Chapter 11 - The Weight Of Betrayal
1169 Words
The city looked small from Luca’s penthouse.
Normally, the view calmed him.
Tonight, it did nothing.
Luca stood near the window, one hand resting in his pocket, the other gripping a glass of whiskey that had remained untouched for nearly twenty minutes.
His mind wasn’t on the city.
It was on betrayal.
Behind him, the door of the penthouse opened quietly.
Heavy footsteps crossed the marble floor.
Luca didn’t turn around.
“You’re late,” he said calmly.
“I had to make sure we weren’t followed.”
The voice belonged to Marco Bianchi—his second-in-command and the only man in the organization Luca trusted without hesitation.
Marco had been with him since the beginning. Since before Luca inherited the empire. Before the city knew the name DeMarco carried weight.
Marco stopped a few feet behind him.
“The meeting didn’t go well,” he said.
Luca let out a faint breath.
“Meetings like that never do.”
Marco studied his boss carefully.
“You think one of them is responsible.”
Luca finally turned.
His expression was calm—but the cold anger behind his eyes was unmistakable.
“I don’t think,” Luca said quietly.
“I know.”
Marco folded his arms.
“Adrian?”
“Possibly.”
“You didn’t seem certain.”
“I’m not.”
Luca walked slowly across the room, placing the untouched whiskey on a black marble counter.
“Adrian is ambitious,” he continued. “But ambition doesn’t always equal betrayal.”
Marco nodded slightly.
“Matteo, then?”
“Matteo is reckless.”
“That sounds closer.”
Luca gave a faint smirk.
“Reckless men make noise when they move against someone.”
“And this attack was quiet.”
“Exactly.”
Marco walked toward the bar and poured himself a drink.
“You’re forgetting someone.”
Luca raised an eyebrow.
“Am I?”
“Daniel.”
Luca leaned against the counter, thinking.
Daniel Varga.
The quiet one.
The financier.
The man who controlled the flow of money through their empire.
Daniel rarely spoke during meetings. Rarely showed emotion.
Men like that were the most dangerous.
“They all have motive,” Marco continued.
“Power,” Luca said.
“Yes.”
Marco took a slow sip of his drink.
“But there’s something else bothering you.”
Luca didn’t respond immediately.
Marco knew him too well.
“Say it,” Luca said finally.
Marco set the glass down.
“The attack.”
“What about it?”
“It wasn’t just about power.”
Luca’s jaw tightened slightly.
Marco watched his reaction carefully.
“You’re thinking about her,” Marco said.
Alessia.
The name didn’t need to be spoken.
Luca turned away, looking toward the city again.
“They used her,” Marco continued.
“Yes.”
“That means whoever planned this understood something.”
Luca’s voice dropped lower.
“What?”
“That she matters.”
Silence filled the penthouse.
For a long moment, Luca said nothing.
Because Marco wasn’t wrong.
The attack wasn’t random.
It wasn’t sloppy.
It was precise.
Someone had studied him.
Studied his movements.
And understood that Alessia Romano had become… significant.
That thought alone was enough to ignite a quiet rage inside him.
“They made a mistake,” Luca said finally.
Marco nodded.
“Touching someone under your protection.”
“Yes.”
Luca’s eyes darkened.
“I warned them.”
“And they ignored it.”
Luca let out a small breath through his nose.
“That’s the problem with men who grow comfortable,” he said.
“They forget who they’re working for.”
Marco leaned back against the counter.
“You’re angry.”
Luca glanced at him.
“Should I not be?”
“You rarely let emotion influence your decisions.”
“This isn’t emotion.”
Marco raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
“No.”
Luca’s tone remained calm.
“This is discipline.”
Marco gave a faint chuckle.
“Call it whatever you want.”
Luca didn’t react.
Marco studied him for a moment longer before speaking again.
“There’s another problem.”
Luca waited.
“Your connection to Alessia.”
The air in the room seemed to shift slightly.
“What about it?” Luca asked.
“The organization is noticing.”
Luca’s gaze hardened.
“Explain.”
Marco shrugged slightly.
“You saved her.”
“That was necessary.”
“You brought her into your building this morning.”
“For information.”
“And you’ve assigned two men to watch her apartment.”
Luca’s expression didn’t change.
“That’s precaution.”
Marco tilted his head.
“You see it that way.”
“And the others?”
“They see weakness.”
That word hung in the air.
Weakness.
Luca stepped forward slowly.
“You believe protecting someone is weakness?”
“No.”
Marco shook his head.
“But the men inside this organization believe a leader must remain… untouchable.”
“I am untouchable.”
“Yes.”
Marco met his gaze.
“But emotions make leaders vulnerable.”
Luca was quiet for a moment.
Then he spoke.
“You think Alessia makes me vulnerable.”
Marco didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he picked up his glass again.
“I think she complicates things.”
“That’s unavoidable.”
“Maybe.”
Marco took another drink.
“But if the wrong person inside this organization believes they can use her against you…”
His sentence trailed off.
He didn’t need to finish it.
Luca understood perfectly.
They had already tried.
The parking lot attack had proven that.
Luca walked back toward the window slowly.
Below him, the city lights flickered like distant stars.
“Forty-eight hours,” he said.
Marco looked up.
“What happens in forty-eight hours?”
“I’ll know who betrayed me.”
“And then?”
Luca’s voice turned colder than before.
“Then I remove them.”
Marco nodded once.
“That will send a message.”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
Luca’s reflection stared back at him in the glass window.
Cold.
Unmoving.
“The kind that reminds everyone,” he said quietly,
“that my empire was not built on loyalty alone.”
Marco watched him carefully.
“And what was it built on?”
Luca’s eyes darkened slightly.
“Fear.”
Silence settled over the room again.
After a moment, Marco spoke one last time.
“And Alessia?”
Luca didn’t turn.
“What about her?”
“If the traitor tries again…”
Luca finally looked back.
His voice was calm.
But deadly.
“They won’t get the chance.”
Marco studied his expression.
For the first time that night, he realized something.
This wasn’t just about betrayal anymore.
It was about something far more dangerous.
Because when Luca DeMarco protected something—
He destroyed anyone who came near it.
And right now…
Alessia Romano stood directly in the center of that protection.
- Writer
