Chapter 27: BETRAYAL
The sun streamed softly through the curtains, golden light spilling across the bed where Aria still lay, tangled in silk sheets and remnants of Luca’s embrace. The warmth of the morning pressed against her skin, but inside, a cold ache gnawed at her chest. For one fleeting night, she’d let herself believe in them, in something real beneath the shadows of contracts and obligations.
But reality has a way of breaking illusions.
When she woke, he wasn’t beside her. The space next to her was cold, his scent already fading, and something inside her tightened. She rose, pulling one of his shirts over her bare skin, and padded softly through the sprawling mansion, following the faint sound of voices down the hall.
At first, she thought nothing of it. Luca always had meetings. Always had business. But as she neared the study, his voice carried clearly, low, commanding, sharp enough to slice through walls.
"She’ll never know the truth. As long as she believes the contract was necessary, she’ll stay. I need her under my roof, under my control."
Aria froze.
Her hand hovered over the polished doorknob, her breath catching. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t supposed to hear this. But the words hit her like bullets, sinking deep before she could shield herself.
"She’s Valencia’s daughter," another voice said, Matteo’s. "The contract marriage was convenient, but don’t forget why you needed her in the first place. Her bloodline gives you leverage over the other families. You think she’ll forgive you if she finds out?"
A heavy silence. Then Luca’s voice again, colder this time. "She doesn’t need to forgive me. She just needs to stay where I can protect her, and where no one else can use her."
Aria’s fingers slipped from the doorknob.
Her chest heaved, breaths ragged as the truth clawed through her. The contract. His protection. His desire. All of it, wrapped in a lie. She wasn’t his choice. She was his weapon.
Stumbling back, she turned and fled down the hall, her bare feet soundless on marble floors, her vision blurring.
She was still in their bedroom when Luca returned hours later. He carried the weight of his empire in his stride, suit immaculate, expression unreadable until his gaze fell on her. She stood rigid by the window, her arms crossed, eyes hollow.
"Aria?" His voice softened instantly, wary. "What’s wrong?"
She didn’t answer. Not at first. She wanted to scream, to cry, to claw at him for making her feel like she belonged only to rip it away. Instead, she forced herself to meet his gaze, her voice steady though it shook inside.
"How long were you planning on keeping me in the dark?"
His brows furrowed. "About what?"
"Don’t you dare play dumb." Her voice cracked like a whip, sharper than she’d ever spoken to him before. "I heard you. This morning. You and Matteo. Talking about my father. My bloodline. About how this marriage was never about me at all, it was about power."
His expression faltered for just a moment, then hardened again, the Don’s mask slipping into place. "Aria...."
"No." She cut him off, her throat burning. "Don’t you dare feed me another lie. I gave myself to you, Luca. Last night, I thought, God, I thought we had something real. And all the while, you’ve been using me."
He stepped closer, steel-gray eyes dark with something she couldn’t read. "It’s not like that."
Her laugh was bitter, broken. "Then tell me how it is."
His jaw tightened. Silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. Finally, he spoke, his voice low, rough. "Yes. At first, it was about power. About control. I needed you tied to me because of who you are, because of what your father’s name still means in this world."
Her chest clenched. Hearing it aloud hurt worse than overhearing it.
"But..." He moved closer, his voice dropping, almost desperate. "It isn’t just that anymore. You think I haven’t fought this? You think I wanted to feel this way? I’ve built my entire life on control, Aria, and you, you destroy it with one look. Last night wasn’t a lie."
Her eyes stung. She wanted to believe him. God, she wanted to. But the wound was too raw, the betrayal too fresh. "You don’t get to decide which parts of the truth I’m supposed to swallow, Luca. You don’t get to trap me in your world and call it love when all it’s ever been is a cage."
He reached for her, but she flinched back, her voice trembling with fury and heartbreak. "Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me? I hated you. I feared you. And then, then I started to believe in you. And now I don’t even know who I am anymore. Am I your wife? Your pawn? Or just your next possession?"
"Aria." His voice broke on her name, raw, pleading. "You’re not a pawn. You’re not a possession. You’re mine, yes but not like that. You’re..." He stopped himself, words catching like barbed wire in his throat. "You’re the only thing I’ve ever wanted for myself. The only thing I can’t let go."
Tears burned hot in her eyes. "You don’t get to say that after lying to me. After making me believe this was my choice."
His hand fell back to his side, his face shadowed with anguish she had never seen in him before. For the first time, Luciano DeLuca, the untouchable Don, looked helpless.
But it didn’t undo the damage.
Aria turned from him, her shoulders rigid, her heart breaking with every breath. "I can’t do this right now. I can’t even look at you."
Silence stretched again. Then, his voice, quieter than she’d ever heard it: "I’ll give you space. But know this, Aria—you can hate me, curse me, walk away if you must. But I will not let anyone else have you. Not Matteo. Not the council. Not anyone. You belong with me, whether you admit it or not."
She closed her eyes, tears slipping down her cheeks, her voice barely a whisper. "You might have my body, Luca. But right now, you don’t have my heart."
The sound of the door closing behind him echoed through the room, leaving her trembling in the silence, torn between love and rage, desire and betrayal. And for the first time since entering his world, she wondered if loving him would destroy her completely.