جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 5

SOPHIA'S POV The rain had been relentless since I left the city. By the time the car turned into the long, winding driveway of the Moretti estate, my nerves were as frayed as the edges of my leather tote bag. Through the rain-streaked window, I could see the outline of the mansion. It was massive, imposing, its windows glowing faintly against the stormy night. This wasn’t the kind of job I had imagined for myself when I became a teacher. But then again, nothing in my life had gone according to plan lately. I had to take whatever was available. “Miss Blake?” The driver’s voice startled me. He was one of the many men I had spotted patrolling the grounds when we pulled up. I nodded and stepped out of the car, clutching my bag to my chest. The cold air bit at my skin as I followed him to the grand front doors, which creaked open to reveal an older man with a stern face and sharp eyes. “Mr. Moretti is waiting.” He said curtly, motioning for me to follow him as he climbed the stairs.

SOPHIA'S POV The rest of the day passed in a blur, though I couldn’t recall anything I had actually done. I spent hours pacing my room, staring out at the sprawling Moretti estate, and running through every possible outcome of Luca’s proposition. Marry him. The words echoed in my head like a bell I couldn’t unring. When I accepted this job, I knew I was stepping into a world that was nothing like my own. But I had never imagined this—a contract marriage to a man who ruled his world with an iron fist. A man whose very name inspired fear. Yet Luca didn’t frighten me. He unsettled me, sure. His intensity, the sheer weight of his presence, the sharpness of his eyes, all of it kept me on edge. But fear? No. What unnerved me most was the way he managed to look at me as though he already knew my answer, as though he already owned the part of me I had not yet offered. I thought of Clara, her shy smile and the way her face lit up when she spoke about books. She was innocent, oblivious to

SOPHIA'S POV The first few days of married life in the Moretti household were strange, to say the least. If it weren’t for the solid weight of the gold ring on my finger, I might have convinced myself that the wedding had been some surreal fever dream. The ceremony had been so brief that it didn’t feel like I had stepped into a marriage at all, only into a performance. The estate felt different now. Every step I took was more cautious, more deliberate, as though the walls themselves were watching me. The staff, once polite but distant, seemed even more reserved. Some avoided my eyes entirely, while others offered me tight smiles that didn’t quite reach their eyes. And then there was Luca. He was a constant presence—not physically, but in my mind. When he wasn’t in meetings or attending to his mysterious business affairs, he moved through the house like a shadow, always just out of reach. His intensity hadn’t waned since the day of the wedding; if anything, it had grown sharper, l