Unraveling the Game

VALENTINA

I didn’t sleep.

The sheets in this gilded cage felt too soft, like they were trying to seduce me into forgetting where I was. But I never forgot.

Alessandro’s words echoed in my head: You’re something else. A wildcard.

He meant it as a warning. But it felt like a challenge.

I rose before dawn, pulled on a dark sweater, boots, and tied my hair back. If this was a prison, I was going to map every inch of it. I needed to know the escape routes, blind spots, and who watched whom.

Down the corridor, two guards flanked the staircase. I flashed them a smile that didn’t reach my eyes.

“Morning,” I said coolly.

They didn’t respond. Just nodded. As expected.

The main hallway led to the south wing an area I hadn’t yet explored. But I’d overheard whispers yesterday. About a door. About keys only Lorenzo had access to.

I needed to find it.

I turned a corner—

and walked right into Lorenzo.

He caught my arm before I fell, his fingers tightening for a fraction too long.

“Morning, bella sposa,” he said with that smirk that made women forget logic.

Not me.

“You’re following me,” I said.

“Maybe I was hoping you’d follow me instead.”

“I don’t play games.”

“Neither do I,” he said, though his eyes sparkled with mischief.

But something shifted in his gaze. He stepped closer. The smirk faded.

“You shouldn’t be wandering alone.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“You’re married to a De Luca now. You’re never alone, Valentina. That’s the point.”

My throat tightened.

“Is that a warning?”

“It’s the truth.”

He turned and walked ahead. And I followed.

Because behind the charm and sarcasm, Lorenzo knew something. He always had.

We passed a locked door. Heavy steel. No keypad. Just a single gold keyhole.

He paused, just briefly, before moving on.

That was the door.

“Lorenzo,” I said.

He didn’t turn.

“Why do you stay here?” I asked. “You’re not like them.”

He stopped.

“Because I owe a debt,” he said without looking back. “And because some wars are easier to survive from the inside.”

“What’s behind that door?”

“Don’t ask questions you’re not ready to answer.”

“I’m ready.”

He turned finally, and his eyes were cold.

“No, you’re not. And if you try to force it, Alessandro won’t kill you. But he’ll break you.”

I held his gaze. “I’d rather be broken than blind.”

He stepped closer.

“Then God help you, Valentina. Because I can’t.”

LORENZO

I knew it the second she found the door.

She was getting too close.

I’d been walking a razor’s edge since Serafina disappeared. That night when everything changed I made a choice. I kept secrets. I protected the wrong people. I lied to Alessandro. I lied to myself.

And now Valentina was dragging those lies into the light.

But damn her, she was brilliant. Sharp as glass. And reckless in a way that reminded me too much of Serafina.

No Valentina was something else. Unafraid of shadows. She didn’t need saving. She needed someone to hold the line when the world tried to silence her.

But I couldn’t be that person.

Because I was a De Luca.

Because I’d made deals with devils long before she stepped into this house.

Still, I lingered in the hallway after she walked away. I watched the guards shift uneasily. They weren’t watching her anymore.

They were watching me.

I turned into the corridor and made my way to the basement. Past the steel door. Down two levels. Into the cold.

Marco waited in the dark.

“She’s asking questions,” he said.

“I know.”

“She knows about the door.”

“She doesn’t know what’s behind it.”

Marco lit a cigarette.

“She will soon. Then what?”

I stared at the shadows.

“Then we either bury the truth… or let it burn everything down.”