Chapter 24 — The Lesson
Three days had passed.Three days since Aria's breath slowed under drugged influence.Three days since Sofia tried to humiliate him through her and three days since he decided she would never touch either of them again.Lucien stood in the dim light of an abandoned wine cellar beneath one of the old Moretti-controlled properties on the outskirts of Milan. Dust drifted in lazy patterns through a single slit of moonlight above. His men waited in silence behind him, watching the woman chained to the central pillar.
Sofia Di Luca who was once elegant and untouchable now barefoot with her wrists bound with steel cuffs,still dressed in a designer silk blouse but it was wrinkled and stained. Her lipstick had faded and there was blood dried at the corner of her mouth from when Enzo dragged her in two hours ago.Lucien didn't look at her right away,instead, he spoke to the man kneeling beside the table ,a blade in one hand, a branding iron resting in the fire behind him."Not the face," Lucien said. "Not the hands."The man nodded.Sofia stirred then, lifting her head, voice still sharp despite the bruises.
"Are you going to kill me, Lucien?"She cried out having fear and pains in her eyes.
Lucien finally looked at her."No," he said coolly. "I'm going to teach you,to stop going for whats not yours."She laughed a high, mocking sound. "Aria won't survive you. Sooner or later, she'll choke on the life you gave her, you know that right."Lucien stepped forward slowly, each word like a cut.
"Okay then and you just made sure you'll never be there to watch it while it happens."
"Lucien, release me."Sofia cried,fear now very evident in her eyes.Lucien didn't react,he just turned to Enzo and nodded.Enzo nodded back, already knowing what to do. Lucien left not turning back while Sofia's voice filled the air.
Aria's wasn't supposed to know but Clara talked in whispers when she thought Aria was asleep. Enzo dropped hints and one of the house staff had returned that morning looking pale and shaken.Lucien hadn't come to her room last night and now she knew why.She found him in the inner courtyard, sitting in the stone gazebo that overlooked the reflecting pool. He wore all black. His sleeves were rolled, and his eyes looked distant, darker than usual.She didn't speak but just sat across from him.
"You heard," he said quietly."Nope,I just guessed."Aria said.He looked at her, tired but unapologetic. "She's still breathing. If that matters to you."Aria's breath hitched. "Did you… torture her?""No," he said. "I humiliated her. Broke her sense of power. Left her with a scar no mirror can show, but one every man will whisper about.""What did you do?"Lucien paused."I had my men shave her hair. Not all , just enough to remind her she's no longer sacred. Then we delivered her to the gates of her family's lesser villa with a bottle of pills and a camera recording."Aria swallowed. "That's cruel, that's more like death to an elegant lady like her."Lucien's gaze didn't flinch."So was slipping a sedative in your glass."
Aria didn't know what to say but then she said"Thank you "in a low tone.Lucien was a bit surprised,apart from his mom, she is the only other person that had thanked him in his life.His lips curved in a little smile and he just nodded not because she felt greatful but because she accepted him.
She stood, walking to the edge of the gazebo.The late afternoon sun painted long shadows across the stone. Birds chirped in distant trees. It was too peaceful for the things they were saying."She'll come back," Aria said quietly. "Women like that don't break easy."
"She won't." Lucien rose behind her. "Not unless she wants to be seen crawling."
"And what if she does?"Aria said.Lucien moved to her side."I'll take her legs next."The way he said it ,not with violence, but with certainty sent a shiver down her spine,not from fear but from revelation that Lucien Moretti wasn't a monster.He was a weapon and he had just chosen her side.
Later that night,Aria couldn't sleep.Her body was healed, but her thoughts weren't.She paced the hallway outside Lucien's study, hesitating before lifting her hand to knock.The door opened before she could.Lucien stood there, freshly showered, shirt unbuttoned halfway, a whiskey glass in hand.He stepped aside without a word and she entered."Do you hate what I did?" he asked, little spin of fear evident in his eyes.Aria turned to him."No."Lucien raised a brow. "Then what do you feel?"She paused.Then walked up to him , close enough to see the tension in his jaw, the heat in his eyes."I feel… protected."His breath caught.Lucien tilted his head.
That admission hit him like a blow because he felt the same.He hadn't just punished Sofia for her crime.He had done it for Aria,for her dignity and safety and it had changed something between them.
He set down the glass and stepped closer to her.Their bodies were nearly touching now."Say it again," he murmured.Her voice trembled."I feel protected."He leaned in and this time, she didn't flinch,she didn't hold back.Their lips trying to touch each other's,they nearly kissed but Lucien drew back, stopped himself from losing control because when it will happened, it would not be out of adrenaline or darkness,It would be real and unstoppable.