Chapter 6
Sofia's POV
The king card sat heavy in my pocket, sharper than any blade. I couldn’t stop touching it, my fingertips brushing over the paper again and again, as if its edges could somehow give me answers. It was absurd—just ink and cardboard—but it pulsed in my mind like a living thing.
The queen of hearts had been a taunt. A whisper from someone who knew too much. But the king? That was a declaration. And if Luca had found it first instead of me, he would have known someone was already playing a game with both of us.
I forced myself to fold the last of the sheets in his room, tucking hospital corners with hands that shook harder than I wanted to admit. I tried to focus on the rhythm of work—straighten, smooth, fluff, tuck—but every motion felt hollow.
The door opened.
I froze.
It was Luca.
He moved inside with the same easy arrogance he carried everywhere, jacket off, black shirt unbuttoned at the throat, sleeves rolled high enough to bare strong forearms. His cologne followed him in—woodsy, expensive, dangerous.
“You’re early,” I managed, pretending not to stiffen as I bent to smooth the pillow.
“You’re jumpy,” he countered, shutting the door behind him. His eyes flicked across the room, dark and assessing. “Find anything you shouldn’t?”
My hand twitched toward my pocket. “Just dust.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t warm. “You were always a terrible liar, Sofia.”
He crossed the room slowly, deliberately, each step deliberate as if he was giving me a chance to run. But I didn’t. My feet rooted themselves to the floor, my breath caught between ribs that felt too tight.
“Do you know what happens to people who snoop in this house?” he asked softly, stopping in front of me.
I swallowed hard. “I wasn’t snooping.”
His hand brushed the pillow I’d just adjusted, sliding beneath it. His fingers searched, slow and sure. When he came up empty, something dark flickered across his expression.
He didn’t call me out. Didn’t accuse. Just looked at me with those unreadable eyes.
“Stay out of my things,” he said finally.
I nodded, too quick, too eager, and hated myself for it.
“Dinner tonight,” he added, straightening. “Family only. Don’t wander.”
And then he was gone, leaving silence behind him like a storm that hadn’t finished breaking.
I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling the wild beat of my heart. Family only. I’d been here long enough to know what that meant: strategy, secrets, threats served colder than the wine. Whatever business the Morettis were discussing tonight, it wasn’t meant for the ears of staff.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling the card in my pocket was connected to it.
The hours dragged. I buried myself in chores, scrubbing counters until they gleamed, polishing silver until my reflection warped in the curve of spoons. Anything to keep from thinking about the card.
When dinner time came, the staff kitchen was half-empty. Most of the others kept to their quarters on nights like this, pretending they couldn’t hear the echoes from the west wing. I tried to do the same, but silence has a weight. Every tick of the clock grew heavier until I couldn’t take it anymore.
I slipped into the corridor, ears straining.
Muted voices carried from the dining hall—Luca’s deep and sharp, Alessandro’s smoother, cooler, edged with steel. I couldn’t make out words, only tones, and the scrape of glass against wood.
Then silence.
A silence that stretched too long, like the pause before a trigger is pulled.
When footsteps finally came, they were fast and hard, striking the marble with purpose. I froze as Alessandro appeared at the far end of the corridor.
His tie was loosened, his jaw tight. He looked less like the calculating Don I’d glimpsed before and more like a man holding something barely under control.
“You,” he said, his eyes locking on me.
I straightened instinctively, clutching the rag in my hand like it was a shield. “Me?”
He strode toward me, each step measured, predatory. “What did you touch in Luca’s room?”
My breath stuttered. “I—what?”
“Don’t play dumb.” His gaze sharpened. “There are only a handful of things my brother doesn’t share with the family. You’ve been assigned to his quarters. You must have seen something.”
I shook my head, though the card in my pocket burned hot as fire. “I haven’t touched anything.”
He studied me for a long, unbearable moment, like he was peeling back skin and bone to read what was underneath. His expression didn’t shift, but his eyes… they caught on something. The lie. The hesitation.
“You need to tell me,” he said quietly. “Now.”
I opened my mouth, panic rushing in my veins, but before I could answer—
“Alessandro.”
The voice was Luca’s, low and dangerous, rolling through the corridor like thunder.
He was coming from the opposite direction, dark eyes narrowed, posture taut.
Alessandro didn’t turn, but I felt the shift in his shoulders, the subtle tension between two predators circling the same prey.
And I was the prey.
“She knows,” Luca said.
The words landed like a knife in the center of my chest.
Both of them were staring at me now. Both men, dangerous in different ways, their focus pinning me in place like a butterfly on glass.
My throat went dry. “Knows what?”
Neither answered.
Alessandro took a step closer, his shadow merging with mine. “Tell me, Sofia. What did you find?”
Luca’s voice cut sharp across his. “Don’t. She doesn’t answer to you.”
“She’s in this house,” Alessandro replied calmly, though the calm was a veneer stretched thin. “That makes her everyone’s concern.”
“No,” Luca snapped. “She’s mine.”
The word slammed through the air like a gunshot. My pulse jumped, my chest tightening as the meaning rippled outward. Possession. Claim. Threat.
Alessandro’s mouth curved—barely. “And that’s exactly why she’s a liability.”
The silence that followed was worse than shouting. Their gazes clashed, the weight of old battles and unspoken things burning between them.
And me, caught in the middle, holding a card in my pocket that felt more dangerous with every passing second.
I took a step back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Neither brother moved. Neither blinked.
My hand slipped into my pocket, fingertips brushing the smooth edge of the king. I should’ve thrown it away. Burned it. Pretended I’d never seen it. But some reckless, self-destructive part of me wanted to shove it in their faces, force them to explain.
The air pressed tighter, my chest aching with the weight of it.
Then, down the hall, a door slammed.
All three of us turned.
One of the guards sprinted toward us, his face pale, voice rough with urgency. “Don! There’s been a breach.”
The word cracked through the corridor like lightning.
“Where?” Alessandro demanded.
“The grounds,” the guard panted. “North perimeter. They cut the power to the cameras before we caught it. We’re sweeping now.”
Luca’s expression darkened. “How many?”
“Too many.”
The guard’s eyes flicked toward me, and for a split second, something like pity passed through them.
Alessandro noticed. He always noticed. “What?”
The guard hesitated. “The breach… it wasn’t random. They were looking for someone.”
Silence again, but this one was sharper.
My stomach dropped. “Who?” I whispered.
The guard’s gaze landed on me.
Alessandro’s jaw tightened. Luca’s fists clenched.
And before anyone could speak, the sound of shattering glass ripped through the air, followed by the staccato crack of gunfire from outside.
Chaos erupted. Guards shouting. Radios crackling. The thunder of boots on marble.
Alessandro barked orders, voice clipped and cold. Luca grabbed my wrist, his grip iron, dragging me toward the nearest stairwell.
“Move,” he ordered.
I stumbled after him, pulse screaming, the world collapsing into noise and panic.
At the top of the stairs, a blast shook the walls, dust raining down from the ceiling.
Luca shoved me against the wall, his eyes blazing. “They’re here for you.”
“No—” My voice cracked. “That’s impossible—”
But before I could finish, another explosion ripped through the mansion, closer this time, the lights flickering out in a shower of sparks.
The hallway plunged into darkness.
And in the chaos, as I clutched Luca’s arm to steady myself, a hand I didn’t recognize grabbed me from behind and yanked me backward into the dark.