CHAPTER 21
28
Luca‘ s POV
She looked up, startled, but quickly masked it with that coy smile of hers. “Luca, what’s the matter?”
I strode across the room, towering over her with the rage in my chest threatening to spill over. I threw the crumpled envelope onto the coffee table in front of her.
“Don’t play games with me, Casey,” I snarled. “Whose baby is it?”
Her face paled. For the first time in years, saw fear flicker in her eyes.
“Luca, I-”
“Don’t lie to me!” I roared, slamming
my
fist onto the table. And the wood
cracked under the force. “The test says I’m not the father. And do you want to know the best part? Turns out I can’t be anyone’s father. So tell me, Casey, whose
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I
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CHAPTER 21
child are you carrying?”
She stammered, scrambling for words, but
none came.
“Who is he?” I demanded again, my voice dropping to a deadly whisper.
Finally, she broke. “It‘ s… it’s Eric. One of the lieutenants.”
“Eric.” I repeated the name, tasting the bile rising in my throat. “A lieutenant? You dared to present me a child of a low level scum in my syndicate and raise it under my name?”
“It wasn’t like that,” she protested, her voice trembling. “Luca, you have to understand. I only did it because-”
“Because what?” I cut her off, leaning closer. “Because you thought I’d never find out? Because you thought you could manipulate me into raising another man‘ s child?”
Her silence was all the confirmation I
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CHAPTER 21
needed.
My anger boiled over and I grabbed the vase from the table and hurled it across the room. It shattered against the wall with the pieces raining down like the broken. remnants of my trust.
“You ruined everything,” I spat, pacing in front of her like a caged animal. “You wanted power? Control? You thought you could use me to climb higher while you slept with my men behind my back?”
“Luca, please…” she pleaded, but I was not listening anymore.
“You pushed me to betray Amara,” I continued. “You made me doubt her, hate her, and for what? For this? For some pathetic fantasy of power?”
I stopped, turning to face her but the tears streaming down her face did not move me. Not anymore.
“You destroyed the best thing I ever had,” I hissed, and wrapped my fingers
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CHAPTER 21
around her neck, choking her, and itching to kill her right then and there. But not yet, not now. But certainly, someday. “And I let you. I was too blind to see it, too weak to
stop it. But no more.
I let her go and she dropped onto the cold marble floor, heaving, catching her breath, but I did not care. I had nothing left for her. Not pity. Not anger. Not even disgust.
“Pray that Amara would still forgive me. and return to The Obsidian, but if she doesn’t, then prepare your head for a bullet.”
I walked away, leaving her to drown in the mess she had created.
Back in my study, I collapsed into the chair, burying my face in my hands as the weight of everything crashed down on me at once.
Amara s face flashed in my mind. The way she used to look at me with trust, with love. I had destroyed that. I had destroyed her.
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I thought back to the last time I saw her. I almost killed her, all for Casey and the child she was carrying.
I was wrong.
I betrayed her. I let Casey worm her way between us, and I let my own foolishness. push Amara away.
And now?
Now she was gone. And I was left with nothing but regret.
But regret was not enough.
I stood, walking to the window overlooking the city that stretched out before me, glittering with lights, mocking me with their beauty. This was my empire. My kingdom. And it was empty without her.
I clenched my fists as I made my decision.
“I’ll fix this,” I whispered to the night. “I’ll get her back. No matter what it takes.”
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Amara was mine. She always had been. And I would do whatever it took to make her see that again.
No matter who stood in my way.
