CHAPTER 27 — THE MAN WHO SMILED TOO CALMLY
760 Words
📖 CHAPTER 27 — THE MAN WHO SMILED TOO CALMLY
POV: LUCIEN DE LUCA
I didn’t expect her to run so early.
That was my first honest thought when I heard the news.
Sera Moretti—gone from Alessandro’s estate.
Quietly.
Carefully.
Almost intelligently.
Which told me one thing immediately:
she hadn’t just escaped.
She had been thinking about it for a while.
---
“Confirmed?” I asked without looking up.
My assistant nodded. “Yes. She disappeared sometime after midnight. No clear trail yet.”
I leaned back slowly in my chair.
Interesting.
Alessandro Moretti didn’t lose things.
Not people.
Not territory.
Not control.
And yet…
he had lost her.
---
I poured myself a drink calmly while the room stayed silent.
Not because I was disturbed.
Because I was thinking.
Carefully.
Strategically.
Because Sera was not just a girl who ran.
She was now leverage.
And leverage always had value.
---
“Do we retrieve her?” one of my men asked.
I looked at him then.
Slowly.
“No.”
He hesitated. “No?”
I took a sip of my drink.
“Not yet.”
Silence followed.
Because my men were used to quick answers.
Violence.
Immediate action.
But patience is also a weapon.
And I had learned long ago that Alessandro Moretti reacted best when emotionally unstable.
---
I stood and walked toward the window.
City lights stretched below us like quiet chaos.
Alessandro would already be searching.
Locking down routes.
Turning his entire empire upside down.
Predictable.
Controlled panic.
The kind that made him dangerous.
---
“She matters to him,” my assistant said carefully.
I smiled slightly.
“Yes.”
That was the problem.
And the opportunity.
---
I turned slightly.
“Get me everything we have on her.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Emma.”
The name earned a pause.
“She has a friend,” I added calmly. “People like that don’t stay hidden long when they’re scared.”
Understanding flickered in his eyes.
He nodded and left.
---
When I was alone again, I set my glass down slowly.
Sera Moretti.
The woman Alessandro Moretti had chosen to keep close.
Not just keep.
Protect.
Control.
Obsess over.
That wasn’t normal for him.
Not even close.
---
I opened a file on my desk.
Her photo stared back at me.
Soft eyes.
Careful expression.
Someone who looked like she didn’t belong in a world like ours.
That was always the mistake people made.
The soft ones survived the longest.
Because they adapted quietly.
Until they didn’t need permission anymore.
---
“You’re interesting,” I murmured under my breath.
Because she had done something few people ever managed.
She had escaped him.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
For now.
---
My phone vibrated.
A message from my informant inside Moretti territory.
> “Lockdown initiated. He’s personally involved.”
I exhaled slowly.
So it had already reached that stage.
Alessandro wasn’t delegating.
He was hunting.
---
That changed things slightly.
Because when Alessandro became personal…
he stopped thinking like a boss.
And started thinking like something worse.
A man who refuses to lose.
---
I placed the phone down and leaned back.
“She didn’t take much,” my assistant said earlier.
That detail stayed in my mind.
Not because it was strange.
Because it was intentional.
She hadn’t just run away.
She had tried not to be tracked.
Which meant she understood him better than most people around him did.
---
Interesting.
Very interesting.
---
Hours later, my men returned with partial updates.
Roads checked.
Cameras reviewed.
No confirmed sighting.
She was careful.
Too careful for someone supposedly escaping blindly.
Which meant someone likely helped her.
---
“Find Isabella Moretti’s movements,” I ordered calmly.
One of them hesitated. “You think she helped?”
“I think,” I said slowly, “she is emotionally attached enough to make bad decisions.”
And emotional decisions are always predictable.
---
After they left, I sat alone for a long time.
Thinking.
Because this wasn’t just about Sera anymore.
This was about timing.
Alessandro was already unstable.
Now he had a missing obsession.
That combination created mistakes.
---
And mistakes…
were openings.
---
I picked up her file again.
Sera Moretti.
For now, she was just a girl who ran.
But soon—
she would become something far more valuable.
---
I closed the file slowly.
And smiled faintly to myself.
“Run all you want,” I murmured quietly.
“You’re already in the game.”
- Writer
