Chapter 10: Hidden Strength

The villa is chaotic when we arrive.

Guards everywhere, shouting into radios. Cars blocking the driveway. Men with guns drawn, checking shadows like threats might materialize from the darkness itself.

Luca’s hand is iron around my wrist as he pulls me through the front door. Dominic flanks us, weapon visible now, eyes scanning constantly.

“Get her upstairs,” Luca orders. “No one goes near her without my authorization.”

“Wait.” I dig in my heels, force him to stop. “Tell me what happened. I have a right to know.”

“You have no rights.” His eyes are cold, distant. Back to the man who married me for revenge. “You do what I say, when I say it. That’s your only right.”

“Someone tried to kill us. Both of us. That makes it my business.”

“Your business is staying alive.” He releases my wrist, turns to Dominic. “Lock her in. No one enters, no one leaves. I’ll deal with this.”

Then he’s gone, disappearing into his study with three men I don’t recognize. The door slams hard enough to echo.

“Come on.” Dominic’s voice is gentler than Luca’s, but no less firm. “He’s right. You need to be somewhere safe.”

“Safe.” I laugh, and it sounds broken. “There’s nowhere safe. Not if someone wants us dead badly enough to try it at a public event.”

“That’s why we need to move. Now.”

He guides me upstairs, his hand light on my elbow. Not restraining, just directing. The difference between him and Luca is stark. One treats me like property, the other like a person.

At my door, I pause. “Dominic. What happened? Really?”

He glances down the hallway, checking for listeners. “Bomb. Small one, placed in Luca’s car. Timer set to go off during the drive home.”

My stomach drops. “But we’re alive.”

“Security sweep found it before we left. Pure luck.” His jaw tightens. “Someone knew which car we’d take, knew the route, knew the timing. This wasn’t random.”

“Inside job.”

“Has to be.” He meets my eyes. “Which means everyone is a suspect. Including you.”

“Me?” The accusation stings even though I understand it. “You think I’d blow myself up just to kill Luca?”

“I think you’re desperate. And desperate people do desperate things.” He opens my door. “Get some rest. This is going to be a long night.”

But rest is impossible.

I pace the room, still in the red dress, the Valenti rubies heavy around my neck. Someone tried to kill us. Someone with access, with information, with the skills to plant a bomb in a heavily guarded car.

Who benefits from both of us dying? Not the Romanos, we’re already destroyed. Not rival families, they’d want to see the alliance fail but not through a public bombing that would bring heat down on everyone.

Unless that’s the point. Unless someone wants chaos.

I’m still pacing when I hear voices in the hallway. Raised, angry. Luca’s distinctive tone cutting through someone else’s protest.

Then footsteps. Multiple sets. Coming this way.

The door bursts open without warning. Luca storms in, followed by Dominic and two guards. His expression is fury barely leashed.

“Get up,” he snaps.

“I am up.”

“Your room. Now.” He gestures to the guards. “Search everything. Every drawer, every closet, every possible hiding place.”

“What? Why?”

“Because someone suggested you might know more about tonight than you’re saying.” He moves closer, and I can smell whiskey on his breath. “Because you have motive, Elena. You have every reason to want me dead.”

“And myself? I have reason to want myself dead?”

“Maybe you didn’t know you’d be in the car. Maybe your brother’s people made a mistake, got the timing wrong.”

The accusation hits like a slap. “You think Alessandro did this?”

“I think the Romanos have a lot to gain from my death and chaos in the Valenti organization.” His eyes are cold, calculating. “I think you’ve been playing the obedient wife for two weeks while planning this all along.”

“That’s insane.”

“Is it?” He grabs my arm, yanks me toward him. “Tell me where your brother is.”

“I don’t know. You made sure I can’t contact him, remember?”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying.” I try to pull away but his grip tightens, fingers digging into my bicep hard enough to bruise. “Let go of me.”

“When you tell me the truth.”

“I am telling you the truth.” Anger flares hot in my chest. “You want to blame someone? Blame your own people. Someone in your organization planted that bomb. Someone with access, with knowledge. Someone who isn’t me.”

“Convenient theory.”

“It’s the only theory that makes sense.” I meet his eyes, refusing to flinch. “But you don’t want logic right now. You want a target. Someone to punish because you’re scared and angry and don’t know who the real enemy is.”

His hand moves fast, grabbing my jaw. “Careful, wife. You’re on thin ice.”

“So kill me then.” The words come out before I can stop them. “That’s what you want anyway, isn’t it? To watch me suffer, to break me? Well here I am, broken enough for you? Or do you need me more damaged before you’re satisfied?”

Something flickers in his expression. Surprise, maybe. Or recognition. Then it’s gone, replaced by cold fury.

“Search her,” he orders the guards. “Everything.”

They move forward and I back away instinctively. “Don’t touch me.”

“Hold her if you need to,” Luca says.

One of the guards reaches for me and training I didn’t know I had takes over. Father’s lessons, taught when I was fifteen after a rival family made threats. Defense moves drilled until they were muscle memory.

I twist away from the guard’s grip, use his momentum against him. My elbow connects with his nose. Cartilage crunches. Blood sprays.

“Fuck!” He stumbles back, hand covering his face.

The second guard moves faster, smarter. Grabs for my arms. But I’m smaller, quicker. I drop low, sweep his legs. He goes down hard, head cracking against the marble floor.

Two seconds. That’s all it took.

The room goes silent except for the first guard’s cursing and the second guard’s groaning.

Luca stares at me, expression unreadable. Dominic has his hand on his weapon but hasn’t drawn it.

“Well.” Luca’s voice is soft, dangerous. “That’s unexpected.”

“I told you not to touch me.” My hands are shaking but I keep them steady. “I told you.”

“Where did you learn that?”

“My father wasn’t stupid. He knew what world we lived in.” I’m still in the defensive stance, ready for another attack. “He made sure I could protect myself.”

“Interesting.” Luca moves toward me slowly, like approaching a dangerous animal. “And how many other surprises are you hiding?”

“Enough.”

“Show me.” He’s close now, within striking distance. Testing me. “Show me what else daddy taught his little girl.”

“Luca.” Dominic’s voice holds warning. “Maybe we should…”

“Stay out of this.” Luca doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Elena and I are having a conversation.”

“This isn’t a conversation. This is you looking for a fight.”

“Then let’s fight.” He shrugs off his jacket, loosens his tie. “Come on, wife. Show me what you’ve got. Prove you’re not just a pretty face and a famous last name.”