Chapter 46: THE FALSE BETRAYAL
The morning after felt deceptively calm. The storm had passed, sunlight streaming through the mansion’s tall windows as if the world had decided to grant them a reprieve. Aria awoke still tangled in Luca’s arms, his steady heartbeat beneath her cheek, the scent of him clinging to her skin. For a moment, she let herself believe that everything was different now, that his confession, their kiss, the way he had held her like she was salvation, had changed the game.
But peace in Luca DeLuca’s world was an illusion.
By noon, the house buzzed with tension. Guards whispered in corners, phone calls ended abruptly when she entered rooms, and the Don himself had disappeared into meetings without explanation. Aria tried to shake the unease, telling herself paranoia was just a side effect of sleepless nights. Until she walked past the study.
The door was cracked open. She froze when she heard voices, Matteo’s low drawl and Luca’s sharper, clipped tone.
"She doesn’t need to know," Luca said.
Aria’s blood chilled.
Matteo chuckled. "Oh, so you’ll keep her blind forever? That’s rich, brother. Using her innocence as leverage."
"Watch your mouth." Luca’s voice was ice. "This isn’t leverage. It’s survival."
"She’s the heiress, Luca. Everyone knows it now. Do you really think she’ll forgive you when she finds out you orchestrated her ’rescue’?"
Aria’s heart stuttered. Orchestrated her rescue?
The words sliced through her like a blade. She stumbled back, the corridor spinning. Pieces of memory flooded her, the kidnapping, the rival family’s threats, the way Luca had arrived just in time. Had it all been staged? A performance to make her depend on him?
Her pulse hammered. She pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from crying out, then turned and fled before either man could catch her listening.
By the time Luca found her in the gardens an hour later, Aria’s chest was a storm of fury and heartbreak. She stood by the fountain, arms crossed tightly over herself, her face pale but her eyes blazing.
"Aria," he said softly, approaching.
She turned, voice sharp. "Don’t. Just don’t."
He stopped mid-step, confusion flickering across his face. "What happened?"
She let out a bitter laugh. "What happened? That’s rich. Maybe you should tell me, since apparently you’ve been scripting my life like a play."
His brow furrowed. "I don’t understand."
"Oh, come on." Her voice shook with anger. Luca practically spelled it out. "You staged my kidnapping, didn’t you? You let them take me just so you could swoop in like some savior. All of it, every terror I felt, every bruise, every second of fear, it was all part of your plan, wasn’t it?"
The accusation hit him like a physical blow. His face went rigid, jaw tightening as though her words cut deeper than bullets.
"That’s not true." His voice was low, steady, but there was a fracture beneath it.
"Don’t lie to me again!" she shouted, tears welling. "I heard you. I heard you tell Matteo I didn’t need to know. That it was about survival. Survival for who, Lorenzo? For me or for your precious empire?"
He stepped forward, but she backed away, hands trembling. "Aria, listen to me..."
"No!" Her chest heaved. "Do you have any idea what it felt like? Being dragged, tied, threatened with death? Thinking I’d never see the sun again? And now to know you might have let it happen, just to make me need you,,,," Her voice cracked. "You’re no better than the monsters who took me."
For a moment, silence hung heavy between them, broken only by the fountain’s trickle.
Then he spoke, raw and quiet. "I would never hurt you like that."
She shook her head, tears spilling freely now. "You already have."
His composure broke. In two strides, he closed the distance, gripping her shoulders. His steel-gray eyes burned with desperation. "Look at me, Aria. Look at me!"
She tried to turn away, but his grip held.
"I didn’t set you up," he growled. "Yes, I knew things. Yes, I made choices I shouldn’t have. But I would never, never put you in the hands of our enemies. Do you think I could stand there, knowing they might touch you, hurt you, kill you, just to make myself look like a hero? I’d sooner put a bullet in my own head."
Her lips trembled. "Then why does it feel like you’re always one step ahead of me? Like you’re pulling strings I don’t even see?"
"Because I am." His confession was harsh, almost brutal. "Because that’s how this world works. If I don’t pull the strings, someone else will, and they’ll use you as the puppet. I’ve made mistakes, Aria. I’ve lied, I’ve kept secrets. But not about that. Not about your kidnapping."
Her voice broke. "I don’t know if I can believe you."
He released her shoulders slowly, hands falling to his sides. For once, the Don looked... defeated. "Then don’t believe me," he said quietly. "But know this, I’d burn the entire DeLuca empire to the ground before I let anyone take you from me again. Even if you hate me for it."
Her breath hitched. The sincerity in his tone unsettled her, clashing with the poisonous doubts Matteo’s words had planted.
She turned from him, pressing a hand to her mouth as sobs shook her body. "Why is it always lies with you? Why can’t it ever just be the truth?"
Behind her, his voice cracked like glass. "Because the truth in this world is lethal. And I’d rather you hate me alive than love me in a coffin."
That night, Aria locked her door against him for the first time since the contract marriage began.
Luca stood outside, hand resting on the handle, his shadow cast long in the hall. He could have ordered the door broken, could have forced his way in. But he didn’t. He simply stood there, silent sentinel in the dark, while Aria wept into her pillow on the other side.
And though neither of them slept, the chasm between them had never felt wider.