Chapter 21 — Chains of Silence
The world was smoke, fire, and iron hands dragging her through the storm.
Aria kicked, clawed, screamed, but the soldiers who held her did not flinch. Their grips were unbreakable, their faces hidden behind black masks. Her voice tore through the rain, crying Luca's name, but each shout was swallowed by thunder and the crashing flames.
She twisted once more, eyes burning through the smoke, searching. She saw him, Luca on his knees in the mud, blood soaking his chest, his hand stretched toward her, his lips moving. She could not hear him. She could only see his mouth shape her name.
Then the smoke swallowed him whole.
Her heart broke with a soundless scream as the world turned to shadows.
The soldiers shoved her into the back of a black armored truck. The doors slammed shut, locking the light away. The engine roared. She stumbled against the metal walls, the air sharp with oil and iron, her wrists bound behind her. The truck jolted forward, bouncing over rough ground.
Her throat ached. Her eyes burned. Her mind screamed the same word over and over.., Luca, Luca, Luca.
She pulled against the ropes at her wrists until the skin tore. The soldiers ignored her. They sat in silence, rifles steady across their knees, their eyes empty behind the masks.
The ride stretched into forever.
When the doors finally opened, the air that rushed in was colder, sharper, and full of salt. Aria blinked at the sight.
They had taken her to the sea.
A fortress rose from the cliffs ahead, black stone against the gray sky. Waves crashed against the rocks below, the sound like thunder. The soldiers dragged her inside, through halls of steel doors and narrow corridors lit by buzzing fluorescent lights.
They shoved her into a room and locked the door behind her.
The walls were bare concrete. A single metal chair sat bolted to the floor. No windows. No warmth. The silence pressed heavy, broken only by the echo of her own breaths.
She sank to her knees, her hands still bound, her body trembling. She tried to swallow her sobs, but they broke free anyway, her chest aching with the sound.
She thought of Luca, bleeding in the mud. Of Enzo, shouting her name. Of her boys Nico and Nino sleeping in their beds before the smoke came.
Her family.
Her heart.
Gone.
The door opened.
Her head snapped up. Adrian Moretti stepped inside.
He was calm, composed, his black coat dry now, his boots leaving no sound on the floor. His eyes studied her the way a man studies a rare painting. Slow. Careful. Possessive.
"You're stronger than you think," Adrian said softly. "Most people would be begging already."
Aria spat at his feet. Her voice cracked with rage. "You'll never have me. Never."
Adrian's smile was slight, almost kind. "You sound just like him. Luca. Always so dramatic. Always so sure his fire would burn the world. But fire burns out."
Her voice shook. "If he's dead, I swear..."
Adrian crouched down in front of her, close enough that she could see the flecks of steel in his dark eyes. "Dead? No. Not yet. But he will be, unless you learn quickly. I let him live tonight because I wanted him to watch. I wanted him to feel what his father felt, helplessness. Soon, his time will end."
Aria's blood turned cold.
Adrian's fingers brushed the ropes at her wrists. "You are not here as a prisoner, Aria. You are here as a key. And keys… must be protected."
She jerked away from his touch. "I'm not yours."
He rose smoothly, his coat brushing the floor. "You will be."
The door slammed shut behind him, leaving her in darkness.
Back in the mud and storm, Luca's body swayed. His blood soaked the earth, his vision fading. But his hand still stretched toward the smoke.
"Aria," he whispered, his voice weak, broken.
Then the world went black.
When Luca woke, it was to pain. Blinding pain in his chest, his side, his arm. The smell of antiseptic burned his nose. He blinked against the harsh light, the ceiling swimming above him.
"Don't move," a voice warned.
He turned his head. Enzo sat by his bed, his face grim, his shirt stained with blood and mud. "You almost didn't make it. Matteo carried you out. If we'd been a minute later, you'd be gone."
Luca tried to sit, but his body betrayed him, collapsing back onto the bed. "Aria…" His throat was raw. "Where is she?"
Enzo's eyes darkened. "Taken. By them."
Luca's jaw clenched. His heart hammered. He tried again to rise, but Enzo shoved him down.
"You're not strong enough. You'll tear the stitches."
"I don't care!" Luca's voice cracked, his eyes blazing with fury. "He has her, Enzo. He has her! Adrian Moretti, he's alive."
Enzo's face hardened at the name. "I thought he was dead."
"So did we all," Luca growled. "But he's been waiting. Building. He wants her. He thinks she's some kind of… key."
Enzo leaned forward, his voice sharp. "Then we get her back. But you need to live first. You can't save her if you bleed out on this bed."
Luca's fist clenched weakly against the sheets. His vision blurred, but his voice was steady. "I don't care what it takes. I will find him. I will kill him. And I will bring her home."
Aria lay awake on the concrete floor of her cell, every sound amplified in the silence. The drip of a pipe. The hum of the light. The beat of her own heart.
She closed her eyes and pictured Luca's face, his hand reaching for her through the smoke. She whispered his name, a promise in the dark.
"Find me."
But the silence did not answer.
Adrian stood on the balcony of the fortress, the sea roaring below, the wind tearing at his coat. His soldiers waited behind him, silent shadows.
He looked out over the black horizon, his eyes sharp, his lips curling.
"The De Rossi line is broken," he murmured. "And soon, she will understand where she belongs."
His voice was soft, but the words carried in the wind, echoing into the night.
"By my side."