Chapter 39
The study door closed with a soft click as Arianna stepped inside. Marco stood with his back to her, staring out the window at the gray skies above the Venetti estate. The air between them was heavy, like the calm before a storm. Arianna moved gracefully toward the desk, her heels clicking faintly against the marble floor.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked, her voice soft and smooth as silk.
Marco didn’t respond right away. His broad shoulders were rigid, his hands shoved into his pockets. After a long pause, he turned, his sharp eyes fixing on Arianna as if trying to peel away every layer she wore. “What do you know about Carmen and Montini?”
Arianna tilted her head slightly, her expression carefully schooled into one of mild surprise. “Sergio Montini? That’s who she’s been spending time with lately, isn’t it?”
Marco didn’t move, didn’t blink. “You haven’t answered my question.”
Arianna sighed softly, as if burdened by a truth she didn’t want to share. “Marco,” she said gently, stepping closer to him. “I didn’t want to be the one to say this. But you deserve to know.”
“Know what?” Marco’s voice was sharp, though his tone was laced with wariness.
Arianna placed a delicate hand on the edge of the desk, watching him carefully. “Carmen’s been consolidating power behind your back. Her alliance with Montini—it isn’t innocent. He’s always been ambitious, and Carmen… well, she’s been working with him to rally your disillusioned men. It’s exactly what it looks like. She’s building something of her own.”
Marco’s jaw tightened, though he said nothing.
“You’ve felt it, haven’t you?” Arianna continued, her voice coaxing, almost gentle. “The distance between you. The way she challenges you—undermines you—in front of your men. Her alliances with Montini and others aren’t about helping you, Marco. They’re about taking what’s yours.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Marco muttered, though the words lacked the conviction he wanted them to hold.
Arianna stepped closer, her tone softening even further. “Are you so sure? Carmen has always been clever, hasn’t she? And dangerous, when she needs to be. She’s not the same woman who stood beside you all those years ago. You can feel it, can’t you? She’s planning something, Marco. Something that doesn’t include you.”
Marco turned away, his chest rising and falling with barely restrained anger. He wanted to throw Arianna’s words back in her face, to call them lies, but a part of him—the part already worn down by weeks of doubt—couldn’t shake the possibility that she was right. Carmen had been consolidating power. He knew that. And Montini had been loyal to her, not him.
The pieces fell together too easily, too perfectly.
Arianna watched him carefully, her lips curling into the faintest smile when he didn’t respond. “You’ve given her too much trust,” she said quietly. “You can’t let your feelings cloud your judgment. You’ve worked too hard to lose everything now.”
Marco turned back toward her, his eyes dark. “Leave.”
Arianna hesitated, feigning concern. “Marco—”
“I said leave.”
She dipped her head in a slight nod, though her expression held a flicker of satisfaction as she turned and left the room.
The door closed softly behind her, but Marco remained frozen where he stood. The room felt colder, emptier somehow. Carmen’s face filled his mind—the fierce defiance in her eyes, the fire in her voice when she accused him of not believing in her.
What if she’s lying?
The question gnawed at him like a cancer, and Marco couldn’t shake it.
________________
Luca crouched in the shadows outside Arianna’s estate, the night pressing in around him like a heavy cloak. The mansion loomed before him, every window lit as though the house were alive and burning from within. Arianna’s guards were everywhere—posted at every entrance, pacing the perimeter with guns in hand—but Luca had spent too many years moving in the dark to be stopped now.
He slipped through a side gate, ducking behind hedges as he made his way toward the rear of the house. His breath came shallow and quiet, his heart pounding as he scanned the property. This was a risk—a huge risk—but he’d spent weeks watching Marco unravel under Arianna’s thumb, and he couldn’t stand by anymore. If Carmen was going to have any chance of pulling Marco back from the edge, Luca had to prove the truth.
It took him nearly half an hour to bypass Arianna’s security and make it inside. The house was quiet, unnervingly so, save for the faint hum of voices from a room down the hall. Luca moved silently through the shadows, his eyes scanning every doorway as he crept toward Arianna’s office.
The door was locked, but Luca didn’t need long to pick it. He slipped inside, closing it quietly behind him before pulling a small flashlight from his jacket. Papers were scattered across the desk, but it wasn’t until he rifled through the drawers that he found it—a thin file folder buried beneath stacks of ledgers.
Luca opened it, his heart pounding as he scanned the contents.
There it was.
Communications—real ones this time—between Arianna and the remnants of the De Luca family. Meetings. Payments. Proof that Arianna had orchestrated the attack on Sergio Montini to frame Vincent Rossi. Proof that every lie she had fed Marco was part of a larger plan to destroy him and take everything for herself.
“This is it,” Luca whispered to himself.
But before he could savor the victory, a faint sound echoed from the hallway outside—the creak of a floorboard. Luca froze, his muscles tensing as he quickly shoved the folder inside his jacket.
The door handle twisted.
Without thinking, Luca dove for the window, wrenching it open and slipping out onto the narrow ledge just as the door burst open behind him. Arianna’s guards stormed inside, their shouts muffled by the rush of blood in his ears.
“Find him!” one of the men barked. “Check the grounds!”
Luca didn’t wait to hear more. He edged along the ledge, his boots slipping on the slick stone as he moved toward the nearest drainpipe. He gritted his teeth and climbed down, his hands burning as they scraped against the metal.
By the time his feet hit the ground, shouts were erupting from every direction, but Luca was already moving—slipping back into the shadows as he disappeared into the night.
________________
Back at the estate, Carmen sat curled on the edge of her bed, staring at the faint outline of her hands as they rested on her stomach. The room was quiet, but her mind was anything but.
Sergio’s death had rattled everyone—her allies, Marco’s men, even Luca—but Carmen felt the loss in a deeper, more personal way. Sergio had trusted her. He’d believed in her when no one else did. And now he was gone.
Her chest tightened as tears burned at the edges of her eyes, but she forced them back. She couldn’t let herself break now—not when everything was hanging by a thread.
A soft knock broke her thoughts, and Luca stepped into the room, his face pale and streaked with sweat.
“Luca?” Carmen stood quickly, alarm flooding her. “What happened?”
“I have proof,” he said, breathing heavily as he held up the folder. “I found it. Arianna’s been working with the De Lucas—everything you said was true. She framed Vincent. She set up Sergio.”
Carmen stared at the file, her pulse quickening. “Does Marco know?”
“Not yet,” Luca replied, his voice grave. “But he needs to hear it from me. This is it, Carmen. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
Carmen nodded, her gaze hardening as she met his eyes. “Then we have to make him listen.”
Luca hesitated, looking at her with quiet concern. “And if he doesn’t?”
Carmen swallowed hard, the ache in her chest settling like stone. “Then Marco has already made his choice.”
She turned away, staring out the window into the dark night beyond. Despite the growing storm in her heart, Carmen felt a sliver of hope. Arianna’s lies were beginning to crumble.
Now it was up to Marco to see the truth before everything burned to the ground.
