THE FAULT IN THE CROWN
978 Words
Sienna had set the first domino in motion.
Now, she had to ensure it didn’t fall on her.
Luca had built his empire on control—on the unshakable belief that he was always three steps ahead of everyone around him.
His men feared him.
His enemies respected him.
And the world bowed to him.
But he had one fatal flaw.
He underestimated her.
She had spent too much time in the shadows of his world, listening, learning, absorbing every piece of information like a weapon she could sharpen to perfection.
Now, as she sat across from him at breakfast, she wondered if he had even the slightest inkling of what she had started.
“You seem… content today,” Luca remarked, sipping his coffee.
Sienna picked at her food, her mask carefully in place. “Maybe I’m just getting used to this life.”
He smirked, but his eyes darkened, searching her. “No one gets used to this life, Sienna. They just learn how to survive it.”
“Then maybe I’m learning.”
The tension between them coiled tighter.
He watched her, waiting for a c***k, a slip, something to reveal the truth buried beneath her words.
But she gave him nothing.
Because the real war had already begun.
It started subtly.
Sienna had spent nights weaving her plan, planting doubt where it would fester, where it would make men question their loyalty to Luca.
His empire thrived on obedience, but obedience wasn’t unbreakable.
It could be poisoned.
And poison, when fed in the right doses, didn’t kill immediately.
It spread.
A single rumor.
A whispered conversation.
An offhand comment in the right ear.
Sienna didn’t need Luca’s empire to collapse overnight.
She just needed him to start doubting.
And by the way he had begun watching his men more closely, by the way his grip on his glass tightened whenever a new report came in, she knew it was working.
He was questioning.
He was wondering.
He was unsure.
And an unsure king was the most dangerous kind.
That evening, Luca summoned her to his office.
The air was thick with tension, the kind that made the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
He leaned against his desk, sleeves rolled up, muscles taut beneath the ink of his tattoos.
His whiskey sat untouched beside him.
“Do you know what the most important rule of power is?” he asked, his voice slow, measured.
Sienna folded her arms. “Enlighten me.”
Luca smirked, but there was no humor in it.
“Control the narrative before someone else does.”
Her pulse spiked, but she kept her expression even. “That sounds exhausting.”
“It is. But it’s necessary.”
He pushed off the desk, walking toward her with the kind of predatory grace that made the room feel smaller.
“Tell me, Sienna. Have you heard anything interesting lately?”
A test.
He was waiting for her to slip.
To see if she knew more than she should.
She tilted her head, feigning curiosity. “Like what?”
His gaze sharpened. “Like whispers of disloyalty. Men talking in shadows. Doubt creeping where it shouldn’t.”
Her heartbeat pounded, but she only shrugged. “Sounds like a you problem.”
Luca exhaled a slow chuckle, but the tension didn’t break.
If anything, it tightened, curling around them like smoke.
“You’re getting bold.”
“You wanted me to learn how to survive, didn’t you?”
For a second, just a second, something flickered in his eyes.
Amusement.
Admiration.
Maybe even respect.
Then it was gone.
Luca reached out, fingers tracing the side of her jaw.
Not rough.
Not gentle.
Just there.
“Be careful, Sienna,” he murmured. “You’re playing a game you don’t fully understand.”
She held his gaze, unblinking. “Neither do you.”
And for the first time, she saw it—
The momentary c***k in his armor.
The realization that she wasn’t the same pawn he had once controlled.
She was something more.
And he wasn’t sure whether to destroy her—
Or keep her.
The walls of Luca’s empire were beginning to splinter.
She could feel it.
The guards whispered when they thought no one was listening.
The men shifted uneasily in his presence.
And most importantly—Luca himself was watching his own kingdom with wary eyes.
Sienna had done that.
And now, she was ready for the next step.
She waited until the house was silent.
Then, slipping through the shadows, she made her way back to the dungeons.
Matteo was still there, his bruises darker, his body weaker, but his mind sharp.
“It’s working,” she whispered, crouching beside him.
His swollen lips curled into a smirk. “Told you. Poison is a slow kill.”
“We need to speed it up.”
“How?”
Sienna took a slow breath. “I need to get a message to someone outside.”
Matteo stiffened. “That’s risky.”
“So is dying here.”
His eyes studied her, weighing her words.
Then he nodded. “Who do you need?”
Sienna’s mind whirled, considering her options.
She had no real allies, no guarantees.
But there was one name—one person who had been waiting for a c***k in Luca’s empire for years.
Her father’s former right-hand man.
A man who had once sworn loyalty to the family before Luca had buried him in exile.
She whispered his name, and Matteo let out a low whistle.
“You really are trying to start a war, aren’t you?”
Sienna’s lips curled.
“I’m just finishing one.”
And as the weight of her words settled between them, she knew there was no turning back now.
Luca’s kingdom had begun to shake.
And soon—
It would fall.
- Writer
