(Luca)
The quiet in the villa felt deceptive.
I’d just dismissed the last of my soldiers when I heard light footsteps approaching—soft, hesitant, but with a kind of tremor that warned me I wasn’t going to like what came next.
Aria.
She stepped into my study slowly, closing the door behind her as if sealing herself inside with a beast. Her hair was still slightly damp from her shower, cheeks flushed from the long walk around the property that Vincenzo had insisted on giving her. She looked calmer… until she lifted those blue eyes to mine.
A storm was brewing there.
“What is it?” I asked, already bracing myself.
She swallowed, then squared her shoulders the way she always did when she was about to challenge me. “I’ve decided something.”
I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms. “G
