CHAPTER SIX
1358 Words
LUCA
I hadn’t planned to call her that. Girlfriend.
The word had slipped out before I could stop it, sharp and absolute, sealing her fate in a way no contract ever could. Elena’s face had tightened when I said it, and I had felt Iris stiffen at my side. Her hand trembled against mine as if she didn’t know whether to pull away or hold tighter.
She thinks this is fake.
But there’s nothing fake about the way my blood burns when another man looks at her. Nothing fake about the way I want to break anyone who even dares to whisper her name.
I should let her go. She doesn’t belong in my world of shadows, blood, and loyalty paid for in bullets. Yet every time she looks at me with those wide, innocent eyes, I know the truth.
Dolcezza bambina. She’s mine.
---
In the car back to the mansion, Iris sat quietly, her head turned toward the window. The city lights reflected in her glasses, but I knew she wasn’t seeing any of it. Her silence was heavy, charged.
And it made me restless.
“You want to ask me something,” I finally said, my voice low.
Her lips pressed together, but then the words slipped out in a whisper. “Who was she?”
Elena.
My jaw tightened. Of all the ghosts to resurface tonight, it had to be hers.
“She was… a mistake,” I said flatly. But the truth was messier than that.
Elena DeLuca. Daughter of one of my father’s oldest allies, bred in wealth and sharpened by ambition. Years ago, when I was younger and still reckless enough to let lust guide me, she had been part of my life. A distraction, beautiful and poisonous in equal measure.
She had wanted more—my name, my empire, the throne I sit on now. But Elena never wanted me. Not the man. Only the don.
And I don’t share power. Not with anyone.
Her smile at the restaurant had been deliberate, a reminder that she still lingered in the shadows of my past. The fact that she dared to approach me tonight, while Iris was on my arm, was no accident. Elena never made careless moves. Which meant she wanted Iris to see her. To doubt herself.
My hand curled into a fist. No one uses my dolcezza to play games.
---
When we returned to the mansion, Iris tried to retreat to her room, but I stopped her in the hallway, one hand braced against the wall beside her head. Her eyes widened, her breath catching as if she’d been cornered by a predator.
You’re making this too real, she whispered, trembling fingers clutching at the edge of her sweater.
I leaned closer, close enough to feel the warmth of her breath. That’s because it is real, dolcezza bambina. Maybe not in the way you think… but real enough that no one will ever question it.
Her lashes fluttered, her lips parting slightly.
Elena was nothing, I said, my tone sharp. Do you understand? Nothing but a shadow from the past. She means nothing now.
Then why did she looked at me like that Iris asked, her voice unsteady.
Because she’s used to getting everything she wants,” I growled. But she won’t have this. She won’t have what I have.
I caught her chin between my fingers, tilting her face up to mine. Her eyes were wide, her pulse frantic under my touch. Remember this, dolcezza. You may call it fake. You may pretend this is a game. But I don’t share what’s mine. Not with Elena. Not with anyone.
And in that moment, with her trembling beneath my hand and her gaze locked on mine, I realized the most dangerous truth of all.
I wasn’t lying.
_______
IRIS
I couldn’t breathe.
Not with Luca’s hand still on my chin, his dark eyes burning into mine like they could see every secret I tried to bury. His words echoed in my skull, heavy and relentless. You may call it fake. You may pretend this is a game. But I don’t share what’s mine.
Mine.
The word should have terrified me. Maybe it did. But it also made something deep inside me shiver in a way I didn’t want to name.
When he finally released me, I stumbled backward, as though my body needed distance from the heat radiating off him. His expression didn’t soften, not even for a second. Luca Russo was a man carved from stone, untouchable and unyielding. Yet somehow, when his gaze was locked on me, I felt like the center of his world.
I ran to my room, slamming the door behind me and pressing my back against it. My reflection in the mirror caught me off guard. I looked… different. Flushed cheeks, lips parted like I had been caught in the middle of something forbidden. My eyes—wide, unsettled—looked as though they belonged to someone else entirely.
I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm the frantic rhythm of my heart. This is pretend, I whispered to myself. It’s not real. It can’t be.
But the memory of his hand on me, his voice rough and possessive, burned like fire under my skin.
---
The night stretched endlessly. I tried reading, tried distracting myself, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw him. The way he leaned close, his lips brushing my ear. The way he called me dolcezza bambina like it was a secret meant only for me.
Why did it feel so real?
And Elena… I couldn’t stop replaying her expression. The sleek confidence in her smile, the disdain in her eyes when she looked at me. She didn’t even see me as competition. To her, I was a placeholder. Someone who didn’t belong beside him.
Maybe she was right.
I wasn’t beautiful like her. I didn’t have wealth, power, or the kind of presence that commanded attention the way Luca did. I was just Iris Rodriguez, the girl who served coffee and scraped by, who never expected anyone to notice her—least of all him.
And yet… the way he looked at Elena, cold and detached, like she was a ghost from a past he’d already buried—it made something deep inside me twist with relief.
Relief I had no right to feel.
---
When sleep finally came, it was restless. My dreams blurred with reality—Luca’s hands on my skin, his mouth at my throat, whispering in that rough Italian that made my knees weak. I woke up tangled in the sheets, my body aching with a hunger I didn’t dare name.
I hated that he had this effect on me. Hated how one word, one look, could unravel everything I thought I knew about myself.
---
The next morning, I dressed quickly, pulling on my hoodie and jeans as though armor could protect me. When I opened the door, the sound of hushed voices froze me in place.
Two of Luca’s men stood in the hallway, their backs straight, their eyes sharp. I pressed myself against the doorframe, straining to listen.
DeLuca’s men were spotted near the docks,” one of them murmured.
Elena’s name echoed in my mind like thunder. My stomach dropped, a cold weight settling in my chest.
So last night wasn’t coincidence. Her appearance, her timing—it had all been deliberate. A warning.
I stepped back into my room and shut the door quietly, my hands trembling. The whisper of danger was back, coiling around me like a shadow I couldn’t shake.
And this time, I wasn’t sure if Luca could protect me from it—or if being with him was the very reason it had found me.
I curled onto the edge of the bed, hugging my knees tightly. My world had been small once—just work, books, and silence. Safe, if lonely. But now… now I was in over my head, tangled in something far bigger than myself.
And the terrifying truth was… I wasn’t sure I wanted out.
- Writer
