“What are you talking about?” I whisper, unease tightening in my chest.
He leans forward, elbows on the table, fingertips pressed together in a deliberate steeple. The smile vanishes. Ria and Temperance shift in their seats. The tension in the air thickens, turning electric.
“I’m talking about the fact that he’s still playing games,” Luca murmurs. “Still hiding things from you.”
My heart drops straight to the bottom of my shoes.
“Say what you know, Romano,” Temperance spits, her voice all fire and steel. “Stop beating around the bush.”
He doesn’t even glance at her. Just keeps his eyes on me, unblinking. Letting the seconds stretch thin, almost painfully.
“You thought you were done,” he finally whispers. “You thought you were free. But you never were. He never lost control of you. He never stopped playing his game.”
He pauses. His chin dips slightly. “You’ve been walking around with a tracker inside you all these months.”
“Fuck,” Temperance curses. Chairs scrape against the floor. Luca just leans back, expression carved from stone, one hand resting flat on the table.
A hurricane of emotions slams into my chest. A tracker?
There’s too many feelings to sort through. Too many thoughts to grab hold of. He had no right. It was over. He got his revenge.
All this time, he was never actually away. Not for a single second. I knew he was watching me, but not… not like this. It’s always just a game of power with him, isn’t it?
And now? Now he’s trying to convince me to give him another chance, while keeping this from me. Still lying. Still manipulating. Still controlling.
“He implanted it at the beginning,” Luca murmurs, his tone flat. “If he were truly sorry, he would’ve told you. Removed it.” He tilts his head. “Isn’t that right?”
This man is playing his own game. I can see it. But it doesn’t really matter. Because he’s not lying. He wouldn’t risk that. The fucking tracker is real. And whatever Luca gets out of telling me the truth, is not important.
Suddenly, the hurricane inside me stills. I’m not being ripped apart anymore. I’m standing right in the eye of it. It’s quiet. And numb.
Ria and Temperance are talking, trying to tell me something. I can see their lips moving but I don’t hear a word.
Luca just keeps watching me with those dead, cold eyes.
“Thank you for telling me,” I hear myself whisper.
I stand, movements stiff and mechanical, and walk away from the table.
“Adora.” Ria comes to my side and grabs my hand. I can hear the worry in her voice. Maybe she sees something on my face, something I don’t even recognize myself. But there’s no time to dwell.
“I’m okay, Ria,” I say, not looking at her.
“You don’t look okay,” she whispers. “Just don’t kill him here. There are too many witnesses.”
I scan the clubhouse, and see him almost instantly — walking through the doors toward the bar. It only takes a few seconds. The moment he reaches his usual spot his eyes find me. He frowns, shifts slightly, then he sees Luca and his face goes thunderous.
He knows something isn’t right.
I start walking. Straight to him. No pauses. Not looking anywhere but into his eyes. He doesn’t move an inch.
“Where did you put the tracker?” I ask the moment I’m in front of him. Voice dead. Frozen.
His dark eyes study me. He’s taking this seriously. Good. He should. There’s silence inside me, but I can feel how close I am to snapping. I don’t think I’ve ever been closer. Everything’s been piling up, one thing after another, and this is the speck of dust about to topple the fucking tower.
“Did Luca tell you about it?” His voice is low, dark. A world of danger is packed into those words.
The fact that he doesn’t deny it feels like molten steel over my heart. I’d held the smallest scrap of hope that Luca had lied.
