Chapter 3

Luca rested his chin lightly on my shoulder and softened his tone, trying to soothe me.

"The deal has reached its most critical stage of negotiation. Ella is the key to whether it succeeds or fails. I can't afford any friction with her right now."

He turned on location sharing on his phone. "You can check where I am anytime. Once this deal is settled and everything's back on track, I'll make it up to you."

I lowered my eyes to the blinking dot on the screen that represented him.

I used to care because I loved him.

Now that love was slowly peeling away, and whether it was real or fake no longer mattered.

"Okay."

I patted the back of his hand gently and agreed obediently. "I'll wait until you're done."

The next afternoon, as I packed my personal belongings into boxes, I casually opened the shared location.

The dot representing Luca had crossed half the city and stopped at a secluded business estate.

The work message he had left me that morning still just said "Attending an internal meeting."

I called him. It rang for a long time before Ella's voice came through the receiver.

"Luca just finished a long negotiation and is in the shower. If it's urgent, you can tell me and I'll pass it on."

I understood. She was waiting for me to lose control and fly into a rage so she could look calm and professional by comparison.

I paused for two seconds, then spoke in a flat, sincere tone. "Thank you for your hard work, Ms. Larsen. You're pushing through a major deal and taking care of Don Luca at the same time. I appreciate it."

Then I hung up without hesitation and went back to packing my backpack.

I had just zipped my suitcase shut when the bedroom door slammed open.

Luca stood in the doorway, his eyes bloodshot.

"Lia, what did you say to Ella on the phone just now?"

I frowned slightly. "I didn't say anything. Luca, you're hurting me."

"You still dare to deny it?"

Luca's eyes were filled with disappointment.

"After she got off the phone with you, Ella ran out of the hotel in a daze and got into a car accident. If anything happens to her, the entire international deal could fall apart."

I looked at the man shouting at me and kept my voice steady. "I didn't do anything."

"Enough!"

He flung my wrist away and glared down at me.

"Lia, I get it. You see a partner who's far more capable than you by my side, and you're jealous.

"But you shouldn't have provoked her with your words. Her mind isn't on romance. Don't use your jealous little tricks on the person who decides this family's fate."

Every word felt like ice water poured over me.

Countless times, I had helped him defuse gang wars, untangle complicated intelligence, and stamp out the first signs of rebellion inside the family.

Yet in his mind right now, I was someone who would torment another person out of jealousy.

Everything I had given him in the past was erased just like that.

At that moment, Luca's phone rang. He answered, and his expression changed drastically.

"A mild concussion? I'll be right there."

He seized my wrist and dragged me outside roughly.

"Luca, let go! It hurts!"

I stumbled as he dragged me across the living room, shoved me into a car, and drove to the hospital.

On the way there, being hauled around like that, I made up my mind once and for all.

I wouldn't be someone who could be so easily dismissed anymore.

I wouldn't stay trapped in this territory, waiting to be weighed and traded away.