Chapter 11 - The Bloodline
My heart slammed against my ribs so violently I thought my chest might crack open.
I stared at the medical emblem at the top of the DNA report, the black ink blurring through the sudden tears welling in my eyes. The words were impossible, yet they stared back at me with cold, clinical certainty. I was not a nobody from the foster system. I was Isabella Romano, the hidden daughter of the rival boss.
And the man I had just fallen completely in love with had personally orchestrated the massacre of my entire biological family just forty-eight hours ago.
Heavy, familiar footsteps echoed down the marble hallway outside the study. Luca was coming back.
Raw panic seized my throat. If the most ruthless mafia don on the Eastern seaboard discovered he had accidentally brought the last surviving Romano heir into his impenetrable fortress, I would be dead before my body hit the floor.
I scrambled to my knees, my trembling fingers snatching the spilled pages from the expensive Persian rug. I shoved the thick file to the very bottom of the heavy wooden drawer, slamming it shut just a fraction of a second before the brass doorknob turned.
Luca walked into the study, looking like a dark god descending from a throne of violence. His custom suit clung perfectly to his broad shoulders, but it was the relaxed, unguarded smile on his devastatingly handsome face that truly broke my heart.
“You look pale, Avery,” he murmured, closing the heavy doors behind him and crossing the vast room in three long strides.
“I just got a little dizzy,” I lied, my voice shaking as I backed away from the desk so he wouldn't notice the slightly ajar drawer. “I think I stood up too fast.”
He didn't hesitate. Luca reached out and pulled me flush against his hard chest, wrapping his strong arms around my waist. The scent of expensive cologne and faint gunpowder enveloped me—the scent of my protector, and the scent of my family's executioner.
“The doctor said your blood loss would cause fatigue for weeks,” Luca scolded gently, pressing a warm kiss to my forehead. “You should be resting upstairs with Leo, not organizing my chaotic paperwork.”
I closed my eyes, terrified he would feel the frantic racing of my pulse. I had spent my entire life dreaming of a family, yearning for a place where I belonged. Now, the cruelest twist of fate had revealed that I finally had a bloodline, only to have it ripped away by the very man holding me in his arms.
“Hold me tighter, Luca,” I whispered, desperately needing to feel safe for just one more minute before the inevitable nightmare began.
May you like
He tightened his grip, burying his face in my neck. “I have you, Avery. Always.”
I stared over his broad shoulder at the locked drawer. I wasn't just Avery the waitress anymore. And I knew, with absolute certainty, that this beautiful lie was about to burn down around us both.
