Chapter 77: The Dangerous wish and the Anniversary
Luca entered the bathroom and saw Alessia holding it.
Her hands, delicate yet trembling, wrapped around the forbidden book like it was both salvation and poison.
She didn’t flinch, didn’t hide it.
The cat was out of the bag, and the truth between them could no longer be buried beneath walls or whispered excuses.
The steam from the shower curled around her, making her look ethereal fragile, yet burning with a strength that dared him to look away.
He didn’t.....
Instead, Luca stepped forward and kissed her face, his lips grazing her damp skin with a tenderness that clashed against the fire in his eyes.
His voice was low, but every word carried the weight of a vow.
"You are my darling," he whispered against her cheek. "I will explain this to you, and together we will read it. That way, you won’t misunderstand anything. But promise me..." He pressed his forehead to hers, his breath hot against her lips. "...promise me you will never open it without me by your side. I want to be there, whispering love into your sweet ears as each truth unfolds."
Alessia’s chest rose and fell, her heart a storm.
She wanted to argue, wanted to lash out at the secrets he had held back for so long.
Anger burned at the edges of her soul, but when she looked into his eyes,, eyes that were willing to strip themselves bare just for her.... her fury cracked.
A smile, unbidden and trembling, overtook her lips.
"You think love can soothe away every scar, Luca?" she teased softly, though her voice wavered with the truth of her emotions.
"I don’t just think it," he said, brushing his thumb along her jaw. "I know it."
For a moment, silence filled the air, but it wasn’t empty it was charged, humming with the kind of intimacy that made every heartbeat feel like a confession.
"Have your bath and come out soon," he said finally, though his voice lingered like a caress.
He kissed her forehead once more, then pulled away, leaving her with the ghost of his warmth and a promise that wrapped around her like silk.
Alessia exhaled shakily, staring at the book once more. With gentle fingers, she placed it back into its hidden place in the wall.
The panel clicked shut, swallowing the secret as if it had never existed.
She stepped beneath the water again, letting it pour over her, washing away the tremor in her hands, the fire in her chest.
But nothing could wash away the truth.
Faith had chosen her, and no amount of hiding would keep it quiet forever.
****
Far away, in the shadows of a world tainted by greed and whispers, Bianca made her choice.
The night was still, but her soul trembled with hunger, hunger for power, hunger for love twisted into obsession, hunger for everything she believed had been stolen from her.
She had agreed to work for the strange spirit that whispered in her ear, a voice neither wholly male nor female, neither angel nor demon.
It was a sound like smoke, soft, alluring, suffocating.
She had thought the price she paid for her freedom was final, that she had been condemned to live without her son, the coin sealing her fate forever.
But now, the spirit, her new master dangled before her the sweetest temptation. A chance to reclaim what had been denied.
"Your greedy needs can be yours again," the spirit breathed, its voice coiling around her like a serpent. "Even the price you once paid can be broken, recollected, returned. But first, you must obey."
Bianca’s chest tightened. "What must I do?"
The spirit’s laughter was velvet and ice. "Bring me your son. His blue eyes hold what I need. I will take them and replace them with black, and in that exchange, the power he possesses will be mine. This is the only task you must fulfill to be in his life again."
Bianca’s breath hitched. The image of her son’s innocent blue eyes seared her mind.
A war raged inside her.. motherly instinct against poisoned desire.
"And when I do this?" she asked, her voice sharp with desperation.
"Then you will finally be free from the coin you paid. The Morano black book will be yours. Luca will be yours. Power, love, freedom, all in your grasp. Think wisely, Bianca. This is the last thread between you and the destiny you crave."
The laughter that followed slithered into her bones, echoing long after the whisper fell silent.
Bianca closed her eyes, pressing her trembling hand against her chest.
A tear slid down her cheek, not from sorrow but from the twisted anticipation curling inside her.
For the first time, she could see her path as clearly as the moon’s reflection in dark waters.
Her lips parted, and though no one was there to hear, her vow was spoken into the night.
She would find him, Her son and his blue eyes.
And once she brought them to the spirit, her chains would shatter, the Morano secrets would be hers to hold, and Luca.... Oh sweet, burning Luca would finally kneel not for Alessia, but for her.
The spirit’s laughter echoed again, darker this time, and the night itself seemed to bend around her decision.
******
The night was a tapestry of elegance, stitched with golden lights and threads of soft music that drifted across the grand hall.
Alessia had spent weeks in silent anticipation, though Daisy had insisted on taking every detail into her capable hands.
From the chandeliers that spilled light like molten honey, to the endless rows of roses that painted the hall in passion’s colours.. everything , everything whispered of love and power.
Earlier that afternoon, Daisy had dragged Alessia through the most exquisite shops in town, hunting down the perfect gown for the occasion.
Now, standing at the entrance to her own celebration, Alessia looked ethereal.
The gown embraced her curves like it had been spun by destiny, shimmering under the glow of the lights.
She looked almost bridal, breathtaking in a way that made even the most poised women in attendance falter.
Beside her, Luca was the storm dressed in midnight.
His black tailored suit framed his lethal elegance, his presence commanding the respect of every man and the secret longing of many women.
Yet his gaze was fixed on only one person... Alessia.
The guests had arrived earlier than expected.
Mafia bosses, lords of shadows, and their jeweled wives filled the seats, their laughter tinged with rivalry and veiled malice.
When the couple finally made their entrance, the hall seemed to still.
Every man rose, every glass was lifted, every whisper drowned beneath the thunder of admiration.
Alessia’s eyes shone as she held onto Luca’s arm, their steps synchronized like a dance written long before this night.
They paused in front of a towering cake sculpted in marble-white icing, the Morano insignia etched in gold at the top.
Luca’s deep voice rolled over the crowd as he lifted his glass of wine.
"To many more returns of our undying love," he declared, his gaze never leaving Alessia. "I love her without wax, without shadow, without deceit. Nothing... nothing.. can ever change this."
Alessia’s lips curved, her heart a fire contained only by his arms. "And I am glad our paths crossed," she whispered back, audible only because silence ruled the hall. "Glad that fate chose you for me."
Their glasses clinked. Crystal rang out like a sacred vow.
Guests echoed them with their own toasts, but the essence belonged to only two people in the roo.. Alessia and Luca, two souls bound in fire and fragility.
As the celebration unfolded, music surged.
Dancers twirled across the hall, their silks catching the air like flames.
Laughter spread like perfume, but not all of it was pure.
Eyes followed Alessia with envy sharpened into daggers.
"She smiles too much," one mafia wife hissed behind her diamond glass, bitterness coiling around her words. "Like she has won the best man alive."
Another adjusted her pearls with trembling pride. "She’s not even that beautiful," she said too quickly, betraying her insecurity. "Her dress is doing the work."
A third leaned closer, her voice dipped in venom. "I pray she trips and makes a fool of herself.
My husband always said I was the most beautiful woman he had seen. Now look at him, gazing at her as though I don’t exist."
Whispers piled upon whispers, envy feeding like vultures.
Yet Alessia sat unbothered, her hand intertwined with Luca’s beneath the table.
She radiated joy, untouched by their shadows, and that only deepened the cracks in their pride.
Not far away, a woman excused herself from the crowd.
Her voice was polite, her smile disarming. "Please, could you show me to the bathroom?" she asked one of the maids.
The maid nodded, leading her down a velvet-draped hallway.
But once alone, the guest slipped inside, locking the door behind her.
With steady hands, she peeled at her face.
The artificial skin tore away like silk revealing steel, and there she was....Seraphina.
Her reflection stared back from the mirror, cold, cunning, and beautiful in a way that invited destruction.
She set the mask aside on the porcelain sink, her lips curving into a smirk. "So, this is the night they shine brightest," she murmured. "Then tonight is the night I burn them."
Back in the hall, more guests continued to trickle in, fashionably late.
Among them was a man whose name carried weight in the underworld.... Don Marcello Vescari.
He was tall, his presence severe, his eyes carved from obsidian.
A king in his own right, yet tonight, curiosity danced sharper than his pride.
As he approached the grand entrance, his eyes caught the massive banner draped outside.
Alessia’s portrait blazed across it, her beauty captured in silk and ink, her smile a flame against the shadows.
Marcello froze. His chest tightened, something raw and dangerous clawing inside him.
He turned to his companion, Vicker, who lingered by his side.
"Tell me, Vicker," Marcello’s voice was low, edged with something unfamiliar. "Is this the woman Luca Morano celebrates tonight? His wife... Alessia?"
Vicker nodded, adjusting his cufflinks. "Yes. She is."
Marcello’s gaze lingered on the banner.
The edges of his lips parted with a confession he hadn’t meant to release.
His heart, usually ironbound, betrayed him with a whisper.
"I think... I’m in love with her.".....