The house felt different after the break with the Alvarezes.
Quieter.
Not because there were fewer guards or less movement—if anything, security had doubled—but because the tension that once lingered between Luca and Elena had finally eased. For the first time since their marriage, the estate felt like a home rather than a fortress.
Luca stayed close.
Not in the way of control, but in presence. He returned earlier from meetings, dismissed escorts, chose silence with Elena over noise with his men. The bedroom became a sanctuary—doors closed, phones ignored, the outside world held at bay.
They talked.
About things that had never found space before.
“I didn’t know how to be gentle,” Luca admitted one night, staring at the ceiling. “Power taught me domination, not care.”
Elena turned t
