The rain fell in thin silver needles against the glass as Aria stood frozen in the middle of Luca’s study. The fire crackled low in the hearth, shadows dancing across the polished wood and leather, but she barely noticed the warmth. Her gaze was fixed on the thick brown envelope Luca had placed before her, unmarked, unassuming, and yet pulsing with the weight of something she had spent her entire life searching for. "You’re shaking," Luca murmured softly from behind her, his voice a low rumble that wrapped around her like a blanket. "You don’t have to open it now." But she did. God, she had to. Her fingers trembled as she reached for the flap and tore it open. Inside was a stack of yellowed documents, some stamped with government seals, others scribbled with hastily written notes. There were photos too. Black and white surveillance shots, a few newspaper clippings, and one picture that nearly sent her knees buckling. It was her father. Younger, sharper, his suit immaculate, his eyes full of the same fire she’d seen in her own reflection so many times. But he wasn’t alone. Standing beside him, shaking his hand, was a man she recognized instantly: Deluca Salvatore, Luca’s father. "What, what is this?" she whispered, her voice cracking around the edges. Luca stepped closer, hesitating as though afraid to spook her. "The truth, Aria. Everything they tried to bury." She flipped to the next document, her pulse roaring in her ears. A contract. A sealed agreement between her father, Don Valencia Giancarlo, and Deluca Salvatore. The two names she had always believed to be mortal enemies. Her breath hitched. "They were allies?" "At first," Luca said quietly. "Your father and mine built something together, a plan to unify the five families under one code, to end the constant bloodshed. But someone betrayed them." Aria’s heart thudded painfully. "Betrayed?" Luca nodded grimly. "The Council. The old guard saw what they were trying to do and decided it threatened their power. They turned them against each other, fed your father lies, and convinced him that Salvatore was planning a coup. And then they did the same to my father. They orchestrated a war between them." Aria stared down at the documents, her vision blurring. "All these years, I thought he was killed because he refused to bend to your family’s will. That’s what I was told." "That’s what they wanted you to believe." Luca’s jaw clenched, his fists tightening at his sides. "But it wasn’t my father who ordered the hit. It wasn’t the Delucas’s at all." "Then who?" she demanded, her voice rising with a sharp edge of desperation. Luca hesitated, and in that hesitation, she saw something flicker in his eyes. Guilt. Pain. Something that told her the answer would cut deeper than any blade. "Aria," he said slowly, "it was your uncle. Vittorio." The name slammed into her like a fist. "What?" Luca exhaled a heavy breath, stepping closer but careful not to touch her yet. "Vittorio was on the Council’s payroll. He fed them information and helped them turn your father against Salvatore. And when Valencia began to suspect something was wrong, Vittorio panicked. He arranged the ambush himself. He made it look like a Deluca’s job, because he knew that would tear both families apart for decades." "No," she breathed, shaking her head as tears stung her eyes. "No, that’s impossible. He raised me. He swore he’d protect me. He..." "...was protecting himself," Luca said bitterly. "Because if the truth ever came out, everything he built would crumble. And if you ever found out," he trailed off, his gaze softening. "He knew you’d never forgive him." Aria pressed a trembling hand to her mouth, the room spinning as the memories she’d clung to her whole life began to fracture and splinter. The bedtime stories, the reassurances, and the hatred he had carefully sown in her heart for the Deluca’s name, all of it had been built on a lie. "I spent years hating your family," she whispered. "Hating you before I even knew you. And all this time, the man I trusted most..." "Was the one who stole everything from you," Luca finished quietly. She turned away from him, her chest heaving as sobs clawed their way up her throat. The fire crackled louder now, a violent counterpoint to the storm raging inside her. "I need air," she choked, stumbling toward the balcony doors. "Please," she whispered, and that single word stopped him in his tracks. She stepped out into the cold rain, letting it soak through her dress, cooling the fire that threatened to consume her. Somewhere below, the city pulsed with life, oblivious to the revelation that had just shattered her world. Luca followed her, silent and steady, stopping just a few feet behind. "I know it’s too much," he said softly. "I wish I could’ve told you sooner. But I needed proof. I needed you to see it with your own eyes." She turned to face him, her lashes heavy with rain and tears. "How long have you known?" Updates are released by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝓷𝓮𝓽 "Months," he admitted. "I started digging when I realized there were too many holes in the story. And the deeper I went, the uglier it got." "Why didn’t you tell me?" she demanded, the betrayal raw in her voice. "Because I didn’t want you to hate me for being the one to say it," Luca confessed, stepping closer now. "Because I didn’t want to destroy the memory of the man you loved until I was absolutely certain. And because I didn’t know if you’d ever look at me the same way again." Something in his tone, the vulnerability, the fear, pierced through the storm inside her. "I don’t know what to feel, Luca," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Everything I believed about my past, about why I lost him, it’s all a lie." "I know," Luca said, finally daring to reach for her. His hands were warm even in the rain, grounding her as the world tilted beneath her feet. "But the truth doesn’t erase the love he had for you. It doesn’t change that he died trying to build a better future. And now you know who the real enemy is." Aria stared up at him, searching his eyes for something to hold onto, and found it there, unwavering and fierce. "What do I do with this?" she asked, a tear slipping free. "What do I do now?" "You do what your father would’ve done," Luca said gently. "You fight. Not for revenge. Not for hate. But for the truth and for the future he wanted for you." For a long moment, she said nothing. Just stood there in the rain, clutching the broken pieces of her past. But slowly, as Luca’s hands tightened around hers, something inside her shifted. The grief was still there, but beneath it, a new resolve began to form, sharper and stronger. "I’ll confront him," she said finally, her voice steadier now. "Vittorio. I want him to look me in the eyes when he tells me why." Luca nodded. "And I’ll be there. Every step of the way." She let out a shaky breath, leaning into him for support. And for the first time since she opened that envelope, she felt like she could breathe again. The rain softened to a drizzle as the city lights flickered below them, casting a golden glow over the balcony. Aria rested her forehead against Luca’s chest, her heart still aching but no longer hollow. "I spent my whole life chasing ghosts," she murmured. "Now I finally know who I’m fighting." "And you’re not fighting alone," Luca promised, his voice a vow against her hair. In that moment, soaked, shattered, and holding onto each other, the truth stopped being a weapon and became something else entirely: a beginning. Not just of revenge or justice, but of healing. Of rewriting the story that had been written for her before she even had a choice. And though the road ahead would be steep and bloody, Aria knew this much: she was no longer a pawn in someone else’s game. She was her father’s daughter, and she was ready to claim her destiny. Inside the study, the fire burned lower, the documents still spread across the desk like the evidence of a crime long buried. But outside, beneath the soft glow of the rain-washed sky, Aria felt the first flicker of something she hadn’t felt in years. Hope, an undying passion for revenge. And this time, it burned for the truth. As the drizzle cleared, she pictured Vittorio’s face, twisted in denial, crumbling under her gaze. She would drag every secret from him, expose the Council’s rot to the five families, and forge the alliance her father dreamed of. With Luca by her side, their bond unbreakable, Aria vowed to rise from these ashes, not as a victim, but as the queen who would end the cycle of blood forever. Fifty families would bow, and justice would reign.