Chapter 170 Let it Sink in
Dante’s POV
I couldn't think, couldn't feel, nothing in me moved to react.
As far as I knew, I was gone.
So as the silence stretched longer than it should have, my head hung low, dragging few breaths in and out of my chest like every inhale had to fight its way through.
The pain hadn’t lessened. It had settled deep inside me, alive under my skin.
I could still feel the blood on my chest, warm and sticky. Slow now, but still there.
Luca didn’t rush. That was the first thing I noticed.
But no more lashes came, no hits followed, just him walking around like he had all the time in the world.
“You always did have one problem,” he said finally with his voice calm, almost thoughtful.
And I didn’t respond, then a hand landed lightly against my shoulder, not roughly, but still enough to send a sharp pull through my body, forcing a reaction out of me as my muscles tightened instinctively.
“You think you’re in control,” he continued. “Even when you’re not.”
My jaw tightened, but I still said nothing.
A quiet chuckle left his lips.
“I used to wonder,” he went on slowly, pacing again, “how someone like you could survive this long without questioning the obvious.”
My fingers curled slightly with the chains rattling faintly above me.
My mind dragged over his word, trying to follow where he was going, but everything felt… delayed, foggy.
“You never asked yourself the right question,” Luca added.
I forced my head up slightly even as my vision blurred before it steadied just enough to catch him standing a few steps away, watching me.
“And what question is that?” I rasped.
My voice came out rough, weaker than I wanted, but it didn’t matter.
His smile widened just a little.
“How I always find you, of course.”
Something in my chest tightened.
Not the wound, something else.
I held his gaze. “Maybe you get lucky at times,” I muttered weakly even as I knew it wasn't that.
That earned a soft laugh from him. “Luck?” he repeated, amused. “You think this is luck?”
He stepped closer. “Every move you make,” he said quietly, “every place you go… I knew.”
My brows pulled together slightly as my mind tried to piece it together through the haze.
But nothing added up, all ends were right from my view.
Nothing gave way.
“I wasn’t even—” I stopped myself with my breath hanging slightly as the thought slipped through anyway.
I wasn’t even with her.
The realization crept in slowly.
But Luca saw it. “There it is,” he murmured, almost satisfied. “You’re finally thinking.”
My jaw clenched tightly.
“How?” I asked with my voice lower now, sharper despite the weakness behind it.
He studied me for a second, like he was deciding how much I deserved to know.
Then he sighed lightly. “It’s almost disappointing,” he said. “I expected more from you.”
He turned slightly, reaching into his pocket before pulling out his phone and flashing the screen across my face.
I squinted my eyes as a metal shape showed faintly under the light.
The pain affected my sight, but slowly, the shape of a necklace formed.
But the more I looked, the more I felt I knew it from somewhere.
Then it dawned on me.
Serena’s.
My chest tightened again, harder this time.
“That look,” Luca said softly. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
I stared at it with my thoughts dragging back, piece by piece.
How did she get it? I thought then it clicked.
She had said it was a gift from Marco, one she liked and never took off.
Luca shoved the phone into his pocket and chuckled.
“Such a simple thing,” he continued. “So easy to overlook.”
My breath slowed. “What exactly?” I forced out.
And he smiled. “A habit,” he said. “Men like Marco don’t give gifts without purpose.”
Something cold settled in my gut.
“He liked knowing where she was,” Luca added casually. “At all times.”
The words landed and my fingers twitched uselessly at my sides as the realization slammed into place.
He put a tracker in it.
“That necklace,” Luca went on, tapping his phone through his pocket, “has been telling me everything I need to know.”
My vision blurred again, but this time it wasn’t just the pain.
Every time.
Every place.
Every move.
All from Serena.
My jaw tightened so hard it hurt, but I didn’t speak.
Luca watched me take it in, watched the pieces fall together like it was the most entertaining thing in the world.
“And you never noticed,” he finished quietly before laughing in my face.
After a minute or two, he clapped his hands.
“Ready for another surprise, Don don?” He asked and chuckled, clapping again.
Then the door opened and the sound cut through everything, dragging my attention away from the storm building in my head.
Footsteps followed slowly, carefully as whoever it was made their way down.
I turned slightly even as my body protested before my gaze lifted just enough to see who it was.
And dropped just as quickly.
No, how?
My mind refused to believe it even as she stood just a few feet away.
Even as Issabella made her way towards Luca.
She stepped in fully, pushed forward by one of Luca’s men before he let go of her arm.
She stumbled slightly, catching herself as her eyes darted around the room before landing on me.
She froze completely, and for a second, she didn’t react.
Then her expression broke. “Dante…” she said in a soft, shaken voice.
I held her gaze, but said nothing.
Blood had dried along my skin with fresh lines cutting through it where the wounds had reopened.
I could feel it. Smell it. See it in the way her eyes dropped and then snapped back up like she couldn’t handle looking too long.
“I…” she swallowed, stepping forward slightly before stopping again. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean for this.”
A hollow feeling settled in my chest.
Nothing new, just… deeper now.
Luca moved behind her, close enough to touch.
“Didn’t you?” He murmured, almost teasing.
She stiffened slightly. “I didn’t know it would go this far,” she said quickly with her voice tight.
I let out a quiet breath.
“So you knew enough,” I muttered.
She flinched and that was answer enough.
“I thought you'd give her up earlier,” she murmured weakly.
So it was all about Serena.
Luca’s hand slid around her waist, pulling her back against him without effort.
“You should be more grateful,” he said, glancing at me. “She made this very easy for me.”
My gaze darkened and everything lined up too easily now.
The truck.
The timing.
The attacks.
The restaurant.
“You,” I said slowly with my voice rough but steady enough, “you’ve been feeding him everything.”
Her eyes widened immediately. “No,” she shook her head quickly. “No, that’s not—”
Luca laughed, cutting her off.
“You really think she’s that important?” He cut in, mocking her.
I frowned slightly as he leaned closer to her with his hand tightening slightly at her waist.
“She played her part,” he said. “But not the one you’re imagining.”
My brows pulled together. “What did you do?” I asked her with my voice low.
She hesitated, then looked down.
“I…” her fingers curled slightly. “I tried to poison her.”
My eyes snapped fully open. “What?”
“At the ball,” she rushed out, her voice shaking. “I didn’t… I didn’t want to kill her, I swear, I—”
My head spun slightly as the room tilted for a second before I forced myself to focus.
I should have struggled at the sound of that, but that wasn’t what mattered now.
“Then who did it all?” I asked, my voice sharper now, pushing through the pain.
Luca smiled again. That same calm, knowing smile.
“Now that,” he said, stepping away from her slightly, “is the right question.”
My chest rose slowly, unevenly.
“Who’s been tearing your empire apart from the inside,” he continued, his gaze locking onto mine, “while you were busy looking in the wrong direction, of course.”
Something twisted in my gut. “No,” I said quietly, before he even spoke the name.
He laughed. “You already know, I see,” Luca said.
My jaw tightened. “No.”
But the word didn’t hold, it refused to stick.
Luca stepped with a smirk, then paused for a second or two, letting it all build.
“It's someone you trusted with your life,” he started. “Someone you called a friend, someone so close, someone who goes by the name…”