Chương 8
Blaire shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“You keep saying you were protecting me.”
“I did not say that.”
“You were thinking it.”
He went quiet.
She stepped back.
“I do not need another person deciding what I can handle.”
Luca absorbed the words.
Then nodded.
“You are right.”
Again.
That was becoming frustrating.
Because anger was easier when someone fought back.
“I should have told you what I knew,” he said.
Blaire looked at him.
“Yes.”
“I am sorry.”
The apology was simple.
No explanation afterward.
No excuse.
Just an apology.
She did not know what to do with that.
Her phone buzzed.
Both of them looked.
A new message.
This time from David.
No picture.
Just words.
You really think Luca Sterling is helping you?
Blaire stared.
Another message appeared.
Ask him why he refused to save my company.
Her eyes moved slowly toward Luca.
Because suddenly the question was no longer whether Luca had a secret.
It was whether David’s secret and Luca’s secret were the same story.
Blaire looked at the message until the words stopped looking like words.
Ask him why he refused to save my company.
She hated that part of her wanted to ask immediately.
Not because she trusted David.
Because she hated being the last person to know anything about her own life.
For years, she had watched conversations happen around her.
Financial decisions.
Business problems.
Plans for the future.
David always explained things afterward, when explanations were no longer invitations.
They were announcements.
Luca noticed the silence.
“You can ask me.”
Blaire looked up.
“What?”
“Whatever you are thinking.”
She almost laughed.
“That obvious?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You stopped blinking.”
The answer was so unexpectedly ordinary that it almost disarmed her.
Almost.
“You knew his company was failing.”
“Yes.”
“You knew before I did.”
“Yes.”
“You knew him before I did.”
Luca’s expression changed slightly.
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“You knew a version of him.”
Blaire looked away.
“That sounds like something a stranger would say.”
“It is.”
A pause.
“Because I am still a stranger.”
The honesty made her uncomfortable.
She wanted him to defend himself.
She wanted him to say he had reasons.
She wanted a clear villain and a clear hero.
Instead, she had two men with pieces of the truth.
And she was standing in the middle.
“Tell me everything,” she said.
Luca leaned back.
“I cannot.”
Her face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because some of it involves confidential business information.”
“Of course.”
“Blaire.”
“No, it is fine.”
She walked toward the kitchen counter.
“You can help me sleep on your shoulder, but you cannot tell me why my husband hates you.”
“I did not say I cannot tell you.”
“Then tell me.”
Luca was quiet.
Then he said, “David wanted me to buy his company.”
Blaire turned.
“Buy it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was running out of options.”
She folded her arms.
“He told me his business was doing well.”
“I know.”
The words were painful.
Not because Luca said them.
Because they confirmed something she had already suspected.
“How much was he losing?”
“I do not know the exact number.”
“But?”
“But enough that he was making decisions based on panic.”
Blaire stared at the floor.
A memory appeared without warning.
David sitting at the kitchen table late at night.
His laptop open.
A spreadsheet on the screen.
She had asked if everything was okay.
He had closed the computer.
“Work stuff.”
That was all he said.
She had believed him.
Or maybe she had wanted to.
“What happened when you refused?”
Luca looked at her.
“David became angry.”
“Because you would not buy his company?”
“Because I would not give him control over my company to solve his problems.”
Blaire went still.
“What does that mean?”
“He wanted access to my investment network.”
Her eyebrows pulled together.
“That sounds bigger than buying a company.”
“It was.”
The room became quiet.
Fiona sat on the rug nearby, coloring in a small notebook she had found in her backpack.
The ordinary sound of crayons moving across paper felt strange against the conversation.
Blaire lowered her voice.
“What was he planning?”
“I do not know.”
“That is not true.”
Luca looked at her.
“I know what he wanted.”
“Then tell me.”
“He wanted to appear successful long enough to attract bigger investors.”
“And?”
“And after that, I do not know.”
Blaire swallowed.
“You think he would hurt people?”
Luca did not answer quickly.
That was worse than an answer.
“I think people under extreme pressure can become people they do not recognize.”
The sentence stayed with her.
Because she had seen it happen.
Not with money.
With control.
With fear.
With pride.
David had not become someone else overnight.
He had become more of who he already was.
Her phone buzzed again.
Another message.
This time from David.
You are listening to him.
Blaire stared.
A second message followed.
Ask him about Rebecca.
She looked at Luca.
The name meant nothing.
But his reaction did.
Only a small change.
A slight tightening around his eyes.
Blaire noticed.
“Who is Rebecca?”
Luca looked away.
“That is complicated.”
“Everyone says that right before something terrible.”
A quiet breath left him.
“Rebecca was my sister.”
Blaire waited.
The room felt different.
Not because of the name.
Because of the way he said it.
“She died six years ago.”
Blaire’s expression softened.
“I’m sorry.”
Luca nodded.
“She was twenty-nine.”
“What happened?”
He looked at the window.
“She invested in a company that collapsed.”
Blaire frowned.
“David’s company?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
“Another one.”
She waited.
“She lost everything.”
Blaire watched him carefully.
“And you blame David?”
“No.”
The response surprised her.
“No?”
“No.”
Luca rubbed his hands together.
“My sister made her own decisions.”
The honesty was uncomfortable.
“But?”
He looked down.
“But the company that failed had connections to people David worked with.”
Blaire understood.
“Your refusal was personal.”
“Partly.”
“Then why did you say no?”
May you like
“Because I saw patterns.”
“What patterns?”
