Chapter 122: Chapter 122 His past (2)
Leonardo didn’t answer right away. He just stood there, feeling how her hand slipped around his wrist, her nails tracing small circles on his skin like she owned him.
He didn’t pull away.
"Yes," he said finally, his voice low, almost flat. He let her tug him back inside his tiny, cramped room — the one he’d spent all night in, head bent over her messy notes, rewriting every single answer so she wouldn’t fail.
She pushed the papers aside without even glancing at them. "Good," she hummed, climbing onto his lap like she always did. "You’re so smart. I really don’t like to study, you know..." She pouted again, pressing her soft body against his chest as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
But Leonardo didn’t move to hold her back this time.
He sat there, cold eyes staring at the wall behind her head. The warmth she forced on him felt fake — too sweet, too sugar-coated, now that he knew. Now that he’d heard her promise another man a brand-new car with money she planned to steal from him.
"What’s wrong with you?" she asked, pulling back just enough to look him in the eyes. She frowned, giving him that spoiled, bratty look she always used when he didn’t melt for her right away. "Why are you acting like this? Did someone say something to you?"
He blinked once, twice, his gray eyes turning darker, colder, emptier. For the first time since she’d started this game with him, she felt the intensity of his stare like it could crush her into the floorboards.
She shifted, but her smile didn’t crack. She thought she’d tamed him. He was her sweet, loyal puppy — a rich boy desperate for love.
But when he finally spoke, his voice was ice.
"Don’t pretend with me," Leonardo said, his words so quiet they made her breath catch. "I heard everything."
Her hands froze on his shoulders. "What... what are you talking about?"
His lips twitched into the faintest hint of a smile–sharp and dangerous, nothing like the shy boy she thought she owned. He leaned in close, his nose brushing her hair, but his eyes stayed empty.
"You want money?" he murmured, his breath cold against her ear. "Next time, ask nicely. Don’t pretend you care."
She tried to laugh, but it came out as a dry squeak. She felt something shiver down her spine when he didn’t even blink.
She didn’t know it then but she’d just killed the last piece of warmth in Leonardo Moretti’s heart.
"Leo, don’t talk like this..." she whispered, her voice trembling just enough to sound innocent again. She hugged him tighter, pressing her soft body closer, her perfume clinging to his shirt like a stain he’d never wash out.
But this time, Leonardo didn’t melt. He didn’t wrap his arms around her like he always did. He just sat there, cold eyes staring over her shoulder, his breath steady and unshaken.
She giggled nervously, trying to pull him back. "Hey, what’s wrong? Huh? I said I love you, didn’t I? You’re my good boy, right—"
Her words choked off when she felt something hard and cold press against her stomach. She froze. Her eyes dropped down and her heart slammed into her ribs when she realized what it was.
A gun.
"L-Leo..." she breathed, her hands twitching on his shoulders. Her fake smile cracked for the first time as she tried to pull back. But his hand was already wrapped tight around her wrist, keeping her flush against him.
His voice was so soft, too soft. Deadly soft.
"The thing I can’t tolerate," Leonardo said, his lips brushing her hair like a mockery of a kiss, "is lies."
She swallowed, her throat tight, her mind spinning. She tried to laugh it off, but her voice came out thin and cracked. "Baby, come on... don’t scare me. Put that away—"
His finger slid along the trigger, lazy, almost bored.
"You really thought you could fool me?" he whispered, his breath ghosting against her ear. "I’m not a toy you can use, cara mia."
She whimpered, her eyes wide now, mascara smudging under her lashes. "Leo, please—"
His eyes flicked down, meeting hers with that same frozen emptiness that made her blood run cold.
"Goodbye," he murmured.
Back to present day...
No one in this world except his family knew about that girl from his school days. No one dared ask. No one ever would. To everyone else, Leonardo Moretti was a man who’d always been cold, sharp, and ruthless. A man who didn’t waste time on soft things like love.
He liked it that way.
He’d long buried that dark memory so deep he refused to even call her name. It was just... a mistake. A lesson. A piece of rotten flesh he’d carved out of his chest so he could survive.
Since then, he only kept straightforward people close. No sweet smiles hiding knives. No sugar-coated words that turned to poison the second he turned away.
And Bella...
Bella was a problem.
That was the truth he hated most.
She seemed so innocent. So soft. So easy to hold and that’s what made his skin crawl late at night when he thought too much. Because what if that sweet smile she wore was the same mask he’d ripped off once before? What if behind her soft voice and warm hands she hid the same teeth?
Don’t trust softness.
He’d promised himself that. Over and over. So he’d never have to feel that sharp, rotting betrayal ever again.
That’s why, even before he met Bella, he’d told himself: Marry a woman from a pure mafia bloodline. Someone strong, trained to be ruthless, with no room for lies or tears. A marriage of power, not affection, an alliance to make his name stronger.
But then Bella happened.
Suddenly, a soft knock on the heavy door pulled Leonardo out of the storm in his head. He blinked once, his jaw tightening as he snapped back to the present.
"Come in," he said, his voice sharp but calm.
The door swung open and Roman stepped in, carrying a thick file tucked under his arm. Roman’s expression was unreadable as always but his eyes flicked quickly to Leonardo’s tense posture before he spoke.
"Boss," Roman said, standing straight as a blade. "The investigation report you asked for... about Miss Isabella."