Chapter 13 Luca #2
"You took away my choice. In every possible way, you took away my choice.
You decided I was going to fall for you.
You decided I was going to betray my oath to your family.
You decided I was going to become complicit in this—this fucking disaster.
And you did it all without asking. Without giving me any say in what happened to my life. "
"I know. I know, and I'm sorry—"
"Sorry doesn't fix this. Sorry doesn't change the fact that you're a liar and a manipulator. Sorry doesn't change the fact that the woman I fell for doesn't exist."
"She does exist. I'm right here—"
"No,” I snap harshly. "You're the woman I should have stayed away from. And you're not—you're not Valentina."
The name hangs in the air between us. The ghost of someone who never existed.
"There's something else," she says, and her voice is so small I almost don't hear it. "I'm pregnant."
The words stop me cold. "What?"
"I'm pregnant. With your baby. I've been trying to tell you, but—"
The rage that's been building explodes inside me. It's not loud or violent. It just feels cold and absolutely devastating.
"You're pregnant. And you're just telling me now." Every word sounds hollow and icy coming out of my mouth.
More tears spill down her cheeks. "I tried to tell you before. Tonight, I was going to—"
"How long have you known?"
“Since just before the last time we were here. I missed my period, and I took a test, and—"
I stare at her. "You've known for what… almost two weeks that you're carrying my child, and you didn't think that was something I should know immediately?"
"I was scared. I didn't know how to tell you—"
"So you just kept lying. Kept playing your little game. Kept pretending everything was fine while you were carrying my baby and planning to marry another man."
"I'm not going to marry Alessandro. I can't. Not now—"
"Why?" The question comes out sharp. "Because you're pregnant? Because you finally have a reason to call off the wedding that doesn't involve admitting you've been fucking one of your father's soldiers?"
She flinches like I've hit her. "That's not fair—"
"Fair?" The word is almost a shout. "You want to talk about fair?
You lied to me for months. You manipulated me into falling for you.
You made me complicit in betraying everything I've sworn loyalty to.
And now you're telling me you're pregnant—that you're trapping me with a baby I had no say in—and you want to talk about fair? "
"I'm not trapping you—"
"Yes, you are." I stand up sharply, and this time she doesn’t flinch back, just looks up at me with those eyes that are so achingly familiar. "You're trapping me into a life I never chose. Into a relationship built on lies and being a father when I never agreed to any of this."
"You don't have to be involved. If you don't want—"
"Don't." I grit my teeth. "Don't you dare suggest I'd walk away from my own child. Don't you dare use that as some kind of test to see if I'm a good man."
"I'm not—"
My hands are shaking so badly I have to clench them into fists. "You decided I was going to fall for you. You decided I was going to betray my oath. You decided I was going to become a father. And you did it all without asking. Without giving me any say in what happened to my life."
"I'm sorry." She's sobbing now, her whole body shaking. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen—"
"Yes, you did." Every word is ice cold. "You meant for all of it to happen.
You planned it. You orchestrated it. You created Valentina specifically to make me fall for you.
And now you're pregnant, and you think that's going to fix everything.
That I'm going to forgive you because we're having a baby together. "
"I don't think that. I just—I needed you to know. I needed you to understand—"
"I understand perfectly. I understand that you're a liar. That you're a manipulator. That you took away my autonomy. And I understand that I want nothing to do with you."
"Luca, please—"
"Don't—" My voice breaks, and I have to stop and breathe, try to force the words out through the fury. "Don't make this worse than it already is."
"What about the baby?"
The question stops me. I look at her, seeing her still on the floor, her hand pressed against her stomach, her eyes desperate and pleading.
"I don't know.” I run a hand through my hair, feeling like I’m going to unravel. "I don't know what happens now. I don't know how to be in the same room with you—"
I stop myself. "I need time," I say finally. "I need time to figure out what the fuck I'm supposed to do with all of this."
"How much time?"
"I don't know.”
"The wedding is in—"
"I know when the fucking wedding is."
Giulia’s face crumples again. "I can't marry him. Not now. Not with—"
"Then don't." The words are harsh. "Call it off. Tell your father the truth. Deal with the consequences of your deception. But don't expect me to save you. Don't expect me to step in and fix the mess you created."
"I'm not asking you to save me. I'm just asking you to—"
"To what? To forgive you? To pretend this never happened? To play happy family with a woman who's been lying to me for months?"
"To give me a chance to explain. To let me show you that what we had was real—"
"It wasn't real." I shake my head. "It was never real. Because it was built on lies. And I don't know how to trust anything you say anymore."
"Luca." Her voice is small and broken. "I love you."
I look at her, at Giulia Ciresa, stripped of her disguise, stripped of her lies, stripped of everything except the truth she should have told me from the beginning.
"I don't believe you.”