Chapter 2
By seven the next morning, Sophia had already learned how much strength it took to pretend your heart had not broken.
She stood in front of the bathroom mirror with one hand beneath her swollen belly and studied her own face. Her eyes were tired but not red. Good. Luca noticed everything. A missing car outside a restaurant. A guard standing half an inch too close to a door. A stranger who looked away too quickly. If Sophia walked downstairs looking destroyed, he would know immediately.
So she washed her face, tied her dark hair into a loose knot, and chose the pale blue dress Luca liked because it made her look, as he once said, “too innocent to belong in my house.”
That memory hurt differently now. Maybe she had never belonged there at all.
When Sophia entered the breakfast room, Luca was already seated at the long table, reading something on his phone. His black suit jacket hung over the chair beside him. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms. A cup of espresso sat untouched near his hand.
He looked up instantly. “There you are.”
Three ordinary words. Yesterday, they would have made her smile. Today, Sophia wondered how many ordinary words in their marriage had been built over an extraordinary lie.
Luca stood and pulled out her chair. “How did you sleep?”
Sophia almost laughed. Instead, she sat carefully. “Fine.”
His gaze lingered on her face. “The baby?”
“Apparently, she enjoys kicking her mother at two in the morning.”
A faint smile touched Luca’s mouth. “She’s a Dantis.”
“No,” Sophia said before she could stop herself. “She’s also a Bellini.”
The smile disappeared. Not because the words were strange. Because of the way Sophia had said them.
Across the table, Luca watched her. She could feel it without looking. “Did I wake you last night?” he asked.
Her hand stopped for less than a second. Then she sliced a strawberry. “No.”
“Carlo came by. I assumed it was business.”
“It was.”
She raised her eyes. For one dangerous moment, she wanted to ask, “Was I business, too?” Instead, she smiled politely.
Luca’s expression hardened almost imperceptibly. He knew her real smiles. Apparently, three years had been enough for that.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Sophia.” That voice. Low. Firm. The voice that made dangerous men reconsider bad decisions. It had never frightened her. This morning, it irritated her.
“I’m pregnant, Luca. I’m tired. My back hurts. My daughter thinks my ribs are a playground. And I would trade half your fortune for one night of sleeping on my stomach.”
His mouth twitched. Usually, that would have pleased her. Today, she hated that she still knew how to make him smile.
He reached across the table. His fingers moved toward hers. Sophia pulled her hand away to lift her water glass. The movement was natural enough to fool anyone else.
“Not Luca.” His hand remained on the table for a moment before he withdrew it. Something changed behind his eyes.
“You have an appointment Thursday.”
“I know. I moved the meeting with Romano Shipping.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to be there.”
The words landed heavily. Sophia looked down at her belly. Want. Duty. Promise. Protection. How was she supposed to know the difference anymore?
“I can go by myself.”
Luca’s brows drew together. “You’ve never wanted to go alone.”
“Maybe I should start doing some things alone.”
Silence stretched between them. Luca leaned back slightly. “Sophia, look at me.”
She did. That was almost a mistake. Because the man across from her did not look like someone serving a sentence. He looked concerned. He looked tired. He looked exactly like the husband she had loved when she went to sleep the night before. And that made everything worse.
“Did something happen?” he asked.
Sophia could have ended it there. She could have repeated every word she had heard. She could have demanded an explanation. Instead, she looked at Luca Dantis and understood something important. If she confronted him now, he would control the conversation. He would explain. He would protect. He would decide which pieces of the truth she was strong enough to hear — just as he apparently had from the beginning.
“No,” she said. “I’m fine.”
Luca did not believe her. She saw that immediately. But his phone rang before he could push further. He glanced at the screen and cursed quietly.
“I have to take this.”
“Of course.”
He stood, put on his jacket, then walked around the table. Before leaving, he bent toward her as he always did. A kiss against her forehead. One hand briefly touching her shoulder. His lips almost reached her skin.
Sophia leaned back only an inch.
Luca froze. Their eyes met. Neither spoke. Finally, Sophia forced a small smile.
“Your coffee breath.”
It was a weak joke. Luca did not smile. He straightened slowly.
“I’ll be home early.”
May you like
Sophia nodded. She watched him walk toward the door. Then Luca stopped. He turned back and studied her with an expression that made her pulse quicken. He knew something was wrong. He simply did not know what.
Not yet.
