He carried loneliness like a permanent wound.

And despite every warning in my head, I started falling in love with him.

One rainy evening, I finally asked the question haunting me.

“How many people have you killed?”

Luca looked away.

“Enough to know I don’t deserve you.”

The honesty shattered me.

Because monsters weren’t supposed to sound broken.

That same night, he kissed me for the first time.

Slowly.

Like he feared I might disappear.

The world outside vanished completely.

For the first time in years, I felt safe.

Which was exactly why the betrayal destroyed me.

Three nights later, I woke around dawn and noticed Luca wasn’t beside me.

Voices echoed faintly from his office.

I moved closer quietly.

“…she still doesn’t know?” one man asked.

“No,” Luca answered.

“Then when do you plan to tell her the truth?”

Silence.

Then Luca spoke words that turned my blood to ice.

“The evidence was never the problem.”

I stopped breathing.

“The real issue,” Luca continued quietly, “is that Claire Monroe is the rightful heir to half the DeMarco empire.”

My knees nearly collapsed beneath me.

What?

“She’s his daughter,” the other man whispered.

The room spun violently around me.

My mother hadn’t simply worked for Luca’s father.

She had loved him.

And Luca knew.

The man I trusted… the man I loved… had known from the beginning that I was connected to his family by blood.

I stumbled backward accidentally knocking over a vase.

The office door opened instantly.

Luca’s face changed the second he saw mine.

“Claire—”

“You lied to me.”

“Please let me explain.”

“You knew who I was this entire time?”

Pain flashed across his face.

Real pain.

My voice cracked violently.

“What am I to you?”

He stepped toward me slowly.

“Everything.”

But I no longer knew whether to believe him.

## Part 5 – The Truth No One Saw Coming

I ran.

By sunrise, I had vanished from Luca’s penthouse and disappeared into the city.

But there was nowhere left to hide.

Because the moment I stepped into Grand Central Station, someone pressed a gun against my ribs.

“Get in the car.”

The man beside me smiled coldly.

Senator Richard Bennett.

One of the most respected men in America.

And apparently one of the monsters responsible for my mother’s death.

“You should’ve stayed hidden, Claire,” he said calmly as the SUV pulled away.

“Your mother made the same mistake. She trusted the wrong people.”

My entire body shook with terror.

“You killed her.”

“No,” he replied softly.

“Your father did.”

I froze.

Father?

Bennett smiled.

“Luca DeMarco’s father wasn’t your real father.”

He leaned closer.

“I was.”

The world shattered.

“You’re lying.”

“Am I?”

His eyes gleamed cruelly.

“Your mother threatened to expose me after she discovered where my money came from. I handled the situation personally.”