Chapter 12 - THE NEW PLACE
“I don’t want you to leave.”
Luca’s voice was low, echoing softly in the vast, empty foyer of the mansion.
I gripped the edges of my cardboard box. “Luca, I can’t live in the servant’s quarters if I’m the Director of Operations. It wouldn’t be professional.”
He took another step closer. He was close enough now that I could smell the faint scent of cedar and expensive cologne.
“I’m not asking you to stay in the servant’s quarters,” Luca said.
He reached out and gently placed his hand over mine, stopping me from backing away. His touch was warm, sending a jolt of electricity up my arm.
“This house has been a fortress for twenty years,” Luca said, his dark eyes searching mine. “It’s been full of secrets, and anger, and people who only wanted to take from it. Last night, you defended it. You defended my mother. You defended me.”
I swallowed hard, my heart hammering against my ribs. “It was the right thing to do.”
“It was the brave thing to do,” he corrected gently.
He took the cardboard box from my hands and set it on the marble floor.
“I spent the last two years thinking I had to marry someone like Claire to protect the family image,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a rough whisper. “I was looking for a partner in a boardroom. I should have been looking for a partner in life.”
He reached into his pocket. My breath caught, expecting to see the massive diamond ring he had taken back from Claire.
Instead, he pulled out a simple, delicate silver chain. Hanging from it was a small, beautiful charm in the shape of a shield.
“My grandfather gave this to my grandmother,” Luca said, unfastening the clasp. “It means protector.”
He stepped behind me. I shivered as he brushed my hair aside and fastened the cool silver chain around my neck. The charm settled perfectly against my collarbone.
“Stay, Natalie,” he whispered, his breath warm against my ear. “Not as an employee. Stay as my equal.”
I turned to face him. The mafia boss, the billionaire, the intimidating presence I had served for fourteen months—he was entirely gone. In his place was a man offering me his heart, entirely stripped of armor.
I looked down at the silver shield, then up into his eyes.
“Only if I get to redo the seating chart for the next dinner,” I smiled, tears finally spilling over.
Luca laughed, a genuine, booming sound that filled the dark house with light. He pulled me into his arms, and when he kissed me, all the ghosts of the Venturi family faded into the past.
One year later, the dining room was full again.
Forty guests sat beneath the crystal chandeliers. But this time, there were no politicians, no fake relatives, and no secrets. It was a dinner for the foundation’s true heroes—the social workers, the teachers, the maintenance men.
My father sat near the center, laughing loudly at a joke.
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At the head of the table, Luca raised his glass. He didn't look at the crowd. He looked directly at me.
And seated in the chair of honor, right beside her son, Eleanor Venturi smiled, placed her hand over mine, and whispered, “You’re exactly where you belong.”
