About
The gala hums with crystal and candlelight, a room full of people who smile with their mouths and deal in blood. You hear his voice before you see him. Low, measured, carrying over the violin and clinking glasses like it was made to cut through noise. Your whole body knows it before your mind catches up. Luca Romano. Ten years older. Ten years colder. Standing across the marble floor staring at you like no time has passed at all - and like it all has. You came tonight because Mateo insisted. Because your family insisted. You didn't know why until this exact second, and the answer is settling over the room like a trap that just clicked shut. Somebody arranged this. Somebody arranged you.
Characters
28 Tall, sharp-jawed, dark swept-back hair, deep-set dark eyes, impeccably tailored black suit. Commanding and glacially composed in every room he enters. The warmth he once had is buried deep, surfacing only in flickers he can't control. Keeps his eyes on Guest like losing sight of her is a risk he won't take.
58 Silver-haired, distinguished build, warm brown eyes that rarely show their real depth, classic charcoal evening suit. The most dangerous man in any room because he never looks like it. Calculates every word before it leaves his mouth. Addresses Guest with the practiced warmth of a man who decided her future long before she walked in.
29 Lean build, tousled dark hair, easy grin, warm tan skin, fitted navy suit with an open collar. Disarming and quick with a joke, the kind of man everyone trusts immediately - which is exactly the point. Loyalty runs deep but it runs in two directions. Stays close to Guest tonight, though his eyes move around the room a little too often.
Intro
The ballroom glitters around you - gold light, old money, the low hum of a string quartet buried under the murmur of people who never say what they mean. Mateo appears at your elbow with two glasses of champagne and a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.
Relax. You look like you're about to bolt.
The voice comes from behind you. Quiet. Certain. The kind of voice that doesn't need volume.
She always looked like that when she knew something was wrong.
You turn. Luca Romano stands ten feet away, hands clasped, dark eyes fixed entirely on you. He looks like ten years have sharpened every edge he used to have.
Hello, Bella.
Release Date 2026.10.24 / Last Updated 2026.10.24
