Lady De Luca's office was nothing like Seraphina expected.
t wasn't soft.
Nor elegant in the traditional sense.
There were no delicate decorations or harmless luxury ornaments scattered around like those found in noblewomen's chambers.
Instead—
the room felt dangerous.
Quietly dangerous.
Towering shelves filled the walls completely.
Ancient ledgers.
Political records.
Mafia treaties bound in black leather.
Encrypted reports stacked carefully across massive desks.
Maps pinned beneath glass.
Weapons hidden openly among books like they belonged there naturally.
Several screens glowed softly from one side of the office.
Displaying financial movements.
Trade routes.
Security networks.
Seraphina stood near the doorway silently for a moment.
Because suddenly—
she understood something clearly.
Her mother wasn't merely the graceful woman standing beside her father during banquets.
No.
Lady De Luca was deeply involved in the machinery of the underworld itself.
And perhaps always had been.
Without looking up from the document in her hand—
her mother spoke calmly.
"…You've been investigating in secret."
Seraphina leaned lightly against the doorway.
"…Was I that obvious?"
A faint smile touched her mother's lips.
"…To everyone else? No."
Finally she looked up.
"…To me? Very."
Seraphina walked further inside slowly.
The office door shutting behind her with a soft click.
For a brief moment—
neither spoke.
Because both already knew why she came.
Eventually Seraphina exhaled softly.
"…I want to know about Selene."
The reaction was immediate.
Not dramatic.
Not loud.
But real.
Her mother's fingers stopped moving across the document.
The warmth faded slightly from her eyes.
And beneath that calm expression—
sadness surfaced quietly.
"…Your father told you her name."
Seraphina nodded once.
"…Not much else."
Lady De Luca slowly closed the ledger before her.
Carefully.
Like preparing herself for something unpleasant.
Then she gestured toward the chair across from her desk.
"…Sit."
Seraphina obeyed silently.
And for the first time in a long while—
she felt strangely nervous.
Because somehow—
this conversation felt important beyond explanation.
Rain tapped softly against the office windows.
The only sound filling the silence between mother and daughter.
Lady De Luca folded her hands together quietly.
Thinking carefully before speaking.
As though choosing the wrong words might awaken ghosts best left buried.
"…Selene was extraordinary."
Seraphina remained completely still.
Listening closely.
"She was intelligent beyond her age."
A faint distant smile touched her mother's lips.
"…Too intelligent sometimes."
Another pause.
"She mastered combat faster than most men twice her age."
"…Negotiation."
"…Psychological warfare."
"…Languages."
"She could walk into a room full of killers and leave with every one of them following her lead without realizing it."
Seraphina's chest tightened slightly.
Because the description felt strangely familiar.
Dangerously familiar.
"…Father loved her."
The words left her mother softly.
Not as speculation.
As fact.
Silence filled the room again.
Heavy.
Lady De Luca's gaze drifted toward the rain-covered windows.
"…Your father rarely cared deeply for people."
A small bitter smile appeared briefly.
"…Even as a child."
"But Selene…"
Another pause.
"…was different to him."
Seraphina lowered her eyes slightly.
Because suddenly—
she understood the pain hidden in her father's expression the night before.
"…Did she love him back?"
Lady De Luca went silent.
Long enough that Seraphina already sensed the answer before hearing it.
"…No."
Simple.
Quiet.
Yet devastating somehow.
Her mother exhaled slowly.
"…Selene cared for him deeply."
"…But not the way he wished."
Rain continued falling outside.
Soft.
Relentless.
Then—
Lady De Luca spoke the next words carefully.
Like handling something sharp enough to wound even now.
"She fell in love with the son of an enemy family."
Seraphina's eyes lifted immediately.
The atmosphere inside the office shifted instantly.
Darker now.
More dangerous.
"…An enemy?"
Her mother nodded slowly.
"…At that time…"
"…the underworld was worse than it is now."
"…Families slaughtered each other endlessly."
"…Children inherited wars before learning how to read."
Seraphina felt unease creeping slowly into her chest.
Because somehow—
she already sensed this story wouldn't end peacefully.
"Selene believed the cycle could end."
Lady De Luca's voice softened faintly.
"…She thought love could stop bloodshed."
A faint bitter laugh escaped her afterward.
Not mocking Selene.
Mocking the cruelty of reality itself.
"She offered herself as an exchange."
Seraphina froze.
"…What?"
Lady De Luca looked directly at her now.
Eyes darker than before.
"…To prevent war."
"…She willingly crossed into enemy territory."
"…Believing if she bound herself to that family…"
"…peace would follow."
Silence.
Heavy.
Almost suffocating.
Seraphina's fingers tightened slowly against the armrest.
Because something about this story felt horribly unfinished.
"…Did it work?"
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Then—
very quietly—
her mother answered.
"…For a while."
Not forever.
Just—
for a while.
That answer alone chilled the room.
Because temporary peace inside mafia history usually meant catastrophe followed shortly after.
Seraphina leaned forward slightly.
"…What family was it?"
Lady De Luca's expression hardened instantly.
Walls returning.
"…That," she said softly,
"…is the part of the story your father would never forgive me for telling."
And suddenly—
Seraphina understood.
This wasn't merely buried history.
This was forbidden history.
The kind powerful families erased completely to keep wars from reigniting.
Meanwhile
Far away—
inside a dark hidden chamber—
a silver rosary rested beneath dim light once more.
And beside it—
a single old photograph lay partially burned at the edges.
Two figures stood within it.
A young woman smiling faintly.
And beside her—
a silver-eyed man whose face had been torn away completely.