Page 12 of Vows Made in Silence

And regret it instantly.

Luca Moretti stands like a storm held in check.

Shoulders squared. Suit sharp enough to bleed.

But it’s those eyes—obsidian and wild—that slice straight through my armor. They drink me in with a hunger I remember too well.

I swallow hard. My body trembles in ways I can’t disguise.

He’s not the boy I loved.

He’s the man forged from that loss.

And yet...

There’s a flicker beneath all that steel. The same Luca who once whispered against my skin that he would love me forever.

God help me—I still want him.

And that terrifies me.

He leans against the sculpture; broad shoulders squared like a throne he was born to claim. This man isn’t the boy who used to sneak me cannoli in the middle of math class.

No—this is the new boss of the Moretti empire.

But even now—after all these years, there it is. That raw, reckless vulnerability that once pulled me under.

And some terrible, foolish part of me still wants to drown there.

His voice cuts through me like a blade.

"We have a son."

Not a question. A verdict. One I can’t run from anymore.

I open my mouth, but no words come. Finally, I manage to nod, my voice no more than a whisper.

"He’s ten. His name is Daniel."

The words taste like surrender—like pulling the truth from a wound that’s never healed.

I hesitate.

"He looks just like you."

The moment they leave my mouth, I see it—the shift.

Luca’s jaw clenches. His knuckles whiten where fists form at his sides.

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

"Because I was afraid of your father if I didn't disappear.” "And even if I had stayed—what kind of life could you offer him? Your world is dangerous. I didn’t want him dragged into it."

Luca straightens, eyes flashing. That dark fire reignites, swirling with something deeper now—betrayal, loss, a grief he’s only just begun to understand.

"My world is dangerous, but it’s also powerful." "I would have protected you both."

He steps toward me, closing the space like a predator, and I feel every inch of it.