about you."
Matteo fixed me with a scrutinizing look, brow furrowed. He dragged his thumb once over the bridge of his nose.
"One minute he's asking if you're seeing someone new. The next he wants to know if you've been in a good mood lately. When I ask him flat out if he's got feelings for you, he denies it."
I lowered my gaze. "Maybe he's just being friendly."
"Friendly, my ass."
Matteo scoffed. "That guy is my crew brother. He never once asked me about you before. All of a sudden he can't stop? Something's going on."
I was quiet for a moment, unsure what to say.
"Bianca, be straight with me. Are you and Luca hiding something from me?"
Matteo's eyes were dead serious. So serious I couldn't hold his gaze. The underboss in him had surfaced, the part that read lies for a living, and I felt it press against my chest like a hand.
"Matteo, stop overthinking this. There's nothing going on between me and Luca."
Matteo studied me for a long time before finally letting out a sigh.
"Fine. If you don't want to talk about it, I won't push. But remember one thing: no matter what happens, I'm your brother. I will always be on your side."
"Besides, didn't you already agree to the betrothal with Lorenzo Valente?"
"The ceremony's set for next month in Taormina,Sicily, barring any surprises. Book your flight in the next few days and head out early. Treat yourself to some time at the villa first."
I nodded. "Okay. I've pretty much finished packing. I'll leave tomorrow."
"Lorenzo said he'd fly back tomorrow to pick me up."
The next evening, once Matteo confirmed I was already on my flight, he deliberately called Luca and invited him out to dinner.
Luca brought Adriana along.
Matteo looked at the two of them, amusement glinting in his eyes, and spoke up on purpose.
"My sister flew to Sicily. She's probably out of the country by now."
Luca's head snapped up, his face drained of color. The lighter went dead silent in his fist. He grabbed Matteo by the collar.
"What did you just say? Why is she going to Sicily?"
