Chapter 88: Dangers looming in the dark
The night clung to the Morano estate like a shroud.
The lamps flickered dimly in the corridors, and silence ruled the halls, broken only by the mechanical hum of the machines keeping Luca tethered to this world.
Alessia had not moved from his side.
Her fingers had traced the same line across his knuckles a thousand times, memorising every ridge, every scar.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, her lips raw from whispered prayers that had not ceased since he collapsed into her arms.
But it was not only Luca’s fragile breaths that haunted her now.
The message.
That cursed message.
"The girl you chased still breathes"....
She knew it was from Bianca and the name alone left a bitter taste on Alessia’s tongue, an ache in her chest sharp enough to steal her breath.
She had once thought Bianca is gone forever, banished by her own lies, her manipulative games, her poisoned schemes.
But Bianca was back. And if the message was right, she wasn’t just back, she was waiting.
Her blood chilled at the thought.
Alessia leaned closer to Luca, pressing a soft kiss to his temple, her tears dampening his skin. "I swear to you," she whispered, her voice trembling with fury and love alike, "she will never come between us. Not again. Not ever."
The steady beep of the heart monitor gave her no reply.
*******
Far from the quiet sanctuary of Luca’s room, the estate gates groaned open in the dead of night.
A dark blue car rolled in, tires whispering over the gravel like a serpent sliding across stone.
The driver stepped out first, tall and silent, opening the rear door with a deference that spoke of wealth and menace.
And from the car emerged Bianca.
Her black dress clung to her like a second skin, slit high enough to show she hadn’t come to beg for scraps of affection but to demand an audience.
A wide black hat veiled her face, though her lips gleamed red beneath the shadows, painted with the kind of confidence only a woman who played with men’s hearts could wear.
She stood still, her eyes fixed on the manor before her.
"Home," she whispered, though it was nothing of the sort.
It was a battlefield. And she was here to claim what she believed was hers.
In the dim light of the sickroom, Alessia jolted awake in her chair.
She hadn’t realized she had drifted off, exhaustion gnawing at her resolve, until the faintest creak of the floorboards snapped her eyes open.
The door wasn’t supposed to open.
She froze, every muscle in her body taut, protective.
Her gaze darted to Luca, still pale, still vulnerable before cutting sharply toward the doorway.
The silhouette of a woman lingered there.
Alessia rose slowly, her breath shallow. "Who’s there?"
The woman stepped into the light.
Her hat tilted back, and her face was revealed.
"It’s Bianca".. She answered with an evil smile across her cheeks.
Alessia’s heart stopped. For a moment, it felt as though the world itself tilted, collapsing in on her. The crimson smile, the calculating eyes, the audacity of her presence it all came crashing back like a nightmare that refused to die.
"You..... " Alessia’s voice cracked with disbelief, rage, and fear all at once. "You dare walk into this house?"
Bianca’s lips curved in a smile that was anything but warm. "This house? No, Alessia. You are mistaken. It has always been my house. My place.... My man. " Her eyes slid deliberately to Luca’s unconscious form. "And my future."
The air thickened, charged with unspoken threats.
Alessia stepped forward, her body trembling but her stance unyielding. "Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare look at him like he belongs to you."
Bianca laughed softly, the sound sharp as shattered glass. "Belongs? Men like Luca can never be owned. But you, Alessia... you have always been the placeholder. The pretty little distraction. Did you really think he could love you the way he loved me?, you were forced into his life remember? "...
The words struck deep, slicing open old wounds Alessia had thought healed. "we have passed this Bianca, and you vow never to return, so why did you come back? ".. Alessia felt to say more but she didn’t falter, She couldn’t, she pressed her palm against Luca’s chest protectively, her voice rising, fierce and breaking.
"He chose me not you. Me and you can crawl out of whatever grave you have been hiding in, but I swear to God, you will never take him from me again."
Bianca tilted her head, amused. "We will see about that, she who has more wisdom, more back up and more strange power wins luca, this is more than being ordinary... "
"Once Luca wakes up and sight me, the power her son Jackson has given her will possess luca". She said in her mind and smiled.
Alessia’s every instinct screamed at her to attack, to drag Bianca out by her hair and throw her to the wolves.
But Luca’s fragile condition anchored her, forcing her to stand her ground with words, not violence.
"You are pathetic," Alessia hissed, her tears blurring her vision. "You come crawling back when he’s weak, hoping you can worm your way in again. You think this is love? It’s poison. You’re poison."
Bianca’s eyes glittered, unbothered by the venom. "Poison, perhaps. But poison keeps a man addicted. Ask yourself, Alessia... when he whispered your name, did he ever think of mine?"
The words were daggers, designed to break her.
Alessia shook her head violently, her hands tightening around Luca’s. "No. He never loved you. Not the way he loves me. Because I am his forever, and you..... " Her voice cracked into steel. "You are nothing but a ghost."
For the first time, Bianca’s smile faltered.
Her eyes darkened, and for a heartbeat, Alessia saw the rage that burned beneath her flawless exterior.
"Careful, darling," Bianca murmured, stepping closer until only a breath separated them. "Ghosts have a way of haunting. And when I’m done, he’ll remember me... and forget you."
Alessia wanted to scream, to strike, to end this woman’s hold once and for all.
The room was heavy with silence, broken only by the weak rhythm of Luca’s shallow breaths. His chest rose and fell like a man caught between worlds, lingering on the edge of return.
Alessia stood frozen at first, staring at him, her heart pounding with a pain that words could not capture. Then, faintly, almost like a whisper clawing its way through the veil of unconsciousness, his lips parted.
"...Alessia..."
Her name.. soft, broken, yet burning with a truth Bianca could never bury slipped from his tongue.
Alessia’s throat tightened.
Tears welled in her eyes as she rushed to his side, her fingers trembling as they closed around his hand.
She pressed her lips against his knuckles, kissing him as though that fragile touch could tether his soul back to her.
"Just come back to life... for my sake," she whispered, her voice cracking under the weight of desperation. "Don’t you dare leave me, Luca."
From behind her, Bianca hissed sharply, venom spilling into the moment. Jealousy twisted her features as she folded her arms.
"Pathetic," Bianca sneered. "Even if he wakes up, Alessia, he must forget you. He will remember me. And when he does, I will be all he needs. All he wants."
For a long moment, Alessia didn’t move. Her tears fell silently onto Luca’s hand, her chest heaving with the storm she’d been carrying alone.
Then, finally, Alessia lifted her gaze, her eyes burning like fire, her voice sharp with the rage that had been piling up inside her.
Her words sliced the air.
"I won’t let you have your way, Bianca. You think you have something special?" She leaned closer, her tone darkening, each syllable weighted with promise. "Do you also mind to know... if I have some unpacked packages?"
But before bianca could respond, the sound of hurried footsteps filled the hall. The guards burst into the room.
They froze at the sight, Alessia standing like a lioness, Bianca poised like a snake, and Luca lying broken between them.
"Madonna... " one of them breathed, shock written across his face. "It’s... it’s Bianca."
Bianca smirked, adjusting her hat. "Gentlemen. Did you miss me?"
The room descended into chaos as fredo and two more guards barked orders, demanding Bianca leave immediately, as the last order Luca signed when she left. But Bianca’s presence wasn’t just physical, it was psychological.
Every word she spoke, every gesture, dripped with manipulation, her confidence making even hardened men hesitate.
Alessia gripped Luca tighter, her voice a whip across the air. "Get her out. Now.... "
Bianca raised a hand, her expression mockingly soft. "Oh, Alessia, you think you have won because he’s lying there, clinging to life. But when he wakes... when he truly wakes... we will see who he reaches for."
Her words lingered like smoke, choking the air.
The guards moved to escort her out, but Bianca didn’t resist.
She turned with practiced grace, her dress swaying like the flicker of a dark flame.
At the doorway, she looked back one last time, her lips curving into a cruel promise.
"This isn’t over. It has never been over. You’ll learn that the hard way."
And then she was gone, her heels echoing down the hall like the toll of a funeral bell.
******
The silence that followed was unbearable.
Alessia’s chest heaved, her heart pounding like war drums.
She clung to Luca’s hand, whispering fiercely against his stillness.
"She won’t win. Do you hear me, Luca? She won’t take you. She won’t touch what’s ours."
But deep inside, fear gnawed at her.
Because Bianca wasn’t just a ghost.
She was a storm and storms never came without leaving destruction in their wake.
******
Bianca entered her car once more, her smile sharp as a blade.
A figure waited inside, cloaked in shadow.
"You’ve made your move," the figure said.
Bianca leaned back, crossing her legs, her red lips curling. "Oh, darling, I’ve only just begun. Alessia may have his body now. But soon... she’ll be left with nothing."
The figure tilted forward, revealing a familiar face. "Enzo".....
Donato’s betrayer.
Bianca and Enzo exchanged a look, a silent pact forged in the dark.
And in that moment, the future of the Moranos tilted toward ruin.....