Chapter 6 - Scars Under Italian Silk, The Midnight Fever, and The Don Who Refused To Sleep
Back at the Hudson Valley estate, the illusion of public triumph faded into the quiet reality of their strange life.
Norah kicked off her designer heels in the grand entryway.
She was exhausted, but her heart was pounding with a strange adrenaline she hadn't felt in seven years.
“You didn't have to buy his debt,” Norah said, looking up at Luca as he unbuttoned his collar.
“I didn't buy it,” Luca replied calmly, unfastening his platinum cufflinks. “You pointed out the arbitrage flaw in Hudson Maritime’s portfolio during breakfast yesterday. My financial team simply executed your analysis. You earned that debt portfolio yourself.”
Norah looked at him, startled.
In seven years of marriage, Sebastian had never once acknowledged her intelligence. He had taken her spreadsheets, presented them to his board as his own work, and told her to stay in the kitchen.
Here, Luca Castellano treated her mind like a weapon of mass destruction.
Suddenly, a cry came from the upstairs monitor.
Norah didn't hesitate. She gathered her emerald velvet skirts and sprinted up the stairs toward Leo’s bedroom.
Leo was thrashing in bed, his face flushed red, burning with a sudden high fever.
“Mama...” Leo whimpered in his delirium, clutching the sheets. “Don't let them take the car...”
Norah sat on the edge of the bed instantly, pulling the small boy into her arms, pressing a cool, damp cloth against his forehead.
“I’m here, Leo. Nobody is taking anything. You are safe.”
For the next four hours, Norah did not leave his side.
She bathed his forehead, measured his fever medicine, and sang old lullabies her grandmother had taught her.
At 3:00 AM, she felt a presence behind her.
Luca was standing in the doorway, his dress shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest, revealing the deep, jagged scars from bullet wounds across his ribs.
He held a cup of hot chamomile tea.
He walked over quietly and set it on the nightstand beside her.
“Go to sleep, Norah. I will watch him.”
“No,” Norah whispered, stroking Leo’s soft curls as the boy’s breathing finally stabilized. “He needs to wake up and see that I’m still here. If I leave, he’ll think it was a dream.”
Luca looked down at her.
May you like
He looked at the curve of her waist, the gentleness in her hands, and the fierce, unyielding loyalty in her eyes.
Without another word, Luca Castellano pulled an armchair directly beside the bed, sat down, and stayed awake in the dark beside her until the sunrise broke through the trees.
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