Chapter 35: Door to hell
Luca gently lowered Sara onto the bed and exhaled a long breath of relief. "God, my back and shoulders," he muttered, rolling them to ease the stiffness.
When he turned back to her, she was already fast asleep. Kneeling beside the bed, he carefully slipped off her sandals and tucked them neatly underneath.
He straightened her on the mattress, pulling the soft silk sheets up to her shoulders. For a moment, he just watched her before heading to the washroom to freshen up.
A few minutes later, Luca sank into the couch, towel still draped around his neck. He unlocked his phone to check for any missed calls or messages. He ignored the calls from his parents and checked Remo’s messages to him.
[I made sure Asher won’t be running his mouth for at least a month.]
[But if Sara finds out, you’ll be the one answering to her. She never imagined you could be such a dangerous man, did she?]
Luca let out a quiet chuckle, murmuring under his breath, "Is he mocking me?"
He closed the chat window with Remo and scrolled through his notifications, spotting another message, from the house butler. With a sigh, he tapped on the number and brought the phone to his ear, his fingers drumming lightly against the couch cushion.
"Good evening, Young Master!" came Garette’s polite, slightly nervous voice.
Luca leaned back, eyes half-closed. "What is it, Garette?"
"Sir," Garette began, lowering his tone, "your wife’s stepsister visited this morning. She spoke with Madam about you and the Madam... and even mentioned helping her with the divorce between you two."
As the butler continued recounting Frida’s words, Luca’s expression darkened. His jaw tightened, and the warmth in his eyes vanished, replaced by anger.
"Thanks for telling me, Garette," Luca said, then ended the call.
He watched the sleeping form of Sara for a long beat, frowning. "Strange! Mom didn’t side with Frida," he murmured to himself. A thin, humorless chuckle escaped him. "Looks like Frida needs to be shown the door to hell. She really believes she can separate us."
He pushed himself up and crossed to the balcony. The night breeze was cool against his face. He brought his phone to his ear and tapped Fabio’s contact.
"Boss?" Fabio answered, and a woman’s voice murmured in the background until Fabio signaled with his eyes.
"Where does Frida Falcone work?" Luca asked, ignoring the sound he heard.
There was a puzzled pause. "Huh? I don’t know, Boss," Fabio admitted.
"Find out, then." Luca’s voice went flat with command. "I want everything on her. And keep a close watch on Diego. I want no mistakes."
"Understood, sir," Fabio replied. "Anything else, sir?"
"Nothing," Luca replied and disconnected the call. He went back to the room after shutting the balcony’s door and slid inside the sheets after placing his phone on the nightstand. He snuggled to Sara while murmuring, "I’m going to punish them for you. They have pissed me off."
~~~~~
The next morning, Sara woke up at her usual time but with a severe headache. She turned her head and found Luca sleeping once again so close to her. ’How did we return?’ she wondered, trying to recall as she sat up on the bed.
There were a fragment of memories. She was hitting Luca’s shoulder while hugging him from behind, blaming him to feel the pain of the breakup.
She shook her head and quietly got down from the bed. Rubbing the back of her neck, she entered the washroom and washed her face first. As she looked at her face and pledged, "No more drinks from now on."
With that, she went ahead to freshen up. When she returned to the room, her eyes landed on Luca, who was on a call with someone.
"Just ask him to wait until I return."
Luca turned around and smiled at Sara.
"I’ll talk to you later, Fabio," he said and ended the call.
"Good morning. How was your sleep?"
"It was good," Sara replied, biting her lower lip. "Did I trouble you a lot last night? I apologize for it," she whispered, averting her gaze from him.
"You asked me repeatedly to love you," Luca answered.
Sara met his gaze and frowned. "Don’t lie. I won’t ever ask that." Though she was herself unsure what exactly she did last night after leaving that restaurant.
"You hit me multiple times on my shoulder. One time I thought you would dislocate it," Luca complained it, still rubbing his shoulder.
Sara opened her mouth, but couldn’t utter anything.
"My head is aching. I’ll ask the resort staff for a painkiller. You should freshen up too," she stated, avoiding him and went ahead.
"Will you go outside in the bathrobe?" His words abruptly stopped her.
"I mean, after changing my clothes," Sara replied promptly.
"That’s not needed. I’ve already asked for a hangover tonic for you. Just drink that over there," Luca said, pointing at the couch table. Sara hurried over there and grabbed the bottle.
"Thank you," she said, smiling at him. Uncapping the bottle, she drank it and within seconds, she felt much better.
"You helped Frida enter a fashion business, right?" Luca asked.
"Huh?" Sara was confused with his sudden questions on her stepsister. "Yes, why do you ask?"
"Because I’ve decided to take over it and ruin her," Luca replied. "You talked about taking revenge from both Asher and Frida. Now is the time. They must suffer badly. Don’t you think?" Something in his gaze made Sara feel uncomfortable.
"Yes, but what you are going to do? Frida’s business is running successfully," Sara answered. "And I don’t want any employee to suffer there."
"Of course, they won’t," Luca answered with a smile as if he had already won.
"But Luca I don’t want you to do anything. I mean, it’s not your place to fight for me against Asher and Frida. I must punish them in my way," Sara pronounced. "I hope you understand."
"Of course, I do," Luca stated.