Chapter 30 Smoke and Strings.

Chapter 30 Smoke and Strings.
Aria’s POV

The line went dead, but Luca’s voice still coiled in my head like smoke: "You think you’ve saved him, but I decide who walks away."

My fingers trembled as I lowered the phone. Marco’s question came from somewhere far away. “Aria, what did he say?”

“He knows where we are,” I whispered. “And he’s not finished.”

Lucia’s hand pressed against Enzo’s arm to steady him. “Then we need to move now.”

We left the ruined bedroom, stepping into corridors washed in the dull red glow of emergency lights. Every window flickered with lightning; thunder rolled above the estate like an omen.

Enzo’s weight sagged between Marco and me, but his eyes were clear again, cold and calculating. “He wanted you to answer that call,” he murmured. “He’s setting the next board.”

“Then we’ll overturn it,” I said, forcing the words past the dread climbing my throat.

Downstairs, the main hall smelled of smoke and gunpowder. One of our guards lay facedown near the marble stairs, blood pooling beneath him. Lucia knelt to check his pulse and shook her head once.

Enzo's steps were unsteady, but he was coming around, his grip on my shoulder tightening as if grounding himself. "Aria," he slurred, "don't listen to him."

Enzo straightened, pain visible in every motion. “He’s close,” he said. “Too clean for a random hit.” I squeezed his hand, but inside, doubt gnawed at me. What if there was something I missed?

Marco gestured toward the shattered window. “Thermal cameras show heat signatures outside, three, or maybe four.” “Not Luca’s main force,” Enzo muttered. “Scouts.”

He turned to me. “You still have the code key Dahlia gave you?” I nodded and fished the small drive from my pocket.

“Then listen carefully,” he said. “That drive is bait. Luca wants you to plug it into the command terminal downstairs, but don’t. It’s wired to release everything he’s been blackmailing me with: videos, bank routes, kills and all of it.

If that file goes public, every alliance we built burns overnight.”

The realization slammed into me. “That’s why he wanted me to answer. To make me deliver the poison myself.”

Enzo’s mouth curved into something like a grim smile. “Exactly.” We reached the control room, an underground space of monitors and humming servers.

The feed screens blinked with static, then steadied into Luca’s face. He was somewhere dark, a faint blue light painting his features.

“Move her away from the desk, Enzo,” he said. “You know what that drive holds.”

Enzo leaned forward, voice sharp. “You’ve run out of ghosts to hide behind, Luca.”

“Oh, brother, I have more than you think.” Luca tilted the camera, revealing Dahlia bound to a chair beside him, a bruise blooming along her jaw. “She thought loyalty was a currency. I decided to collect.”

Marco swore under his breath. Lucia reached for her gun, but Enzo held her back. “You hurt her and this ends faster than you want,” he said.

Luca laughed. “I already hurt you. The world just hasn’t seen it yet.”

The screen split into four smaller windows, each showing different footage: Enzo’s meetings with corrupt officials, his hidden ledgers and one clip that made my stomach drop. The bedroom, me and I, months ago, caught from some unseen camera angle.

My breath hitched. “He’s been watching since the beginning.”

“Yes,” Luca said softly through the speakers. “Because power is built on proof.”

Enzo slammed a fist against the desk; sparks burst from a monitor. “You think you can break her to get to me? You don’t know her.” Luca’s smile was faint. “Don’t I?”

Then the feed cut, every screen turning black except one. A new image appeared: an aerial view of the estate, a red targeting grid pulsing over the roof.

“Get down!” Enzo shouted. The explosion hit before the word fully left his mouth. The ceiling tore open, fire raining like molten glass. I hit the floor, heat searing my skin and my ears ringing. When the smoke thinned, the control room was half-collapsed, servers burning.

“Marco!” I called. No answer. Lucia coughed somewhere in the haze. Enzo was beside me, blood streaking his temple. He pulled me toward the emergency tunnel behind the racks.

We stumbled through darkness and the tunnel shuddered with aftershocks. Halfway through, another sound rose behind us, but this time it was footsteps, slow and deliberate. When I turned, a silhouette moved through the smoke, tall and confident. A flashlight beam caught the edge of a scar I’d know anywhere.

“Luca,” Enzo growled. He stepped closer, pistol loose in his hand, expression calm. “You should’ve died when I told them to burn that lab.”

Enzo positioned himself between us. “You’ll have to try harder.” “Gladly.”

The gunfire was deafening in the narrow space. I dropped behind a beam, returning fire with shaking hands. Sparks danced as bullets struck metal. Then silence, thick and heavy.

Enzo turned to check the corridor ahead. “Go, Aria. Find Marco and Lucia.”

“No.”

His eyes met mine, fierce and tender all at once. “That’s an order.”

Something moved behind him, Luca raising the gun again. Without thinking, I lunged, grabbing Enzo’s arm and pulling him down just as a shot ripped past, grazing my shoulder. Pain flared white, but I held my ground.

Luca advanced. “Always protecting him. Always taking what isn’t yours.”

“Maybe because you never earned it,” I hissed.

He fired again. Enzo tackled him; the two men crashed against the tunnel wall. The gun skittered across the floor toward me. I snatched it up, aiming through the shaking in my arms.

“Don’t,” Enzo barked. “He’s mine.” They grappled, shadows twisting. Luca slammed a knee into Enzo’s ribs; Enzo drove an elbow into his throat. The fight was brutal, fast and fueled by history.

A final punch sent Luca sprawling. Enzo staggered, grabbed the gun from my hands and leveled it at Luca.

Luca laughed even as blood trickled down his chin. “Kill me and the rest of the world sees everything. The files are already set to release when my heart stops.”

Enzo froze. “You’re bluffing.” “Try me,” Luca said, and tapped his chest where a monitor blinked faintly under his shirt, a heartbeat sensor.

The tunnel lights flickered, the heartbeat beep steady. “Enzo,” I whispered, “if you shoot him, you give him exactly what he wants.”

He lowered the gun slightly, conflict raging behind his eyes. Luca smiled wider. “See? She’s learning.”

Before anyone could move, a distant explosion rocked the tunnel again, this one from the far end, collapsing part of the ceiling. Dust and debris rained down, cutting us off from the exit.

When the air cleared, Luca was gone and vanished into the smoke.

Enzo cursed under his breath, holstering the weapon. “He’ll trigger something bigger next.”

I pressed a hand against my bleeding shoulder. “Then we find him first.”

Somewhere above us, sirens wailed and the estate’s outer alarms finally caught up to the chaos.

We started forward through the wreckage, side by side, the red emergency lights strobing over walls slick with smoke. Every blink of light felt like another heartbeat counting down to something neither of us could yet see.