Mafia Girl's Journey

Chapter 24: Shattered Trust

Amara’s POV:
The days after that dream were some of the most confusing and intense I’ve ever experienced. I couldn’t shake the feeling of Marco’s touch, the memory of his lips on mine, the way my body had responded so naturally to him. Every time I saw him—whether across a room during a meeting or in passing through the halls of our estates—my heart would race, and my thoughts would spiral into dangerous territory.

But I kept reminding myself that I had a boyfriend, Luca. We’d been together for almost a year, and I’d always believed that he was a good man, someone I could rely on in this chaotic world. Yet, lately, something had felt off between us. He’d been distant, more secretive than usual, and I had begun to sense that something was wrong.

Still, I tried to push those thoughts away, convincing myself that it was just the stress of everything happening around us. But the doubts gnawed at me, becoming more persistent with each passing day.

It was during one of those sleepless nights, my mind running circles around itself, that I made the decision to confront Luca. I needed answers—needed to understand why he had been pulling away. Little did I know, the truth would be more painful than I could have ever imagined.

The next evening, I went to see him. He’d been staying in a small apartment not too far from the Rossi estate, a place where we could have some privacy away from the prying eyes of our families. As I made my way to his door, my heart pounded in my chest, a mix of anxiety and fear settling in my gut.

When I arrived, I found the door slightly ajar. Frowning, I pushed it open slowly and stepped inside, my senses on high alert. What I found inside shattered the fragile trust I’d clung to.

Luca was there, with another woman, tangled in the sheets that had once been ours. They didn’t notice me at first—too wrapped up in each other to realize they were no longer alone. But when Luca’s eyes finally met mine, the shock on his face mirrored the devastation I felt in my heart.

“Amara…” he stammered, pulling away from the woman as if that could somehow erase what I’d just seen. “It’s not what it looks like—”

“Don’t,” I said, my voice trembling with the effort it took to keep it steady. “Don’t insult me by pretending this isn’t exactly what it looks like.”

The woman—someone I didn’t recognize and didn’t care to—hastily gathered her clothes and left without a word, leaving me alone with Luca. The betrayal cut deeper than I thought possible, slicing through my chest like a knife.

“How long?” I asked, my voice cold and distant. “How long have you been lying to me?”

Luca ran a hand through his hair, guilt and frustration evident on his face. “Amara, please—”

“How. Long.”

He looked away, unable to meet my gaze. “A few months.”

A bitter laugh escaped me, tinged with the sharp edge of hurt. “Months… And you didn’t think to tell me? To end things before you decided to jump into bed with someone else?”

“It wasn’t like that,” he insisted, stepping closer as if he could somehow make this better. “I didn’t want to hurt you, Amara. I thought… I thought maybe I could fix it, that we could—”

“Fix it?” I repeated, incredulous. “You think we can fix this?”

Luca’s shoulders slumped, the reality of the situation finally sinking in. “I never wanted to hurt you, Amara. You have to believe that.”

I didn’t answer, the numbness spreading through me, a protective shell forming around my heart. I’d trusted him, let myself believe that he was different from the others, that he cared about me in a way that mattered. But in the end, it was all a lie.