AURELIA
1417 Words
CHAPTER FOUR
Luciano>>>
Sleep was a luxury I hadn't earned.
The clock had long since passed midnight,but the mansion was awake in silence.
I sat in the study, the one room in the house that always seemed to hold its breath, walls lined with the scent of power and old money, books no one had read in years, and silence thick enough to strangle.
The city below was quiet, but my mind wasn’t.
No matter how many times I told myself to focus, it circled back to her.
Serenity Romano.
The girl who wasn’t supposed to be here.
The bride I never wanted.
The distraction I couldn’t shake.
I tried to drown her image with work,stacks of reports, trade routes, gun ledgers, and surveillance photos, but her face slid between the lines like smoke.
The way she’d looked at me earlier that day, chin high, eyes bright with rebellion, like she’d rather burn than bow.
Aurelia had been easy to picture beside me. She was soft-spoken and polished. Predictable.
Serenity was the opposite of everything I should want , sharp where her sister was smooth, impulsive where her sister was patient.
A flame I couldn’t touch without getting scorched.
Because every time I looked at her, I saw the one thing I’d spent my life avoiding ,not weakness, but the need to feel something again.
And yet here I was, thinking about the way her voice had trembled when she said my name.
Damn it.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
---
The desk lamp flickered once, casting gold light over the papers before settling again.
A cigarette burned out in the ashtray beside me, its smoke curling like ghosts.
I poured a drink, the sound of liquid breaking the silence.
Scotch. Old. Expensive.
A reminder that I had everything a man could buy, and yet none of what I needed.
Her words echoed in my head.
Fortresses keep things in.
I’d built my life around that truth, around control. And now, a woman I barely knew was testing the walls I’d spent years fortifying.
A knock snapped through the quiet.
“Come in,” I said, without looking up.
Gianni entered, his footsteps steady, his expression unreadable. He’d been with me long enough to know when not to speak.
He placed a thick file on my desk. “Updates from our contact at the docks.”
“Go on.”
He hesitated, then slid a photo across the table.
I looked.
Aurelia.
The picture was grainy, taken from a distance, but it was her. Standing by a van, head down, guarded by two men in dark jackets.
“She’s alive,” I said.
“For now,” Gianni answered. “But if Rinaldi’s holding her, it won’t stay that way for long.”
My grip on the glass tightened. “Where was this taken?”
“South docks. Two nights ago. Our man lost them after they crossed the bridge toward the industrial district.”
I studied the image again. Her wrists looked bound. Her eyes, wide and terrified, were the same eyes her sister carried. Only Serenity’s didn’t tremble.
“She doesn’t know,” Gianni said quietly. “About this.”
“She thinks her sister ran.”
“Should we tell her?”
“No.” I set the glass down hard enough for the sound to echo. “Not yet. Not until we know where she is. Panic won’t help anyone.”
Gianni crossed his arms. “You sure this isn’t personal, boss?”
I looked up slowly. “What are you implying?”
He shrugged. “You’re different since she came. Restless. Distracted. I’m not used to seeing you lose focus.”
“Watch your words.”
He smirked faintly. “Just saying she’s not what you’re used to.”
“No,” I said quietly. “She isn’t.”
He hesitated. “You want us to move tonight?”
“No. Rinaldi’s making a play. He wants me desperate. We wait.”
Gianni nodded but didn’t move. His gaze lingered, sharp and knowing. “You should get some sleep.”
“I will.”
He left without another word.
The silence that followed was worse than before.
---
I leaned back in the chair, closing my eyes for a moment.
The darkness behind my eyelids wasn’t empty. It was full of her.
Serenity in that wedding dress, stiff with defiance. Serenity on the balcony, wind tugging her hair as if even the night wanted her attention.
Every time she looked at me, something inside me slipped.
She was supposed to be a name, a face in a contract , not the echo that kept me awake.
I told myself I was just keeping an eye on her.
That I didn’t trust her.
That her father’s sudden absence after the wedding was suspicious enough to warrant vigilance.
But I knew better.
I wasn’t protecting myself from her.
I was protecting her from me.
---
It was well past one when I left the study. The halls of the mansion stretched out before me quiet, gilded, endless.
Her door was down the west corridor, second to last before the balcony. I shouldn’t have known that.
I shouldn’t have noticed the faint music that sometimes slipped through when she thought no one was listening.
Or the scent of jasmine that lingered when she walked past.
I was a man built on discipline.
And she was undoing me one glance at a time.
---
Her door was slightly open when I reached it. Just enough for a sliver of moonlight to fall through.
I didn’t knock. I told myself I was just checking on security. That I’d leave as soon as I saw she was safe.
But that wasn’t why I pushed the door open.
She stood by the window again, barefoot, her silk night robe brushing the floor. Her hair spilled over her shoulders, catching the light like gold threads.
For a moment, I forgot to breathe.
When she turned, her eyes met mine , calm, unflinching.
“You walk quietly,” she said.
“I wasn’t trying to.”
“That’s worse.”
A faint smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “You’re awake.”
“So are you.”
“I have work.”
“Of course you do.” Her tone held the softest edge of mockery. “You look like the kind of man who can’t sleep unless someone’s bleeding.”
My brow arched. “And you? You look like the kind who doesn’t know when to stop fighting.”
“Maybe I don’t.”
Her gaze was sharp, almost daring. “Maybe I’m just trying to survive in a house that feels more like a cage than a home.”
“You think I don’t notice you watching me?” she continued. “Always silent. Always measuring. Like you’re waiting for me to break.”
“I’m not.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
I took a step closer. “For you to understand that this” I gestured between us “was never supposed to happen.”
Her lips curved slightly. “You think I wanted this?”
“No.” I paused. “But you wear defiance like armor. I can’t tell if you’re trying to protect yourself or provoke me.”
“Maybe both.”
She turned back toward the window. “Do you always look at people like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re deciding whether to kill them or kiss them.”
The words hit like a blade. Sharp. Unexpected.
“Go to bed, Serenity.”
“Or what?”
“Or I might start answering questions you’re not ready to hear.”
Her eyes lifted to mine slow, steady, fearless. “Try me.”
I stepped closer until the space between us disappeared into breath and heartbeat.
“You don’t want to play with fire,” I murmured.
She tilted her chin up. “You look like the kind of man who already burns.”
And she wasn’t wrong.
---
When I finally left her room, the air still carried her scent jasmine and rebellion.
My pulse wouldn’t slow.
My mind wouldn’t be quiet.
I had a missing bride, a rival who wanted me dead, a business on the brink of war
and all I could think about was Serenity Romano.
The wrong woman.
The impossible temptation.
The one I shouldn’t want.
My new fixation
- Writer
