Chapter 38 First Assignment

• Luca
• The study was cloaked in shadows, the soft glow of my desk lamp barely illuminating the stack of documents before me. I swirled the whiskey in my glass but didn’t drink it. My mind was elsewhere, plotting moves and countermoves. Alessia's unexpected question earlier had stirred something in me—an emotion I couldn’t afford right now. The engagement had been a strategic decision, yet I couldn’t deny the complication she had become in my life.
• A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. “Come in,” I called, expecting Alessia.