“And you didn’t think I deserved to know that?”
Luca’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t want to involve you in something dangerous.”
Emma laughed, bitter and incredulous. “I was already involved, Luca. The moment you hired me.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” Emma’s voice cracked. “Do you have any idea what it felt like to stand there and lie to your grandmother while Camille looked at me like I was nothing? To pretend I was your partner when I thought I was just your hired help?”
“You were never just my hired help.”
“Then what was I?”
Luca crossed the space between them in two strides. “You were the first person in ten years who made me feel like something other than a weapon. You were the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about. You were—” He stopped. Breathed. “You were the reason I wanted Camille gone. Not because she was stealing. Because I wanted to make space for you.”
Emma’s anger cracked.
“That’s not fair.”
“I know.”
“You can’t just—”
“I know.”
Emma pressed her hands to her face. “I need a minute.”
Luca stepped back immediately.
Emma walked out into the garden.
She sat on the bench beneath the old oak tree and tried to make sense of the past six months.
Luca had hired her to sabotage a date. Had paid her to lie. Had promised her a favor that had saved her sister’s life.
And then he’d fallen in love with her.
Or maybe he’d been falling the entire time.
Emma didn’t know which version was true.
Didn’t know if it mattered.
What she did know was that Luca Moretti had spent his entire life being used. Being feared. Being turned into a weapon by a family that needed someone dangerous enough to protect them.
And he’d chosen her anyway.
Flawed. Complicated. Carrying her own desperate history.
He’d chosen her.
Emma stood.
She walked back inside.
Luca was exactly where she’d left him, standing in the foyer like he was waiting for sentencing.
“I’m angry,” Emma said.
“I know.”
“I’m angry that you didn’t trust me with the truth.”
“I know.”
“I’m angry that you thought I needed to be protected.”
Luca’s expression cracked. “Emma, you were barely surviving. You took a job lying to my grandmother because you were terrified for your sister. I wasn’t going to add to that weight.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make.”
“I know.”
Emma stepped closer. “But I also know that you saved Sophie. That you gave me a place to belong. That you looked at me like I mattered when the rest of the world looked through me.”
Luca’s hands curled into fists. “You’ve always mattered.”
“Then trust me. With all of it. The dangerous parts. The complicated parts. The parts you think I’m not strong enough to handle.”
“Emma—”
“I love you, Luca. But I won’t be with someone who treats me like I need to be kept in the dark for my own good.”
Luca closed his eyes.
When he opened them, Emma saw something break open behind his gaze.
“I’ve spent my entire life keeping people at a distance because closeness gets people killed. But you—” His voice fractured. “You walked into my life and refused to stay at a distance. You argued with me. Challenged me. Made me laugh in rooms where I’d forgotten how.”
Emma’s throat ached.
“I didn’t tell you about Camille because I was afraid,” Luca continued. “Not of her. Of losing you. Of watching you realize that being with me means living in a world where people like Camille exist. Where danger is constant. Where loving me makes you a target.”
“I already know that.”
“And you’re still here.”
“I’m still here.”
