Chapter 5

Sophia does not step back.

She moves closer instead, stopping only when she is close enough to reach for Luca’s arm the way she used to. Like she still has the right. Like I am still the quiet wife who would look at the floor and wait for the moment to pass.

My body wants to shrink. The old instinct is so strong it makes my hands go cold. I can already hear the version of myself that used to stay silent. The one who died for it.

The system does not care about old instincts.

[Rival is challenging host’s position.]
[Objective updated: Do not allow the rival to reclaim physical contact.]
[Failure will result in immediate punishment.]

A deep ache begins to build at the base of my spine. Warning. Promise. I have maybe seconds before it turns into something worse.

Sophia’s fingers brush Luca’s sleeve.

I move before the fear can stop me.

My hand closes around her wrist. Not hard enough to hurt. Hard enough to stop her. The contact sends a sharp jolt of system heat through my arm, rewarding the action even as my heart tries to climb out of my throat.

Sophia’s eyes snap to mine.

“Let go.”

My voice comes out steadier than I feel. “No.”

For a moment the room is completely still. Luca has not moved. He has not told me to release her. He simply watches, his hand still resting against the back of my neck like he is waiting to see what I will do next.

Sophia tries to pull free. I keep my grip.

“You forget yourself,” she says, low and sharp. “You are the contract. Nothing more. I have been in this house longer than you have worn that ring.”

The words are meant to cut. In the first life they would have. Tonight the system’s pressure and the memory of the gun sit too close together for me to absorb them quietly.

“Then you should have learned by now,” I answer. “This is still my wedding night. Not yours.”

Something ugly flashes across her face. She twists her wrist harder. I refuse to let go even though my arm is starting to shake.

Luca’s fingers tighten slightly on my neck. Not in warning. In attention.

“Enough,” he says.

The single word is quiet. It still stops both of us.

Sophia freezes. I force myself to release her. The second I do, the system registers the act as incomplete and the ache in my spine sharpens into a real pulse of pain. I bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep from making a sound.

Sophia steps back at last, but her eyes stay on me with open dislike.

“She has changed,” she says to Luca. “I don’t like it.”

“I didn’t ask what you like.”

His voice is calm. Final. He does not look at her when he says it. He looks at me.

The weight of that stare makes it harder to breathe. In the first life he never chose me in front of her. Not once. He let her walk through the house like she belonged and let me disappear into the walls.

Tonight he is still touching me.

Sophia notices. Her mouth tightens.

“I will wait downstairs,” she says. The words are polite. The look she gives me is not. “For whenever you are finished with your… wife.”

She turns and leaves without waiting for permission. The door clicks shut behind her.

Silence fills the room again.

Luca’s hand remains on my neck. His thumb moves once, slow, over the side of my throat. The system reacts immediately, flooding me with another wave of heat that feels too much like reward and too little like safety.

“You touched her,” he says.

It is not praise. It is not anger. It is observation.

I swallow. My voice almost fails me. “She touched you first.”

“And you decided that gave you the right.”

I meet his eyes even though every part of me that still remembers dying wants to look away. “Tonight it did.”

Something dark and interested moves through his expression. He leans in until his mouth is close to my ear.

“Careful, Elena.” His voice is low enough that only I can hear it. “If you keep acting like you want to be seen, I might start treating you like you do.”

The system flashes a new message across my vision at the exact same time.

[Major progress registered.]
[Reward issued: 500 points.]
[New mission unlocked.]
[Make him lose control before the night ends.]

My pulse kicks hard against his thumb.

Luca feels it.

He pulls back just enough to look at my face again, and for the first time since I woke up in this bed I see something in his eyes that is no longer cold.

It is worse.

It is curiosity mixed with possession.

And I have no idea whether the system is going to save me from it or feed me to it.