Allure (Lust & Luster #2)

Prologue

Matteo

T he house lights fade to black, and a charge races through me like electricity on a live wire. It’s finally here, the moment we’ve been building toward for months.

Paris Fashion Week. My first time here. My brothers and sister are here.

The city is a blur of stone facades, glittering lights, and impossible beauty, but I’ve barely seen it.

Every hour has been consumed by meetings, fittings, interviews, and endless details.

I’ve slept less than a jeweler with a royal commission on deadline.

But tonight, all that work comes to life.

This isn’t just any show. This is the show.

Felicity Ford, the breakout sensation at Fashion Week, is unveiling her new line, the one we partnered on to debut Luster’s rough diamonds in high fashion for the first time.

Forty-one looks strut down the runway. Every stitch, every stone meticulously placed.

But there’s one piece I’ve been waiting for like a kid counting down to Christmas morning.

The Night to Remember dress.

My heart kicks harder at the thought of it.

Blood-red silk that glides like poured wine.

A polished rough diamond at the hip the size of a coin, and then the real statement is the twenty rough, five-carat diamonds running down the back like a trail of frozen fire.

Ten millimeters each. Frosted. Untamed. And yet, somehow, perfect. They’re ours, straight from our mine.

I scan the crowd from my seat in the front row. It’s a sea of power. Industry titans, royalty, celebrities. People who can buy anything they want. People who will remember this night.

The first notes of a saxophone spill into the air, sultry, slow, the kind of sound that hushes a room without asking.

The crowd stills. When the brass section joins, the lights flood the runway, and the first model steps out.

The audience leans forward, as if pulled by an invisible string.

Dress after dress, the energy builds. My pulse keeps time with the music.

Then, there she is.

The model in the Night to Remember glides onto the runway, and even from here, I hear the collective intake of breath.

The red silk clings and flows in perfect balance.

The diamond at her hip winks under the lights, but it’s when she turns that the magic hits.

Gasps ripple through the room. Down her spine, the diamonds catch the light like a string of moons, raw and regal all at once.

They gleam with a kind of beauty no cut stone could match.

That’s the moment I know we’ve done it. We’ve made rough diamonds desirable, not just to collectors or jewelry purists, but to the world.

I glance down the row at my brothers. Dante—stoic, assessing every reaction in the room—gives the smallest nod, the kind that says this is it.

Luca’s grin is pure satisfaction, like he’s watching a plan pay off in real time.

Ciro leans forward in his seat, eyes tracking every diamond like he’s memorizing them.

Gianna sits across the runway with friends.

Different expressions, and we all know we’ve got something special.

The model does her final pose at the base of the runway. The ovation is instant and deafening. Cameras flash. People rise to their feet. Felicity joins her team on stage, their hands linked, faces lit with triumph.

And then comes the announcement. The entire collection has sold out. Every single piece. And the Night to Remember ? Sold to an anonymous buyer for over a million euros.

A million. For a dress that didn’t even exist in anyone’s imagination a year ago.

I can’t stop smiling. Not because of the number, though that’s insane, but because of what it means. This night will be talked about for years, maybe decades. And Luster will always be part of it.

I lift my glass when it’s pressed into my hand, the champagne fizzing like the air around us. “To the first of many,” I say, and I mean it.

Dante lifts his glass, the diamonds still glittering like fire on the runway. His smile is easy, but his words cut clean. “To Luster,” he says. “While Amal may build their story on the past. Nostalgia doesn’t move markets. Legacy doesn’t guarantee innovation.

“At Luster, we’re not bound by the weight of yesterday. We are creating brilliance today…and setting the standard for tomorrow. Tonight proves it. Our work isn’t about surviving. It’s about thriving. About leading. About owning the future of luxury.”

He raises his glass higher, voice ringing with conviction. “So, here’s to Luster—shining brighter than the rest. And to every rival who thought awards or history would carry them forward, thank you for showing us exactly what we don’t want to be.”

Because tonight wasn’t just a fashion show.

Tonight was a shift.

And I was here to see it happen.