Chapter 8
446 Words
That night, after the long conversation downstairs finally ended, Luca quietly stood up from the couch while adjusting the sleeves of his black shirt.
“I have an early meeting tomorrow,” he muttered calmly before walking away.
Ryder didn’t respond.
He remained sitting alone in the living room, his expression unreadable beneath the dim golden light.
Without another word, Luca headed upstairs toward his room.
The mansion slowly fell silent again.
A few minutes later, Luca suddenly stopped walking near his bedroom door.
His tablet.
He had left it downstairs.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Luca turned around and walked back toward the staircase.
But the moment he reached the top of the stairs—
He paused.
Downstairs, Ryder was no longer alone.
Elena stood quietly near the living room while Ryder sat across from her, listening carefully as she spoke.
Luca stayed completely still.
For some reason…
He didn’t interrupt them.
Instead, he remained standing silently in the shadow upstairs, listening.
“My parents warned me about him,” Elena whispered weakly downstairs. “But I still chose him over my family.”
Luca’s expression slowly changed.
There was something strangely familiar about her face.
She really resembled someone he might know.
Someone he couldn’t explain.
His sharp eyes studied Elena carefully from upstairs while Ryder continued listening quietly below.
Then he noticed something even stranger.
Ryder.
The way his younger brother looked at her.
The way he listened.
The way his usually cold expression softened around her.
Luca frowned slightly.
Rare.
Very rare.
For years, Ryder had never allowed anyone to get emotionally close to him.
Yet somehow…
The girl had already slipped past every wall Ryder had built around him.
“Who exactly are you?” Luca murmured quietly to himself.
Because the more he looked at Elena—
The more he felt like she was someone they had known before.
Someone important.
Someone close to them.
But that was impossible.
…right?
Downstairs, Elena’s quiet sobs slowly faded as Ryder gently pulled her into his arms.
Luca’s eyes widened slightly.
Unbelievable.
Without another word, Luca slowly turned away from the staircase.
He no longer cared about the tablet he had left downstairs.
And honestly…
He didn’t feel like interrupting whatever was happening between those two.
A faint smirk briefly appeared on his face before disappearing again.
Then finally, Luca walked back to his room.
Leaving Ryder and Elena alone in the silence downstairs.
Luca’s fingers paused at an old photograph hidden inside the drawer.
Two young boys stood beside a little girl beneath the rain.
His eyes slowly darkened.
Because the girl in the picture…
looked exactly like Elena.
To be continued
- Writer
