Chapter 48

• The night dripped with velvet darkness, moonlight slicing through the curtains of the secluded villa like silver blades. Luca stood by the window, his fingers ghosting over the cold glass, watching the shadows of the vineyard sway under the midnight breeze. He should have felt safe here this place was meant to be their sanctuary, but his heart had become a battlefield of doubt and betrayal.
• Behind him, the soft rustle of silk sheets stirred as Elio sat up in bed, bare-chested, his dark hair tousled, his eyes drowsy but watchful.
• “You’re not sleeping,” Elio murmured, his voice thick with sleep but tinged with concern. He shifted, the covers slipping down his toned body, revealing inked skin and the faintest trace of old scars remnants of the violence they both carried like ghosts.