Chapter 14: “The First Crack”

Tayla’s POV

The look lasted less than a second.

A blink.

A flicker.

A tiny crack in Luca’s perfect mask.

But I saw it.

And once seen, it couldn’t be unseen.

Fear.

Not concern.

Not confusion.

Fear.

His gaze remained fixed on the slightly open drawer.

On the files.

On the evidence.

Then, just as quickly, his expression softened into the familiar smile I had grown used to.

The smile everyone trusted.

The smile that made people lower their guard.

Including me.

“Sorry,” he said casually. “I didn’t know you were working.”

My pulse refused to slow.

I forced myself to smile.

“It’s fine.”

His eyes lingered on the desk.

Then returned to my face.

“You okay?”

The question sounded innocent.

Yet suddenly it felt like an interrogation.

I folded my arms.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

A pause.

Brief.

Careful.

Then he shrugged.

“You’ve just seemed distant lately.”

The irony nearly made me laugh.

Distant.

As if my husband wasn’t sitting in prison.

As if my life wasn’t collapsing.

As if secrets weren’t hiding inside drawers.

I closed the drawer quietly.

Luca noticed.

Of course he noticed.

The man noticed everything.

The atmosphere at dinner felt strange.

Noah talked endlessly about school.

About sharks.

About dinosaurs.

About things only a seven-year-old could care about.

Normally his excitement made me smile.

Tonight it felt far away.

Because every time I looked at Luca, I remembered the photographs.

The files.

The letter.

The warning.

And every time he smiled at me, a question echoed inside my mind.

Who are you really?

“Mommy?”

I blinked.

Noah was staring at me.

“What?”

“You didn’t hear anything I said.”

A guilty smile appeared on my lips.

“I’m sorry.”

Luca chuckled softly.

“Your mother’s thinking too much again.”

The comment should have felt harmless.

Instead it made me uncomfortable.

Because somehow…

It felt like he knew exactly what I was thinking about.

Later that night, after Noah was asleep, Luca remained.

Rain tapped against the windows.

The city glowed beneath the darkness.

And neither of us seemed eager to end the evening.

I sat on one side of the couch.

He sat on the other.

The distance between us felt smaller than usual.

Dangerously smaller.

“I visited Damian today.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Luca stiffened slightly.

Only slightly.

“I didn’t know visitation was today.”

His voice remained calm.

Controlled.

Too controlled.

I looked away.

“He asked about Noah.”

Something dark moved through Luca’s eyes.

Gone instantly.

“He loves that kid.”

The statement surprised me.

Not because it was untrue.

Because it sounded sincere.

For a moment neither of us spoke.

Then Luca sighed.

“You know…”

His voice lowered.

“I miss him too.”

I looked at him.

Really looked at him.

And suddenly he seemed tired.

Exhausted.

Like someone carrying his own burden.

“He was my brother before he was your husband.”

The sadness in his voice felt genuine.

Maybe it was.

Maybe not.

I no longer knew.

And that uncertainty terrified me.

Across the city…

Damian sat alone in his cell.

Sleep refused to come.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Tayla.

Her smile.

Her tears.

Her face behind the prison glass.

The memory felt like torture.

A guard suddenly appeared.

“Russo.”

Damian looked up.

The guard slid an envelope through the bars.

“You’ve got mail.”

Damian frowned.

Mail wasn’t unusual.

But something felt different.

The envelope contained no return address.

No name.

Nothing.

Slowly, he opened it.

A single photograph slipped into his hand.

The moment he saw it, his blood ran cold.

Tayla.

Standing beside Luca.

Outside Noah’s school.

The picture itself wasn’t suspicious.

Yet the message written on the back made Damian’s stomach twist.

You’re already losing them.

For several seconds, Damian couldn’t breathe.

Then rage exploded inside him.

Because he knew exactly who had sent it.

Luca.

The bastard wasn’t just stealing his freedom anymore.

He was enjoying it.

Back at the penthouse…

I couldn’t sleep.

Again.

The files haunted me.

The letter haunted me.

The warning haunted me.

Eventually I gave up and returned to Damian’s office.

The apartment was silent.

Dark.

Empty.

Perfect.

I reopened the drawer.

This time I searched deeper.

More carefully.

More thoroughly.

And then I found something.

A small black notebook hidden beneath the files.

My heart began pounding immediately.

It looked old.

Worn.

Important.

Very important.

I opened the first page.

And froze.

Every page contained notes.

Dates.

Names.

Transactions.

Meetings.

And one name appeared repeatedly.

Luca Russo.

My mouth went dry.

The further I read, the worse it became.

Illegal shipments.

Money laundering.

Bribery.

Threats.

People disappearing.

My hands began shaking.

“No…”

The whisper escaped before I could stop it.

This couldn’t be real.

Could it?

The Luca I knew brought Noah ice cream.

The Luca I knew comforted me when I cried.

The Luca I knew showed up every day when nobody else did.

But the Luca described in these pages…

Was a monster.

A dangerous man capable of destroying lives.

I kept reading.

Then one sentence made my heart stop.

If anything happens to me, it was Luca.

The room spun.

I sat down heavily.

Unable to process what I’d just read.

Because suddenly…

Everything Damian had done looked different.

Everything.

The arrest.

The secrecy.

The fear.

The warnings.

All of it.

A horrifying possibility formed inside my mind.

What if Damian wasn’t protecting himself?

What if he had been protecting us?

A tear rolled down my cheek.

Then another.

Then another.

Because if that was true…

I had been doubting the wrong man.

The following morning, Luca arrived earlier than usual.

He carried coffee.

Breakfast.

His usual smile.

But today something felt different.

He entered the penthouse and immediately noticed my expression.

The smile faltered.

“What’s wrong?”

I stared at him.

Longer than necessary.

Studying him.

Watching him.

Searching for cracks.

For lies.

For signs.

His confidence seemed to waver.

Only slightly.

“What?”

I set down my coffee.

My heartbeat thundered in my chest.

Then I asked the question that changed everything.

“Luca…”

His eyes locked onto mine.

“Did Damian ever investigate you?”

Silence.

Absolute silence.

And for the first time since I’d met him…

Luca looked genuinely caught off guard.