SHATTERED LINES , BURIED SECRETS
460 Words
Selena didn’t sleep.
Not after the kiss. Not after the way Luca looked at her, then turned and vanished like it never happened.
She sat in the living room, curled in the silence, watching candlelight flicker and die.
He wanted to forget it.
She couldn’t.
And worse… part of her didn’t want to.
⸻
Morning brought sunlight through the cracked windows and a message on Luca’s phone that made him go still.
Selena watched from the hallway as he read it, jaw tight, knuckles white around the device.
He didn’t know she was watching.
He didn’t know she saw the name.
Dr. Hamza Ridgeview Private Hospital.
Her chest tightened.
She waited for him to tell her.
He didn’t.
⸻
Later, over coffee, she asked quietly, “How’s my brother?”
Luca didn’t flinch. But he didn’t look at her either.
“He’s… stable.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You got an update this morning. Why didn’t you say anything?”
Now he looked up.
“Because there’s nothing to say that wouldn’t make this worse.”
Selena’s voice dropped. “Is he okay?”
“They’re moving him to another wing. Safer. Cleaner. But—”
He paused. Something about it seemed… off. “But the hospital said someone tried to access his files.”
Her stomach dropped.
“Someone tried to find him?”
Luca nodded. “And they weren’t one of mine.”
⸻
That night, Luca called in two guards. Hushed voices. More locks on the windows.
Selena stood at the door to his room.
“Talk to me,” she said.
He didn’t turn. “Not tonight.”
“Luca—”
He turned around fast, voice sharp.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
Her throat tightened. “Why?”
“Because I don’t do attachment.”
She stepped forward, her voice trembling but strong. “Then why do you care if something happens to me?”
He said nothing.
Selena stared at him. “You said I was leverage. Is that all I am to you?”
Luca’s silence was louder than a shout.
⸻
Later, she found him outside, standing under the stars.
The tension between them had changed. He wasn’t just cold now.
He was conflicted.
“You know what scares me?” she asked, stepping beside him.
He glanced at her.
“That someday… you’ll forget this is fake. And I won’t be able to.”
Luca didn’t respond. He couldn’t.
Because deep down, he feared the same thing.
⸻
Meanwhile, across the city, a masked figure slipped into a hospital room, staring down at a boy hooked to machines.
He didn’t touch him.
Just left a note on the pillow.
“Your sister can’t protect you from what’s coming.
- Writer
