Mag-log inFor the rest of the evening, the wooden horse remained on Lorenzo's desk. Not even Marco who had quietly increased security around the estate after it was discovered. Isabella had kept looking at it all through dinner while Matteo kept asking Lorenzo if it belonged to him while growing up, that was the one question Lorenzo hadn't responded to since they began to draw closer.The truth had been simple yet strangely difficult to say aloud because in truth,it had belonged to him. It belonged to a version of him he barely remembered anymore.The horse had once lived in the pocket of a six-year-old boy who used to run gleefully through the gardens of the old De Luca estate, climbing trees and returning home with dirty knees, who still believed adults knew everything and that parents could never leave.That boy had buried the toy after losing a childish argument and declaring, with all the dramatic finality children seemed to always possess, that he would “never need it again.”But a few we
Lorenzo sat in the leather chair behind the desk with Matteo asleep against him, he wrapped his hands around his neck, nestling his jaw on his hair. The child had drifted off to sleep sometime after their conversation, with one arm looped loosely around Lorenzo’s waist while his head rested against his chest as though the place belonged to him, the wooden dinosaur still remained trapped between tiny fingers.Across the room, Isabella stood quietly near the bookshelves with her arms folded, she had not moved in almost a minute because the sight before her felt so unreal.Lorenzo De Luca; the very man who was feared across continents, the one who carried violence in his silence and command in every breath sat completely still because a little boy had fallen asleep on him.He rocked Matteo gently and somehow… he looked peaceful.The intercom crackled again with Marco's voice.“Lorenzo.” he called, the softness in the room vanished immediately.“We received another transmission from Zuric
The villa remained uneasy even long after the alarms had stopped. The security teams swept the perimeter twice before daybreak while Marco personally walked around, reviewing surveillance feeds, checked blind spots, and inspected every entrance himself. In the end, it was nothing unusual, just a triggered motion sensor near the eastern woods. Officially, it was written off as a false alarm. But no one truly believed that because the fear of the recent incidents had settled too deeply into the bones of everyone in the villa over the past weeks for anyone to just brush the tiniest issue off as a mere occurrence. You could hear it in the lowered voices of the staff, in the guards who now walked their routes with sharper eyes, and in the silence that always lingered inside every corridor. Lorenzo had not slept. He couldn't, it felt his father's revelation broke the last strand of relaxation left in him. He remained in Dante’s study way long after sunrise, seated behind the desk with
By the evening the following day, the storm had finally passed over the hills surrounding the villa, leaving behind a gray, heavy sky and the damp scent of rain clinging to the estate grounds. More guards had been sent down to the safehouse and they could be seen patrolling its perimeter in doubled numbers, and every entrance to the property remained locked down under Marco’s orders, but inside the villa itself, an uneasy quiet had settled over everyone.The revelations from Dante’s archive still hung heavily in Lorenzo’s mind.He had barely slept because every time he closed his eyes, he heard his mother’s voice again.“The login name is Lucia De Luca… They found me.”Those words had lodged themselves deep inside him, refusing to loosen their grip. All his life, Lorenzo had believed the empire was his inheritance. His responsibility. His purpose. But now, for the first time, he was beginning to understand something terrifying;Dante had never truly wanted this life for him and that r
The study did not return to silence after Marco’s revelation.“The access code used belonged to your mother.” Instead, the words lingered heavily inside the room, settling into the dark wooden shelves, the dying fire, and the shadows cast across his father’s old study." About the documents I told you, your father handed down to me, this…" Marco said, raising the flash drive in his hand. “ This is the most important of them all… I've never opened it and I don't intend to have the tiniest idea of whatever it contains." He finished, handing Lorenzo the drive.Rain tapped steadily against the windows as Lorenzo inserted the drive and an archive recording popped up and remained paused on the computer screen, Dante’s image stood frozen mid-frame like a ghost that had been waiting years to speak.Marco placed another file on the desk between them.“The access came through the Zurich accounts with encrypted relay,” he said quietly. “... It was the same security framework Dante built years a
The question lingered awkwardly in the room long after Matteo asked it.“Did you stop fighting now?” Lorenzo couldn't answer Isabella because the truth was complicated.Yes, of course, they had stopped fighting each other but for some reason everything around them still felt like war.Matteo yawned sleepily beneath the blankets while rubbing at one eyes tiredly.“Before, you were both angry at each other, but now you look weird,” he said softly.A startled laugh escaped Isabella's lips before she could stop it and Lorenzo almost looked offended.“Weird? Why do you say weird?”Matteo nodded seriously.“Yes… you ..you know… that type of weird like when people in cartoons kiss.” he said, giggling.Isabella nearly choked while Lorenzo stared at the child in complete silence for two full seconds before slowly dragging one hand, rubbing it weakly across his face.And somehow that exhausted reaction made Matteo giggle harder and the sound softened the room instantly.“Mi amor, Hush now, go







