Chapter 101: You Have Two Choices

Tears fell freely now, tracing bright lines down her pale cheeks. Her lips trembled, jaw tight, as she struggled to form words that wouldn’t come. She had known that Luca was dangerous. But to see him like this…

Luca’s hand reached for a knife from the array of tools spread meticulously on the desk. “I wanted to prolong his suffering…” he murmured.

“Luca…” she whispered, a plea that contained everything—fear, frustration. Her eyes were wide, tracking his movements.

“But since this is a show and tell…” Without a pause, he cut the rope holding Inferi’s wrists, letting the man drop heavily to the floor with a thud that made the room shudder. Inferi’s eyes, wide with terror, flicked to Vee as his body twisted weakly under the weight of his injuries.

The gag in his mouth muffled a desperate plea, but his eyes spoke volumes. He looked helpless, beaten, completely at the mercy of Luca’s wrath.

“This isn’t one of those times when you ask me to let someone go, I am going to kill him right here.” The knife gleamed in his hand, poised above the broken man on the floor, an instrument of finality.

“You have two choices,” he continued. “Walk away right now, and I will accept that you will never accept who I am. Or stay and watch me kill him, to prove to me that you accept all of me, that you want all of me.”

Her chest heaved, lungs desperate for air.

And in that instant, Vee knew that whatever decision she made, nothing would ever be the same. To stay was to embrace his world, to accept his violence as part of the man she was falling for, to willingly walk into a darkness she had always feared. To walk away was to betray herself, to leave behind a connection she could never sever.

Luca despite all his evil, had drilled himself into her, so deep she couldn’t find the entry point.

“God, please, Luca, don’t do this.” Behind Luca, Inferi struggled weakly on the floor, a ruined man waiting for the final sentence.

Luca looked only at her. “It’s simple, Vee.” The knife rested easily in his hand, an extension of him, as natural as breath. “I am giving you a choice. I don’t have a gun to your head, now, do I? Are you ashamed of who I am, or do you accept who I am?”

“It’s not so simple!” Vee yelled. “You’re asking me to stand here while you take a life.”

“I will count to ten.” He gestured with the knife toward the steel door behind her. “There is the door. Here is me.”

“Jesus!” Vee bit down on her lower lip. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Jesus Christ!”

“One…”

A strange, terrible calm slid over her skin. The panic that had been clawing at her lungs began to recede, not because the situation had softened, but because she suddenly understood something fundamental. Luca fed on fear. It validated him. It confirmed that the monster he believed himself to be was real.

“Two…”

Her eyes opened. She stepped toward him.

“Three…”

“I’m not running.” She moved closer. “I will not run. I will stay.”

Luca’s brow lifted slightly, skeptical, amused. He thought she was bluffing.

“Four…”

Vee drew in a shaky breath, steadying herself against the tidal wave inside her. “I meant what I said last night. I said I love you. I meant it. But don’t subject me to this. It will not change how I feel about you. It won’t.” She stepped even closer, until the knife hovered inches from her hip. “But it will most definitely change me.”

She swallowed hard. “If you make me stand here and watch this, you are not testing my love. You are reshaping me into something I may never recognize again.” Her hands came up slowly and pressed against his chest. “I love the man who protects. The man who terrifies everyone else but holds me like I matter.”

Her eyes glistened, but she did not look away. “I know what you are. I accept what you are. But do not ask me to become it.”

Inferi made a strangled sound on the floor. The knife gleamed between them.

“Five…” Luca moved behind Inferi now, the knife hovering at his throat. Vee’s feet rooted to the floor, the edge of Luca’s jacket gripped tightly in her fists. Her eyes, brimming with tears locked onto his, daring him to see, really see, what she was becoming in his presence.

If he wanted to witness the moment she turned—the moment she stepped fully into the darkness that danced alongside his light.

“Six…” he continued. He held the knife steady against Inferi’s skin, a cold, absolute line of judgment, waiting. And in that pause, Luca realized a part of him wanted her to run, desperately. He wanted her to bolt, to retreat from this room of blood and fear, because maybe, just maybe, if she ran, he would see the futility of the obsession clawing at him from the inside.

Perhaps he would finally understand that what he wanted, what he needed, could never be his. But she did not move. Not an inch. Her body remained a tense, vibrant counterpoint to the lethality that surrounded her.

“Seven…” he murmured, and the faintest twitch appeared at the corner of his lip, imperceptible but telling. He saw it in her posture—the settling of her shoulders, the way her chin lifted, proud and resolute. Acceptance radiated off her in waves, not just of submission but of understanding.

She was choosing this path, choosing to meet him in his darkness. She would own her own darkness for him, and the knowledge that she could do this, that she would do this, left him enthralled.

“Eight…” His mind flicked to his father, the patriarch who demanded strength in every member of the Genovese household. If his father could see her now, he would recognize her instantly as the bride the family had always needed.

“Nine…” He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let this continue. She was the good to his bad, the light to his chaos, and he couldn’t push her into the abyss he inhabited. “Go! Now!” he snapped.

And then, she smiled, a triumphant, wicked, defiant smile.

“Oh, you bitch!” he hissed through clenched teeth. She had met him in his world, had stared at the abyss and chosen not to look away.

She had seen him, all of him, and she had not fled. And in that refusal, in that single act of defiance, she had claimed a piece of him he wasn’t willing to give to anyone.

Vee’s laugh echoed, a bright, ringing sound that felt sacrilegious against the lingering metallic tang of blood in the air. She hurried past the threshold of the room. She didn’t look back, before slipping out of the chamber, leaving Luca alone with the finality of his actions.

He glanced down at Inferi, already bored. He held the knife steady and sliced his neck clean through. His body landed forward, sprawled grotesquely on the floor. The anger that had built in his chest—the searing, relentless fire that had demanded attention all day—dissolved in that moment, leaving only an icy satisfaction.

He had defended what was his obsession. There would be others, of course, those foolish enough to challenge or threaten her, but they would fall eventually.

Dropping the knife onto the desk, he pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the residual blood on his fingers. He then left the room and headed back to his office.

He found her waiting, the subtle curve of her hips framed by the tight fabric of her black dress, the arm warmers adding a hint of rebellious edge to her elegance. The fire in her eyes met his with unflinching boldness, a silent challenge that thrilled and unnerved him in equal measure.

“What now?” she asked.

“Now,” he said, “I fuck you. Go home and wait for me.”

Vee’s lips curved into a hard smile, and she nodded. She slipped his jacket from her shoulders, shedding his protection to reveal herself entirely to him.

“No, take it.” His hand grazed hers as he replaced the jacket over her shoulders, the heat of his touch lingering. “Oh, and Vee?” His lips twisted into a dangerous smile, dark amusement flickering in his icy blue eyes. “You better be wearing that dress when I come home… and you better be on your knees.”

She swallowed, a shiver coursing through her at the tone in his voice, the thrill of being claimed, tested, and desired all at once. Yet she held his gaze with unflinching audacity, her lips curling into a grin.

She stepped closer, bridging the space between them, and pressed her lips hard against his in a kiss.

“I’ll be waiting,” she whispered against him, pulling back just enough to let the heat of anticipation linger between them, letting him feel the hunger in her eyes as clearly as he felt the thrill of possession in his chest. She turned gracefully as she strode toward the door, leaving him standing in the office.

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