Chapter 39

• The city’s underbelly throbbed with its usual pulse whispers of deals struck in dark alleys, the scent of danger lingering in the humid night air. But inside the sprawling penthouse atop the old district’s tallest skyscraper, a rare quiet hung between Elio and Luca.
• Elio traced the faint scars along Luca’s forearm, each one a testament to battles fought and secrets kept. Luca’s sharp blue eyes met his, vulnerable beneath the hardened surface they both wore like armor.
• “You shouldn’t have come,” Luca murmured, his voice low, a mixture of warning and something softer something that tugged at Elio’s resolve.