Chapter 28 ENTERTAINING.
\~~~LUCIANO RAFAEL MORETTI.
Of course, I know she is not Talia.
No.
I knew long before anyone else even dared to whisper it.
This woman sitting in my car, shrinking into the door as if it could save her, is Raina Marielle Monroe, not Talia.
I knew the moment she walked down the aisle with shaking hands and eyes too wide, looking like she was about to faint or run.
Talia never looked like that.
Talia knew exactly how to hide her fear.
And Raina? She doesn’t.
The Monroe family must have thought they were clever, and that they could slide another daughter into a wedding dress and hope I wouldn’t notice.
As if I am some distracted fool blinded by flowers, rings, and vows.
Talia ran.
And in her place, they pushed Raina toward me.
Raina, the rebellious one.
Raina, the defiant one.
Raina, the one who never learned how to lie properly but still lies with every breath she takes around me.
Clumsy, stubborn, and loud in ways she doesn’t even realize.
A problem wrapped in silk and nerves.
And now, she is looking at me like I am the ghost, as if she isn’t the one pretending in my face every single day.
“Listen!” she suddenly burst out, throwing both hands up before clasping them together like she was praying for divine intervention. Her eyes shut tight for a second.
“Just listen, okay? I don’t need to see them right now. I mean…”
She swallowed hard, then forced herself to meet my gaze.
“Raina… I mean, my sister… She is out of town. My parents too!”
“Your parents are out of town?” I tilted my head, amused at how fast she was digging her own grave.
“No, no, not out of town.” She let out a shaky laugh, scratching her forehead like the truth might come out if she rubbed hard enough.
“I mean… I reached them yesterday. We talked for like… three hours.”
The laugh that followed was thin and desperate.
“So what I am saying is… we do not need to see them. Let’s just go home, and then I…”
“No,” I cut in calmly. “You have missed your family. And be grateful that I am being generous enough to take you to them.”
“Yeah, so fucking generous,” she muttered under her breath and I heard it perfectly.
“And besides,” I added, “you haven’t forgotten the deal you struck with me this morning?”
She snapped her head toward me, her eyes wide.
“Oh, you must be shitting me! Is it by force to miss my parents and want to see them?!”
Her voice cracked.
She was close to tears.
Raina might actually be the most readable person I’ve ever met.
She is like an open book shoved in my face.
With most people, seeing through them is a skill, an art.
But with Raina, it is simply breathing.
Everything she thinks, she wears on her face.
Everything she tries to hide, she whispers out loud.
There is absolutely no challenge in it.
I met the real Talia only twice after meeting her the first time.
And if there was one thing I can say with full certainty, it is that Raina and Talia are NOTHING alike.
Where Talia was calm, collected, and trained, Raina was the exact opposite.
Loud, and unfiltered in the most ridiculous ways.
Talia was molded for this world.
Raina… was thrown into it.
I turned my head slightly to look at her.
Her forehead rested against the window like she was silently begging the world outside to rescue her.
No.
It doesn’t take a genius to guess what she is wishing for.
If she could magically cause a roadblock, flat tire, or spontaneous car explosion just to avoid this visit, she would.
And as I have said, I know we will never meet her so-called sister.
The real Talia Monroe, the one who left this mess behind when she ran.
Talia disappeared on the morning of our wedding, without caring what her disappearance would cost the Monroe family.
And to be honest?
I didn't care which daughter I married.
Any of them served the purpose.
The family tie was what mattered to my own aim, and my own plan.
But what I did not expect… was to be amused by this woman.
“I am indisposed, Luciano,” she tried again, voice small.
“Can we not just go home first?”
She doesn’t stop trying her luck.
This woman doesn’t learn.
“We are almost at your parents’,” I replied. “I’m sure they will be more than happy to take care of you.”
She turned fully toward me, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“Bastard.”
She whispered it.
Well, she thought she whispered it.
Raina is the worst person I have ever met when it comes to inner thoughts.
Everything she thinks slips out of her mouth without permission.
“How do you expect to survive in my world,” I mused silently, “when you can’t even control your tongue?”
The car turned onto the Monroe estate road and she tensed immediately, gripping the seatbelt like it could save her life.
Pathetic.
But strangely… entertaining.
Yes.
This is Raina.
The woman pretending to be Talia.
The woman who thinks she can keep lying to me when I already know every single truth she is trying to hide.
And I wonder…
I just wonder how long she thinks this little game will last.