Luca’s gaze didn’t leave Enzo’s as he spoke with low, firm authority. "Alright. I’m coming."
Enzo nodded once and stepped back, silently slipping out of the room like a ghost.
The door clicked shut, and Luca exhaled slowly. He turned—and saw it.
The flicker in Alessia’s eyes.
He crossed the room in two steps, cupping her face with both hands. "Look at me, my queen."
Alessia blinked up at him, lips parting, her heartbeat loud in her chest.
"I will handle it," he said gently. "You have nothing to fear. You hold my name, my loyalty, my heart. Trust me."
A single tear slid down her cheek. He kissed it away.
"I trust you," she whispered.
He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Good girl."
A gentle caress down her cheek. One final glance. Then he turned and walked away, composed and commanding.
By the time he reached the discussion chamber, Luca was all steel.
Two bodyguards flanked him immediately, their movements sharp and protective. He nodded once, and they stepped back—but not far. Just enough to let the tension breathe.
Seated already were Bianca’s parents: a frail man with roughened hands and sorrowful eyes, and a woman whose sharp jaw and stiff spine spoke volumes of her pride. Bianca sat beside them, smug in her silence. The club manager stood behind her, head bowed, nervously toying with her bracelet.
"Sit," Luca said coolly as he sank into the head chair.
His tone made the room colder.
Bianca’s father cleared his throat. "Sir, with respect, we come in peace."
"I’m listening." Luca said.
The old man hesitated. Then, slowly: "My daughter worked for them, . As a receptionist at Elite five star club. She met with you, And now... she’s pregnant. You’ve left her with shame and left us with a burden. We are too old to farm like before. She’s our only child. She brings money home."
Luca’s expression didn’t change. But the silence that followed was suffocating.
Bianca’s mother added, "We expected honor, sir. Marriage. Dignity. But now she may lose her job. She’s—she’s carrying your child." There’s also her health complications, As the Doctor said, Her womb is too weak for the baby. She should have undergo some medical procedures before getting pregnant. Now our daughter is left with her to Risk her life and bare this child or she terminate it. "You really put our daughter in a terrible mess, sir".
Luca tapped his fingers on the armrest.
Then he clapped once. Loud. Sharp. Final.
"I’m going to correct a few things." His voice was ice.
He adjusted his collar and leaned forward slightly, eyes boring into the father. "Your daughter was never a receptionist. She was a stripper. One of the highest-paid dancers in that club."
Bianca’s parents stared at their daughter in disbelief. The club manager couldn’t lift her face.
"You lied to us?" her mother whispered.
The father turned to the manager. "You made our daughter a stripper without telling us?"
The woman said nothing. Her silence was confession enough.
Bianca, still seated, smirked. "Does it matter? I was paid well."
"You didn’t tell them because you knew it would shame them," Luca said, voice now low and dangerous. "And now you come here to sell the shame as a child?"
Bianca tilted her chin. "We used protection. Maybe it leaked."
Luca stood slowly, jaw clenched. "You did this on purpose."
Her silence answered him.
He muttered under his breath, "I regret everything I did before I met Alessia... I should have married her the moment I laid eyes on her."
His voice grew steadier as he turned to Bianca’s parents. "For your sake—and your old age—I’ll offer a deal."
"You’ll receive five hundred thousand dollars. For the termination. One month along, you said?" Bianca nodded slowly. "Then it’s still forming. Not yet life."
Bianca’s eyes widened, but she didn’t speak.
"Each of you," Luca continued, looking at her parents, "will get ten thousand dollars. And for the next two years, I’ll send five strong farmers to tend your land. Free."
Gasps rippled across the room.
The club manager lit up. "That’s a fair deal. Generous, even."
But Bianca’s mother snapped, "No. Absolutely not. That’s our grandchild if we let it grow to Human!"
Bianca’s father held his wife’s arm, calming her. "Let’s... think."
"I don’t need your decision now," Luca said coldly. "Come back in four days. With one voice. Because this offer doesn’t wait forever."
With that, he stood, turned, and exited. The guards fell in behind him like shadows.
Outside the chamber, Luca exhaled hard. A deep, haunting ache coiled in his chest.
He couldn’t shake the shame of his past, but he could build a future with the only woman who mattered now.
As he reached the hallway, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
He checked and it was his elder brother - Donato.
He answered instantly. "Donato?"
"Luca," came the voice—ragged, urgent.
" The network hanged us up and I tried calling back earlier, but it wasn’t connecting," Luca said. "Are you alright? Where are you?"....