The whole truth
Luca’s POV
Viola had lied to me.
The realization didn’t come gently. It didn’t creep in or soften the blow. It hit hard, brutal, final... like something snapping inside my chest.
All this time… she had been the one lying.
And I; like a fucking fool, believed her.
I had trusted her words, her calm explanations, the way she looked me in the eye and swore she had never known Noel Jackson. That she had never even heard his name before I mentioned it.
She lied.
Not a small lie. Not an omission. But a lie layered with years, secrets, blood, and death.
She knew him.
She knew him very well.
My jaw tightened as I stared at the file in my hands, the weight of it suddenly unbearable. Every word on those pages felt heavier than the last, each sentence pulling me further into something ugly and irreversible.
Many years ago, Noel Jackson had attacked me directly.
I remembered that night clear... too clearly. He had been reckless, emotional, desperate. He came at me without strategy, without patience. A boy driven by revenge rather than logic.
It was after I took the life of his mother.
A lesson.
One that was meant to be final.
He failed, of course. Badly. His men were slaughtered one by one. Those who survived were left broken, bleeding, barely clinging to life. Noel himself barely escaped with his breath intact.
I chased him.
For months.
Across cities, borders, shadows. I turned the country upside down looking for him. Every rumor, every whisper, every possible lead... I followed them all.
And then… nothing.
No traces of him at all.
I thought he had died somewhere along the way. Thought the injuries or the fear had finished what I started. Eventually, I stopped looking.
I thought Noel Jackson was dead.
I was wrong.
My fingers tightened around the paper as I continued reading.
According to Payson’s investigation, during that incident; during the time Noel should have been bleeding out in some forgotten corner of the world... someone helped him.
A family.
They hid him. Treated his wounds. Protected him and his remaining men while they recovered.
That family was the Almendos.
Viola’s family.
My chest felt tight as the truth unfolded with cruel clarity.
They saw an opportunity. A dangerous one... but profitable. Helping Noel meant securing a debt from a man who would stop at nothing for revenge. They took the risk.
And during that period…
Noel and Viola fell in love.
The words burned into my eyes.
They planned to marry.
My breath stalled.
Her father, of course, opposed it. Viola might have been their princess, but she had never had control over her own life; not when it mattered. Marrying a wounded fugitive who was being hunted by me was unacceptable.
Around that same time… I came into the picture.
After months of searching for Noel and finding nothing, I assumed he was dead. I stopped hunting a ghost.
I returned my focus back to my normal life.
I needed something from the Almendos.
And they offered me something in return.
Marriage.
Their daughter.
Viola.
A political alliance to strengthen both families.
I had agreed without much thought.
Political marriage had always been inevitable for someone like me. If I had to do it, it might as well be with one of the most powerful families in the country.
At the time, Viola refused.
She rejected the alliance outright.
I hadn’t questioned it. I didn’t care enough to. I didn’t want a wife who didn’t want me either.
Her refusal felt like relief.
A win-win situation.
But her father insisted. He made me promise that if the opportunity arose again, I would accept.
I should have pressed her back then.
I should have asked why.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, the words tearing out of me as I flipped through the pages again, slower this time, more carefully.
How did I not see this before?
How did I miss it?
Payson had been right.
This wasn’t just interesting.
It was damning.
I stopped reading and lifted my head, my gaze locking onto Payson, who stood across from me silently, watching every shift in my expression.
“Is everything in this file true?” My voice came out rough, strained. I lifted the papers slightly. “All of it.”
Payson nodded once. “I took longer because I needed to be sure, boss. Every detail was verified. Multiple sources. It’s true.”
True.
The word echoed in my head.
I felt like an idiot.
A blind, arrogant idiot who thought he had control over everything.
Viola had been too good. Too composed. Too convincing.
After forcing myself to breathe, I went back to the file.
Viola and Noel had truly loved each other back then. Enough to plan an escape together. Enough to consider throwing everything away.
They eventually decided against running.
It would have been pointless. Her father would have found her anywhere in the world. There was nowhere she could hide from her own blood.
So instead of running…
She chose revenge.
She chose to help Noel destroy the man who ruined his life.
Me.
My vision blurred for a moment as the truth settled deeper.
She didn’t just support him.
She planned with him.
Then...
I froze.
My eyes locked onto a name that made my heart stutter.
Diego Bellani.
Aria’s father.
The man I had believed responsible for my brother’s death.
The man who was still alive only because killing him twice wouldn’t bring my brother back.
My fingers trembled as I stared at the name, disbelief clawing its way up my spine.
Why was he here?
Why was his name tied to this?
I read further, my pulse pounding louder with every line.
Viola and Noel had approached him.
They promised him power. Money. Protection.
Diego Bellani was greedy; nothing more, nothing less. He knew exactly who he was going against, and he still agreed.
Not because of hatred.
But because of what they offered him.
They used him.
My hand shook violently now as the truth unfolded in full.
I looked up at Payson again.
He already knew.
His expression was grim, heavy with understanding as he nodded once more.
“Yes, boss. I couldn’t believe it myself.”
The ambush.
The night my brother died.
It hadn’t been planned by Diego Bellani.
He wasn’t the mastermind.
His crime was greed.
The real architect…
The person who had orchestrated everything…
The one who had truly killed my brother... It wasn't Aria or her father, it was...
Viola.
“This… this can’t be true,” I whispered.
My chest burned.
After my brother’s death, I never suspected Noel. I thought he was dead.
And Viola?
I didn’t even know her then.
She was a stranger, the girl I was supposed to marry.
She was the one.
She had been there from the beginning.
My hands clenched into fists, the papers crumpling slightly under the pressure.
Years.
Years of standing near me, speaking to me, looking at me... knowing she had destroyed my family.
Knowing she had helped murder my brother.
My breathing turned uneven, sharp.
“Argh!” I roared, sweeping my arm across the desk, sending everything crashing to the floor... Again.
The sound echoed through the room, but it did nothing to quiet the storm inside me.
Viola Almendo was not just a liar.
She was a traitor.
And if Aria had been right about her all along…
Then I had failed the woman I loved in the worst way possible.
"Fuck!"