- Chapter 5
- Stephan De Luca woke up to chaos.
- It wasn’t the usual smooth efficiency of his household. It wasn’t the quiet, well-oiled machine that had run under his command for years.
- Instead, there were raised voices from downstairs—something that never happened in the De Luca estate.
- A deep frown settled on his face as he sat up.
- This was supposed to be a perfect morning. The start of a new life with Catherine. The first day without the ghost of Valerie lingering in the background of his house.
- Instead, his world seems to be falling apart.
- By the time he stepped into his office, three of his top men were already waiting. Their faces were tight with worry.
- “Boss, the shipping reports are missing crucial details,” one of them said, setting a stack of papers on the desk.
- “There are also delayed two major deliveries,” another added.
- “And the monthly accounts…” The third man hesitated, glancing between the others before continuing. “They don’t make any sense.”
- Stephan’s jaw clenched.
- He flipped through the reports, his sharp gaze scanning numbers that didn’t add up, shipments that had never arrived, transactions missing from the books.
- Nothing was where it should be. Everything was senseless.
- This wasn’t just bad luck. This was an obvious attempt to sabotage.
- His fingers curled around the edge of his desk as cold realization settled into his bones. Someone had done this deliberately.
- From the doorway, his father watched.
- Lorenzo De Luca, the man who had ruled their empire before Stephan took the throne, stood with an expression Stephan had never seen before—something between amusement and disappointment.
- “You thought she was just a pawn, Stephan?” Lorenzo’s voice carried through the room like a low, dangerous warning.
- “Wrong time for this now, father.” Stephan stiffened. His grip on the papers tightened. “I’m not in the mood to talk about this ridiculous woman.”
- “She was the one keeping this house together.” Father’s words hit him like a physical blow.
- Memories flashed through Stephan’s mind: Valerie was smoothing over conflicts before they became real problems. Keeping track of every detail, running things so seamlessly he had never needed to think about it.
- And at some point he had stopped noticing her at all. He had stopped seeing her. Stopped looking for her.
- When and why exactly that started—he couldn’t quite tell.
- “She was just my fiancée,” he said, the words cold, dismissive. But even as they left his mouth, they sounded hollow.
- “Just your fiancée?” His father shook his head and laughed—a sharp, humorless sound. “She was supposed to be the foundation of your empire, you fool. And you threw her away for a pretty young-ass and some uncertain political connection.”
- Stephan’s pride flared. His chest tightened with hot, defensive anger.
- “She’ll come back anyway,” he said flatly.
- Lorenzo raised a brow. “And why would she?”
- Stephan exhaled slowly. “She has nowhere else to go.” His voice was calm, certain.
- A knock at the door interrupted them. Stephan turned, already irritated. “What?”
- Marco, his head of security, stepped inside. His face was pale.
- “Sir,” Marco hesitated. “There’s something you need to know.”
- Stephan waved him forward. “Then say it.”
- Marco glanced at Lorenzo, then looked back at Stephan, voice low. “It’s about Valerie.” Something cold settled in Stephan’s stomach. Marco’s next words made it worse. “She’s not who we thought she was.”
- Stephan’s breath stilled. His pulse slowed. “What do you mean?”
- Marco hesitated for only a second before delivering the truth that changed everything. “She’s gone back to her family. Her real family.”
- Silence thickened the air. Marco swallowed before said, “The Beneventis.”
- The name hit the room like a thunderclap.
- Stephan’s glass slipped from his fingers. It hit the desk with a dull thud, nearly shattering.
- “That’s impossible,” he whispered.
- But Marco wasn’t finished. “Our sources reported that she’s Celeste Beneventi. The only daughter of Salvatore Beneventi. The heir to their entire empire.”
- For a moment, the room felt too small.
- The Beneventi family.
- The most powerful crime syndicate in the country. Even the De Luca’s stepped carefully around them. And he had just publicly humiliated their heir.
- Stephan’s mind raced.
- Valerie. No—Celeste.
- The woman he had dismissed as a quiet, obedient shadow. The woman he had ignored, underestimated, discarded.
- The woman who had known far too much about his operations, had always understood their world better than she should have.
- She hadn’t been some naive, powerless girl he had picked up. Raised in the shadows of power. Trained to command empires.
- He had treated her like she was nothing. And got a direct punch for that.
- Stephan turned to the window, watching the morning sun climb higher. The words left Stephan’s mouth in a whisper.
- “I underestimated you, didn’t I, Celeste?”
