Chapter 14

Luca

"What about Alicia?" The topic was a sore spot for me, and this wasn't the first time she'd brought it up.

"Be truthful with me, Luca."

"Did you love her?" I raised a brow at her. Where was this coming from?

"No." I didn't even blink. She gulped.

"Did you did you kill her?" She wouldn't meet my eyes.

"No," I said, my tone steady. Her head snapped up sharply.

"You didn't?" she repeated, almost like she didn't believe me.

"What? You sound like you want it to be me so badly. I might be a bad person, Isadora, and yeah, I might kill people. But I don't hurt women or children," I said, my voice dropping to something cold and sharp.

"But the rumors-"

"Do you believe the rumors?" I cut her off, holding her gaze, daring her to answer.

Isadora’s lips parted, but no sound came out. The hesitation in her eyes told me more than words ever could.

"I asked you a question," I said, my tone cutting through the silence like a blade. "Do you believe the rumors?"

"I... I don’t know what to believe anymore," she whispered, her voice barely holding steady. "You’re not exactly transparent, Luca. And the things people say about you..."

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, my gaze burning into hers. "People will say a lot of things, Isa. Half of it’s lies, the rest is dressed-up bullshit. But I don’t owe anyone an explanation—least of all you."

She flinched, and for a split second, guilt tugged at me. It was gone as quickly as it came.

"Tell me this," I said, my voice dropping low, dangerous. "Do you want me to be the monster they say I am? Would that make it easier for you to hate me?"

She stared at me, her lips pressed into a thin line, and for a moment, I thought she wasn’t going to answer. But then her voice came, small but steady.

"I don’t want to hate you, Luca. I just want to understand you."

Her words hit me harder than I expected, but I didn’t let it show. "Understand me?" I scoffed, leaning back. "There’s nothing to understand, Isadora. I am who I am. Take it or leave it."

Her brows furrowed, and I could see the frustration building in her eyes. "You make it sound so simple. But it’s not. Not for me."

I tilted my head, watching her carefully. "And why is that? Why does it matter so much to you what kind of man I am?"

She hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip like she was trying to find the right words. "Because if I’m wrong about you... then everything I feel, everything I’ve let myself believe, is a lie."

My chest tightened at her confession, but I masked it with a smirk. "Careful, Isa. You’re starting to sound like you care."

Her jaw clenched, and she stood abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor. "Maybe I do," she snapped, her voice cracking, "and that terrifies me."

Before I could respond, she turned on her heel and walked out, leaving me alone with the weight of her words and the suffocating silence she left behind.

_____________________________

Isadora

I didn’t stop walking until I was out of the room, the door clicking shut behind me. My hands were shaking, my chest tight like I couldn’t catch my breath. Why did I say that?

I pressed my back against the cold wall, closing my eyes as I replayed the look on Luca’s face. That infuriating smirk, like he had me all figured out, like he knew exactly how to twist the knife and still keep me coming back. And maybe he did.

Because even now, even after the things he’s done—the things I’ve heard—I couldn’t stop caring.

Terrifies me. The words echoed in my head, louder than I wanted them to be. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I wasn’t supposed to feel... anything for him.

But I did.

And it wasn’t the monster they whispered about that scared me. It was the man beneath it—the one I caught glimpses of when he wasn’t guarded, when his sharp edges softened, even if just for a moment. The one who looked at me like he wanted me to see him, even when he was too afraid to let me.

I pushed off the wall and started walking again, needing to clear my head.

I wandered down the hallway, my footsteps echoing in the silence. The tension from our conversation still lingered, curling around me like smoke I couldn’t escape. Every instinct screamed at me to keep my distance from Luca, to guard what was left of my sanity, but something stronger pulled me toward him.

I made it to my room, shutting the door behind me and leaning against it. My heart was still racing. I hated how much control he had over me without even trying. I hated that he got under my skin with just a look or a few sharp words.

But most of all, I hated how, despite everything, I couldn’t bring myself to walk away.

I sat on the edge of my bed, staring out the window at the city lights. They blurred and shimmered as if mocking my own confusion. How could I care for someone like Luca? Someone who wasn’t just dangerous to others but dangerous to me?

The memory of his words flashed in my mind. “Do you want me to be the monster they say I am?”

Did I? No. I didn’t want him to be the monster... but I also didn’t want to fall for the man who could become one at any moment.

A soft knock on the door startled me out of my thoughts. My chest tightened. I didn’t need to ask who it was.

“Isadora,” his voice came from the other side, low and quiet but commanding all the same. “Open the door.”

I hesitated, every nerve in my body screaming at me to tell him to leave me alone. But my legs betrayed me, moving toward the door on their own. My hand hovered over the handle before I finally turned it, pulling it open.

The moment I opened the door, I could see it in his eyes—that raw, unguarded intensity he rarely let slip. It wasn’t just anger or frustration. It was something deeper. Something that had been simmering beneath the surface long before this moment.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Luca stepped closer, the space between us shrinking until I could feel the heat radiating from him. He didn’t answer right away, just watched me like I was something he couldn’t take his eyes off of.

“Because I’ve been looking at you like this for years,” he finally said, his voice low and rough.

My breath hitched. “What are you talking about?”

“You think this is new for me, Isa?” He let out a bitter laugh, running a hand through his hair. “I’ve been watching you since the first time I saw you. Years, Isadora. Years of trying to keep my distance, trying to stay away because I knew I’d ruin you if I got too close.”

I stared at him, my heart pounding in my chest. “You’re lying.”

“I don’t lie to you,” he shot back, his tone sharp. “I’ve always kept an eye on you. Maybe it was wrong, maybe it was selfish, but I couldn’t help myself. And now? Now you’re here, right in front of me, and I don’t know if I have it in me to let you go.”

His words hit me like a tidal wave, drowning out every rational thought. The man I’d spent months trying to figure out, trying to understand, had been watching me all along. Watching, wanting, but holding back for reasons I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

“Why?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Why me?”

His gaze softened, but his expression remained guarded, as if he wasn’t sure how much to give away. “Because you’re the only thing that’s ever felt real to me. The only thing that hasn’t been tainted by... everything else.”

He reached out, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “I’ve tried to stay away, Isadora. God knows I’ve tried. But I can’t anymore. Not when you look at me like this. Not when I know you’re starting to feel it too.”

I wanted to say something, to push him away, to call him out for keeping something like this from me. But I couldn’t. Because deep down, I knew he was right. I was starting to feel it too, and that terrified me more than anything else.