Chapter 4 The Test

Valentina's presence was suffocating in the best and worst way commanding, intoxicating and again terrifying. Luca sat in the back of the sleek black car as it pulled up to the private estate in the hills, where the Bravado family was already waiting for them. He had heard whispers of them growing up ruthless negotiators who smiled while they slit throats like it was the easiest thing to do.

Now he was supposed to sit across from them like he belonged.

"You don't speak unless I say," Valentina instructed coolly, adjusting the diamond-encrusted cuff of her suit. "And if they insult you, take it and appreciateit. You're here to watch."

Luca's jaw tightened "the heck?" He thought, pride flaring but he nodded.

Inside the villa, tension swirled like cigar smoke. Men in dark suits and colder stares surrounded a long marble table. Valentina walked in like a queen, unapologetic and unafraid. She didn't just command the room she owned it.

Introductions were made, drinks poured, and fake smiles exchanged.

But when one of the Bravado sons made a crude joke about Luca being Valentina's "pet project," the room fell quiet.

Luca's hands curled into fists. Valentina didn't flinch.

She turned to Luca, one brow arched. "Well?" she said smoothly. "Say something smart, or say nothing at all."

It was a test. Of composure and of ego.

And for once, Luca didn't fight it.

He leaned back in his chair, cool and collected. "I don't mind being underestimated. It makes it easier to win."

A few chuckles escaped the table. The insult had been flipped.

Valentina smirked. "He's learning."

The meeting continued, brutal and calculated, but Luca kept pace. When it ended, Valentina pulled him aside outside, the crisp night air biting.

"You impressed me," she said quietly. "But don't confuse that for approval. I just don't hate you right now."

She walked ahead, and Luca followed.

But something was off. He had noticed a door left slightly ajar in the villa hallway, and curiosity tugged at him like a whisper.

When no one was looking, he slipped back inside.

The room was dim, cluttered with old files and dust-covered artifacts. Luca moved quietly, running his fingers over the desk. Then he saw it an envelope, slightly torn, labeled in bold handwriting.

Inside: a photograph.

It was his brother Antonio. Smiling. Standing next to Valentina.

They were younger, close. Too close.

Across the bottom, scribbled in ink: "My Last Deal."

Luca's heart stopped.

What the hell did that mean?

And why had no one ever told him Valentina knew his brother?. As Luca stared at the photo, footsteps echoed behind him. He turned only to find Valentina standing in the doorway, watching him silently, her expression unreadable.

"You weren't supposed to find that," she said coldly.

The bullet hole in the window was still smoking when Luca and Valentina vanished into the shadows of the night. Her grip on his wrist was vice-like, but his mind was spiraling.

Someone wanted him dead.

Not because of her. Because of what he knew. Or maybe because of who he was.

The car screeched around corners as they sped through the darkened streets of Milan. Valentina was silent, laser-focused behind the wheel. Luca sat stiffly beside her, the photo still tucked in his jacket, like a ticking bomb over his heart.

"Was that for you or me?" he finally asked.

Valentina didn't look at him. "Does it matter?"

"Actually, yes. Because I just found out you were involved with my dead brother, I might be on someone's kill list, and I don't even know what game I'm playing."

She pulled the car into an underground garage beneath one of her secure buildings. The moment the engine cut, she turned to him, eyes burning.

"You think this is a game? You think this world lets people walk away clean?"

Luca opened the door and got out, adrenaline still crashing through him. "I didn't sign up for this."

Valentina stepped out too. "You did the second you stepped into my house. The second you let me bring you here instead of running."

He turned, breathing hard. "What happened to Antonio?"

Valentina studied him for a long beat. "He was supposed to walk away with a new identity, a clean break. But he made a mistake. He trusted someone he shouldn't have. I never saw him again."

"And you just... buried that?"

"I buried what I had to. You think pain makes you special?" she snapped. "Pain is the price of survival. Everyone in this world is bleeding somewhere." He agreed to this.

A silence hung between them-thick, bitter, raw.

Luca's shoulders dropped. "So what now? I stay and become one of you?"

Valentina stepped close, her voice low. "No, Luca. You don't become one of us. You become something else entirely."

Before Luca could respond, the elevator doors behind them dinged open. One of Valentina's guards stumbled out-bleeding, gasping, shot through the chest.

"They've breached the safe house," he croaked, collapsing to the floor.

Valentina's face went cold.

"They found us."

Blackout.

The scent of gunpowder hit Luca like a slap as he crouched beside the fallen guard. Blood pooled across the marble floor, sticky and dark, soaking into the sleeve of his shirt as he tried to press down on the wound.

"Don't move," the man rasped, eyes glassy. "They're inside."

Valentina didn't hesitate. Her gun was already drawn as she slammed the elevator's emergency lock, sealing off the floors above. Her voice was ice. "We have minutes."

Luca's heart pounded. His hands were stained red. This was no longer some dark fairy tale spun in whispers and shadows. This was war.

"We can't fight them alone," he said, standing quickly.

Valentina tossed him a look-half amused, half irritated. "Good thing I never play fair."

She pulled a hidden panel from behind a bookcase, revealing a steel case embedded in the wall. Inside was a sleek, matte-black rifle and a line of weapons that made Luca's stomach flip.

"I don't-" he began.

"You will." Her tone leftHe took the pistol she handed him. It felt cold and wrong in his hands, but he didn't drop it. Not this time.

A voice crackled through the intercom. "We know you're in there, princess. You and your pretty little pet."

Valentina's eyes narrowed. "They brought Mateo."

"Who's Mateo?" Luca asked.

She loaded the rifle. "The man who slit my cousin's throat and sent me the video for my birthday."

Luca swallowed hard.

The hallway lights flickered once. Then again.

Silence.

Valentina turned to him, close enough that he could feel her breath against his cheek. "Luca, you stay behind me. No hero moves, no panic. If something happens to me-"

"Don't," he snapped, surprising even himself. "Don't you dare tell me how to survive losing you."

She stared at him.

The door exploded inward.

Gunfire ripped through the air.

Luca's ears rang. The guard's body jerked beside him.

Before he could process everything, darkness clouded him.