บททั้งหมดของ STOLEN BY THE DON: บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 70

He met Luca's eyes. "These aren't small concessions, these are fundamental shifts in priorities, putting one woman above the empire you've spent decades building.That's not sustainable, Luca, and it's dangerous for everyone who depends on you." "So what are you suggesting?" Luca asked, anger creeping into his tone. "That I go back to being completely cold, completely focused on power regardless of personal cost?" "I'm suggesting you find balance," Matteo said. "You can care about her without letting that care compromise everything else but right now, you're all-in on Sienna to the exclusion of responsibilities that don't disappear just because you've fallen in love." "I haven't..." Luca started, then stopped. "Is that what you think this is? Love?" "What else would you call it?" Matteo asked. "You're faithful without choosing it, you prioritize her wellbeing over organizational needs. You''re considering giving her freedom even though it might destroy you.That's not obsession an

"We have the meeting in an hour," Luca reminded her. "I don't care," Sienna said. "I can't.... I can't meet her right now, can't see the woman you actually wanted while processing that I'm just a replacement.Tell the Marchesis there's a delay, reschedule, I don't care but I'm not going today." "Sienna, please..." Luca started. "No," she said firmly. "You promised me truth, promised honesty about what this situation was but that wall, those photographs, that shrine to another woman. That's a lie, Luca, you've been lying to both of us, pretending I matter when really, I'm just convenient." She was at her room now, her hand on the door. "I need to think, need to process what I just learned and you....You need to figure out whether you're keeping me because you actually care about me, or because having someone who looks like her is better than having no one at all." The door closed, and Luca heard the lock click - a small sound, but definitive. He stood alone in the hallway, hi

"Away from you," Sienna said. "I don't know where yet, don't know how but I can't stay here knowing I'm just a replacement, just someone convenient.""Sienna, wait..." Luca reached for her arm.She jerked away violently. "Don't touch me with hands that hung those photographs.Don't touch me with devotion meant for someone else. I deserve better than being loved by mistake, better than being wanted for features I didn't choose.""You do deserve better," Luca admitted quietly. "You deserve everything I can't give you but Sienna, please believe that what I feel is real, even if it started for the wrong reasons.""How can I believe that?" Sienna asked, her voice breaking. "How can I trust anything you say when physical evidence proves you've spent fifteen years obsessing over someone else? Words are cheap, Luca and you've shown me through that shrine exactly how cheap yours are."She stood at the garden exit, her back to him. "I wanted to meet Serena, wanted to understand the sister I

Sienna moved to the window, staring out at gardens now familiar after months of captivity. "I still want to meet Serena; despite everything, despite the photographs and the obsession.I need to see my sister, need to know the woman you actually wanted." "We'll arrange it," Luca promised. "After you've had time to process everything, after emotions aren't so raw.You'll meet her, and maybe seeing the reality versus the fantasy will help clarify things." "Or it'll make everything worse," Sienna suggested. "Show me exactly what I'm not, what I can never be." "Or it'll show you that who you are is better than any fantasy," Luca countered. "That reality, messy, complicated, refusing to cooperate is more valuable than idealized memory." Sienna turned from the window. "You really believe that? That I'm better than your fifteen-year fantasy?" "I'm starting to," Luca admitted. "I can't promise I'm completely free of the obsession, can't claim I've fully separated you from it but eve

The morning after Sienna's breakdown, she woke feeling hollowed out but strangely lighter. Crying for hours had purged something, had released pressure that had been building for months. She found Luca already awake in the dining room, coffee prepared, breakfast laid out. He looked up when she entered, concern immediately crossing his features. "How are you feeling?" he asked carefully. "Empty," Sienna admitted, sitting across from him. "But in a good way, I think, like I've finally let out pressure that was destroying me from the inside." "You slept?" Luca asked. "Actually slept," Sienna confirmed. "First time in weeks I didn't lie awake processing, exhaustion finally won over anxiety." They ate in comfortable silence for several minutes. Finally, Luca set down his coffee and looked at her directly. "I've been thinking about last night, about what you said regarding feeling like you can't control anything, can't make choices in your own life." "I said a lot of things last ni