Chapter 67 THE LAST KISS
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ADELINE
I turned to leave, my heart pounding so loudly in my chest that I could barely hear my own footsteps. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to keep walking, to put as much distance between myself and Luciano as possible but my knees refused to listen.
But before I could take another step, a strong hand wrapped around my wrist.
Before I could even react, Luciano spun me around in one swift, forceful motion, pulling me against his chest. I barely had time to gasp before his arm tightened around my waist, locking me in place, trapping me against him.
“Luciano—” I started, my voice sharp with warning. My eyes widened at his action and my heart racing at his touch and stubbornness.
He didn’t let me finish.
His lips crashed onto mine with a force that stole the air from my lungs.
I froze. It was so sudden that I could not process what had happened. My fingers instinctively pressed against his chest, my entire body going rigid. The kiss felt too…… emotional that I could feel my body growing weaker and weaker.
The kiss was desperate, urgent, filled with emotions he refused to voice. He kissed me as though I was the only thing keeping him alive, as if letting go of me now would mean losing everything.
But was it true? Was it still my right?
I should push him away. I needed to push him away.
But I couldn’t.
Because despite everything—despite all the pain, the betrayal, the secrets—my heart still ached for him. I truly loved him.
I hated herself for it.
His fingers dug into my waist, pulling me closer, deepening the kiss as though he could make me forget everything that had happened between us. And for a fleeting second, I did forget.
For a fleeting second, I melted into him.
Then reality crashed back down on me, and I wrenched my head to the side, breaking the kiss. I had to stop him.
“Stop,” I breathed, but my voice came out weaker than I wanted. My chest heaved up and down, panting heavily to get as much oxygen as I could in my lungs to breathe.
Luciano wasn’t listening. His lips trailed along my jawline, down to my neck, pressing soft, lingering kisses against my skin, each one more intoxicating than the last.
“Let me go,” I whispered, trying to sound firm.
“No,” he murmured against my skin. “I will never let you go.”
Before I could react, he spun me around and pushed my back against the cold wall.
My breath hitched.
He caged me in with his body, his hands gripping my wrists, pinning them against the wall beside my head. I tried to move, to free myself, but he was too strong. His body was pressed against mine, every inch of him radiating heat, and my resolve was slipping through my fingers like sand.
I tried to move my legs but he pushed his knee in between them and forced them in place as I glared at him. “Luciano, enough,” I snapped, but there was no real power behind my words.
His eyes darkened.
“You can say it as many times as you want, but I know the truth,” he said quietly. His lips hovered just above mine, our breaths mingling. His minty breath sending waves of shock down my spine.
“You love me.”
My heart clenched painfully, and I hated that he could see right through me.
“You’re wrong,” I whispered, though even I didn’t believe it.
Luciano tilted his head slightly, studying me, his gaze piercing. Then, slowly, he leaned in, capturing my lips again—but this time, the desperation was gone.
This time, he kissed me slowly.
His lips moved with a gentleness that shattered something inside me.
I gasped against his mouth, my fingers curling into his shirt, whether to push him away or pull him closer, I didn’t know. My knees felt weak, my body betraying me as warmth spread through my chest.
This wasn’t just a kiss.
This was him trying to tell me everything he couldn’t say with words.
That he still loved me. That he had always loved me.
But I refused to believe anything coming from him.
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to fight against the emotions crashing over me like a tidal wave. But I was drowning.
I kissed him back.
It was hesitant at first, but when Luciano felt me surrender, he groaned against my lips and deepened the kiss, pulling me even closer, as if he could mold them into one.
All my emotions breaking and I wanted him to hold me, to tell me that it was all a nightmare and everything was our fairytale where wed be getting our happy ending but …… it was all what we wanted.
It was not our reality.
His hands released my wrists, instead sliding down to my waist, holding me as though he was terrified I’d disappear if he let go.
“I never betrayed you,” he murmured against my lips.
I pulled away just slightly, my chest rising and falling rapidly as I struggled to catch my breath.
“You did have a past,” I panted, my voice raw.
Luciano exhaled sharply. His forehead rested against mine, his grip on my waist tightening.
“I did have a past with Elena,” he admitted, his voice low, weary.
“But it’s in the past, Adeline. You are my present. You are my everything.”
I stared at him, searching his face for any sign of a lie, but there was none.
And that was the worst part.
Because I wanted to believe him.
“Why did you two break up?” I asked, my voice quiet now.
Luciano’s jaw tensed. His expression darkened, the vulnerability in his eyes suddenly vanishing.
He looked away.
I know.
I let out a humorless chuckle. “You won’t say it, will you?” I murmured, shaking my head.
“But I already know.”
His silence was enough of an answer.
I took a slow step forward, placing my hand on his chest. But there was no affection in my touch. No warmth.
A painful, sinister smile curled on my lips.
“My father didn’t do so wrong,” I said, her voice like silk and poison. “That he had to lose his… life.”
Luciano’s entire body went rigid.
The atmosphere in the room shifted in an instant, the air thick with something dangerous, something deadly.
His breathing hitched. His fists clenched at his sides.
For the first time, I saw something unfamiliar in his eyes.
Fear.
Not of me.
But of the truth I had just spoken.
A long silence stretched between us, the weight of unspoken words pressing down on both of us. We both knew this truth was gonna effect us both in away we both could not handle.
I tilted my head slightly, watching him with quiet amusement.
“You won’t deny it, will you?” I said softly.
Luciano’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. His entire demeanor had changed—no longer the arrogant, confident man who had just kissed me like I was the center of his world.
Now, he looked like a man haunted by his past.
“You knew,” he finally said, his voice barely above a whisper.
I nodded. “Not at first,” I admitted. “But I started piecing things together. The way you always avoided the subject. The way you refused to talk about what happened between you and Elena.”
Luciano remained silent.
I stepped even closer, my lips just inches from his ear.
“It was my father, wasn’t it?” I whispered.
Luciano shut his eyes for a brief moment, as if trying to block out the memories, as if the mere mention of it was too painful.
When he finally opened them again, they were colder than I had ever seen them.
“Adeline,” he said warningly.
But I only smiled.
A smile laced with bitterness.
A smile that told him I already knew the answer.
“You loved her,” I whispered. “And because of my father, you lost her.”
Luciano didn’t respond.
He didn’t need to.
Because the truth was already laid bare between us.
And now, there was no going back.