CHAPTER 30 — A MAN WHO WAS TOO EASY TO TRUST
742 Words
📖 CHAPTER 30 — A MAN WHO WAS TOO EASY TO TRUST
POV: LUCIEN
She noticed me.
That was the first real confirmation.
Not fully.
Not correctly.
But enough.
Sera Moretti did not ignore people the way most broken girls do when they’re trying to survive. She observed. Carefully. Quietly. Like she had learned the world could change its shape depending on who was watching.
That made her interesting.
And interesting people are always useful.
---
I met her again two days later.
Not by accident.
Nothing around me was ever truly accidental.
The bakery near her apartment became my easiest excuse. A predictable place. A harmless place. The kind of environment people lower their guard inside without realizing it.
She was standing outside when I arrived.
Hair slightly tied back.
Hands wrapped around a small paper bag.
Normal.
Almost ordinary.
If I didn’t know better… I would have thought she belonged here.
---
“Lucien,” I said softly as I approached.
Her eyes lifted immediately.
Recognition.
Good.
That meant I wasn’t forgettable.
“I didn’t expect to see you again,” she admitted.
I smiled faintly. “People usually don’t expect things they enjoy.”
That earned a small pause from her.
Not discomfort.
Just thought.
She always thought before reacting.
Careful mind.
Careful heart.
Broken people often become careful like that.
---
“You live around here?” she asked.
“Temporarily.”
“Business?”
I nodded once. “Something like that.”
She accepted the answer without pressing further.
Too trusting.
Or too tired to interrogate the world anymore.
I couldn’t tell yet.
---
“You look like you don’t sleep much,” I said casually.
Her expression shifted slightly.
“I sleep.”
“Not well,” I corrected gently.
Silence.
That told me I was right.
---
A gust of wind moved through the street.
She adjusted her grip on the bag slightly.
Her fingers were thin.
Tired.
Protective instinct.
She was carrying more than she was showing.
That was obvious.
---
“You’re observant,” she said after a moment.
“I have to be.”
“Why?”
A small pause.
Then I answered honestly enough to sound harmless.
“People here hide things behind normal faces.”
Her gaze lingered on mine a second longer than necessary.
“I’ve noticed that too,” she said quietly.
Good.
We were building understanding.
That’s how trust starts.
Slow agreement.
Shared perception.
Not lies.
Just selective truth.
---
“I should go,” she added suddenly.
But she didn’t move immediately.
That hesitation mattered.
Because hesitation means connection hasn’t fully broken yet.
“I’ll see you around?” I asked lightly.
She nodded once.
“Yes… I think so.”
And then she left.
---
I watched her walk away.
Carefully.
Quietly.
Like someone who still didn’t know she was already being pulled into something she wouldn’t recognize until it was too late.
---
Back at my apartment, I reviewed the reports again.
Alessandro Moretti’s movements were becoming sharper.
Less predictable.
More unstable.
Good.
That meant emotional interference was already active.
And emotional interference creates openings.
---
“She met him again,” one of my men confirmed.
“Good,” I replied calmly.
“Should we speed things up?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
They hesitated.
“She’s still adjusting. If we push too early, she retreats.”
I looked out the window.
“And I need her to lean forward, not back.”
---
Sera was not like most targets.
She didn’t respond well to force.
She responded to safety.
To consistency.
To calm.
That was why I was different from Alessandro.
He held tightly.
I loosened.
Both were control.
Just different shapes of it.
---
Later that night, I pulled up her file again.
Not because I needed to.
Because I wanted to understand how someone becomes important enough to make Alessandro Moretti hesitate from distance.
That was rare.
Almost unheard of.
---
There was something inside her story that wasn’t fully broken yet.
A part that still believed in gentleness.
In people who don’t demand too much.
In quiet kindness.
That part was fragile.
And fragile things are easier to guide than strong ones.
---
I set the file down slowly.
Then leaned back.
“Let’s see,” I murmured quietly.
“How long it takes before you start running toward me instead of away from him.”
- Writer
