Alessia blinked and asked again, slower this time, as if her mind needed more time to catch up. "You—what? You knew?"
Luca’s smile wasn’t cruel, but it was cold, faint and sharp like a blade you only see once it’s pressed against your throat. "Of course I knew, cara mia."
He turned away from her, his every movement deliberate, precise, as though he had practiced this moment long ago. He walked to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of scotch with unnerving calm, like they weren’t discussing betrayal, espionage, and broken trust.
Alessia’s breath hitched. Her heart pounded against her ribs like a prisoner rattling its cage, desperate to be free.
"Good." He sipped slowly, savoring the burn. Then he turned to face her, his eyes unreadable. "It means you’re beginning to understand the kind of man I am."
His voice was smooth, frighteningly so. She’d heard that tone only once before, the night he stood beside his dying father, his expression void of emotion while the world around him fractured.
She instinctively stepped back, as if her body recognized a danger her mind wasn’t ready to face. "All this time... you let him stay close. Enzo. Why?"
Luca placed the glass down with a quiet click that still echoed too loudly. "Because the closer a snake gets to your pulse, the easier it is to know when it plans to strike. And when it does... I make sure its fangs sink into air."
Alessia sat down, her legs trembling beneath her. Her world was spinning, and Luca was calmly sitting at its center, orchestrating every piece of the chaos like a master conductor.
"So you’ve been watching him?" she whispered.
"Watching. Listening. Tracking. Feeding him misinformation." His eyes glittered now, like polished obsidian. "He thinks he’s clever. That he’s been playing us. But I made him believe I was too distracted—with business, with meetings... with you. I let him feel safe."
Her lips parted in shock. "You used me."
He walked slowly to her, knelt at her feet, and took her trembling hands into his.
"No. I protected you." His voice was low, intimate. "I knew the letters, the photos, He wanted you unstable. I needed to see what he’d do when you were vulnerable. And you... you handled it with strength I didn’t expect."
Alessia’s throat constricted. Her lungs forgot how to breathe.
"So all of it... was a test?" she asked, her voice cracking under the weight of it all.
He nodded, slowly, reverently. "And you passed."
There was a pause. Thick. Heavy. Pregnant with unsaid truths. Then he added quietly, "You still don’t fully know what kind of family you married into. But you will."
Alessia’s eyes burned. "You knew he was working with the Atlans?"
"I suspected," Luca said, standing. "The proof came last week. I baited him."
Her brows shot up, disbelief warring with awe. "How?"
"I planted a document in the wine cellar. Encrypted. Unmarked. I told only one person it existed." He paused, then looked her dead in the eyes. "That person was you."
Alessia’s blood ran cold. Her fingers clenched around the armrest.
"And Enzo found it the next morning," Luca finished.
"You set me up," she whispered.
"No," he said calmly. "I set him up. I knew he was watching you. Tracking your movements. Using your emotions as cues. So I fed him a lie—through you."
His voice softened, almost like a lullaby. "You were my mirror, Alessia. Everything you did, he watched. And copied."
She stared at him, stunned. Horrified. Deeply conflicted.
"You played him," she murmured.
"I played them all," he said, adjusting his cuffs like a man preparing for war. "Enzo will dig deeper. He’ll try to impress the Atlans. But I’m already ten steps ahead. When the trap closes, it will be ironclad."
Alessia looked down at her trembling hands. "And what happens to him?"
Luca turned to the window, his face catching the pale light of the evening moon. A shadow crossed over him like a silent oath.
"Let’s just say..." he said darkly, "I hope he’s prepared to disappear."
Before she could say another word, Luca’s phone buzzed violently on the table.
He snatched it up, his voice clipped. "Yes?"
Then his jaw tensed. His eyes darkened.
"I’ll be there in ten."
He hung up and turned to her. "Pack a bag."
She blinked. "What? Why? What’s wrong?"
Luca didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he reached into the drawer beside the couch and pulled out a small black velvet pouch. He tossed it toward her with a quiet urgency.
It landed softly in her lap.
Curious and alarmed, Alessia opened it.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Inside was a pendant. Delicate. Gold. Etched with swirling symbols she hadn’t seen since she was eight years old. The chain had tiny crimson stones, and the center was shaped like a crescent moon coiled in flame.
Her hand trembled as she held it up. "How did you...?"
"It was left at a safehouse we traced back to Seraphina," Luca said quietly. "She’s been digging into your past."
"My past?" she echoed. "But I don’t remember.... "
"Alessia." His voice was firm now. "There’s more going on than just Enzo and the Atlans. That pendant was found beside a torn page. From the same book Donato is searching for."
Her eyes widened. Her skin prickled with goosebumps. "The mystical book?"
He nodded. "I believe Seraphina is looking for it too. And somehow... it’s connected to your bloodline."
Alessia clutched the pendant, her thoughts spiraling. "So that night... the dream I had as a child. The woman in red. The blood. The fire."
"It wasn’t a dream," Luca said softly. "Daisy called me earlier. She found surveillance footage. It’s grainy. Distorted. But it shows a girl... who looks exactly like you. Standing beneath the red moon."
Alessia’s mind reeled. Images long buried flashed through her mind like lightning, red eyes watching her from shadows, whispers in a language she didn’t understand, the woman in red placing the pendant over her neck and saying...
"She is the one. The blood will awaken."
Alessia’s voice was barely a breath. "Luca... What if I’m the chosen child?"