Chapter 44 THE SIBLINGS.
\~~~RAINA.
The moment we entered my office, I went straight to my seat.
I didn’t look at Luciano. I didn’t even spare him a glance. I could feel him anyway. His presence was always heavy, always filling up the room like smoke that refused to clear. I pulled the file closer and pretended to be absorbed in it, flipping through pages I had already memorized during the meeting.
Luciano didn’t speak either.
He just walked around slowly, like he owned not just the company, but the air itself, before settling into the chair across from my desk. He leaned back comfortably, one arm resting on the chair, his gaze fixed on me.
The silence stretched and it was thick as fuck.
I hated that he had come today.
I hated even more that my body still reacted to him despite how angry I was.
Finally, I lifted my head.
“Why did you come?” I asked flatly.
Luciano raised a brow, clearly amused. “This is my company, baby. I don’t need a reason to be here.”
I scoffed and looked back down at the file. “Then go ahead and do your business and let me be.”
“My business,” he repeated slowly, his voice darkening, “is sitting right in front of me.”
I stiffened. “Don’t start, Luciano. Not here.”
“Oh?” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “But you had no issue giving me the cold shoulder this morning. Or pretending I didn’t exist.”
“How does that even bother you? You, the almighty Luciano Rafael Moretti,” I asked and he snapped his brows together.
“I am at work,” I breathed out. “This is not… whatever game you think this is.”
He chuckled, low and dangerous. “Everything with you is a game, isn’t it? Silent treatment, pretending you don’t care, and acting brave in front of people who wouldn’t survive a day in my world.”
I shot up from my seat, my palms slamming on the table. “And you think bullying your way into my office proves what exactly?”
For a second, his eyes hardened, the man I knew too well resurfacing.
“It proves,” he said quietly, “that I am still your husband. And you don’t get to lock me out of your life just because you are angry.”
“I didn’t ask you to help me,” I fired back. “I didn’t ask you to show up. And I sure as hell didn’t ask you to sit there and watch me like I am some kind of property.”
He rose too, towering over the desk. “Everything that is mine, I protect.”
“I am not yours to protect like a territory,” I hissed.
The door slammed open at that moment.
“What the hell are you doing here, Rafael?!”
Both of us froze as Alessia stormed in like a hurricane, fire in her eyes, her heels clicking sharply against the floor.
“And don’t give me that bullshit about this being your company,” she snapped before Luciano could speak.
I stayed seated this time, folding my arms over my chest, watching.
Luciano didn’t look angry.
He smiled, instead.
Not that cold, sharp smile he usually wore like armor.
This one was… real and it caught me off guard.
“What is it, Alessia?” He said lightly, “My wife works here, surely, I am allowed to miss her.”
Alessia glanced between me, then him, her expression totally unreadable.
Then suddenly, she scoffed, marched forward, and then threw herself into Luciano’s arms.
“God, I hate you!”
I blinked as Luciano laughed softly and wrapped an arm around her, patting her back like this was the most normal thing in the world. “Funny,” he said. “You’re the one who buried herself in work and forgot you had a life outside being a CEO.”
Alessia pulled back, glaring up at him. “You disappeared.”
“You took over the company,” he replied calmly. “You didn’t need me hovering.”
I just sat there, stunned.
This wasn’t what I expected. Not one bit.
I had imagined tension, distance, and hatred.
Especially considering everything.
Him being a mafia don or whatever, and their father.
Their father!
The things people whispered in dark corners that he killed their father.
Luciano killed their father, didn’t he?
So why… Why were they like this?
“You look different, is it me?” Alessia asked, scrutinizing Luciano’s eyes.
“When was the last time we saw each other?” Luciano asked.
“God, I know it’s been long. Eight months?”
“It’s been a year, Alessia.”
“Well, whatever! It’s not like you missed me either,” she groaned.
Alessia finally seemed to notice that I had been sitting there the whole time, watching them like an outsider in my own office. She cleared her throat and turned to me.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I nodded slowly, even though my thoughts were tangled and loud in my head. “Yeah. Just… surprised.”
Luciano turned his head toward me at that moment.
And for a second, just one second, his eyes softened. Not completely and not enough to make him harmless. But it was more than I had ever seen before, and it unsettled me.
“You two are…” I lifted my hands slightly, pointing between them, then let them fall. I didn’t even know how to finish the sentence.
“What?” Alessia asked, frowning.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Really.”
She studied me for a brief moment, then shrugged it off. “Anyway,” she said, folding her arms, “I must say, you did well at the presentation today. I wasn’t expecting that.”
I nodded softly. The words should have made me proud, but my chest felt tight instead. Before I could respond, her attention snapped back to Luciano like a whip.
“And don’t even think of sending her here to replace me,” she warned sharply. “I won’t give up this position without a fight, Rafael. You already know that. I worked my ass off for this. If anyone thinks they can snatch it from me, they are dead wrong. I don’t care…”
“God, you talk too much,” Luciano cut in lazily.
“Because I am telling you the facts,” Alessia shot back. “If that woman thinks she can take my position, I will show her who I was before the collar job softened me.”
Luciano chuckled, a low sound. “You think you’ve softened up?”
“I am not joking,” she replied. “Do you know how shocked I was when I heard she would be working here? I don’t trust her, and I definitely don’t…”
“Hello?” I interrupted, lifting my hand slightly. “I am still here.”
Both of them turned to look at me.
Alessia rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she muttered, then suddenly straightened. “Guess who is back in the country, brother.”
She didn’t even wait for my reaction before grabbing Luciano by the arm and dragging him toward the door like a storm in heels.
“Who?” he asked casually as they walked out.
“Irina Volkov,” Alessia said. “She has returned.”
The door shut behind them, her voice fading down the hallway.
And just like that, I was alone.
I sat there for a few seconds, unmoving, my arms folded tightly across my chest. My office felt quieter than it had any right to be.
First of all, I hate them more when they were together than when they were apart. Separately, I could manage them. Together, they were overwhelming, loud, and too much history packed into one space.
Second… who the hell is Irina?