Chapter 76: The untold mysterious origin
Seraphina’s apartment breathed danger even in its silence.
The polished floors reflected the cold gleam of chandeliers, and every corner seemed to hold a shadow that whispered loyalty only to her.
She had spared the guards that evening but not without tightening the reins.
With a gesture sharp as a blade, she reassigned them deeper into her inner chambers.
No one entered, no one left. Only her fingerprint unlocked the steel pass-door to that hidden place, a door that seemed more like the mouth of a secret hell than an exit.
Once she was satisfied, the atmosphere stilled again, heavy yet deceptively calm.
Romeo’s voice broke the silence, low but urgent. "Daisy, we need to find a way out. Staying here is signing our names in blood." His restless eyes darted toward the sealed hallways, as though he feared the walls themselves might listen.
Before Daisy could reply, Richard Ricky appeared from behind.
His movements were casual, almost mocking, as though this prison of velvet and steel were nothing more than a playground.
"You aren’t joining us this time," Daisy snapped, her tone carrying both fury and exhaustion.
Her face, though composed, burned with suppressed fire. "Last time you almost got us all into trouble.
He replied daisy..... And it still me who had to clean up your disaster. Do you know what I did? I pointed fingers at the wrong people, shed innocent blood to cover my recklessness. Their screams will stay in my head long after you have forgotten their names."
Daisy smirked, brushing imaginary dust from her jacket. "You call it recklessness, I call it improvisation." Her hand curled into a fist, her voice trembling with a rage so sharp it felt like glass. "Improvisation doesn’t cost lives, Ricky. It doesn’t carve guilt into someone else’s soul. If you are planning to gamble again, don’t count me in. Not this time."
Romeo stepped between them, his gaze steady, trying to quench the flames before they burned the fragile alliance to ash. "Enough please. We don’t need this now, Arguing here only feeds Seraphina’s game."
A heavy silence pressed down on them.
Daisy lowered her eyes, forcing herself to breathe.
Her voice softened, though the steel in it remained. "It’s okay, guys. No time to argue, once the sun sets, we move. No mistakes this time around."
Her words settled like an oath in the thick air.
*******
By six in the evening, the city sky had turned amber, bruised by the coming night.
Seraphina’s guards changed shifts with precision, never suspecting that three souls were preparing to vanish from her grasp.
The moment came swift and silent.
Through the narrow passage that led to the secret back door, Daisy,
Romeo, and Ricky made their way, every heartbeat echoing like a drum in their ears.
The door creaked, then opened, releasing them into the cool night like fugitives reborn.
Freedom never tasted so sharp.
Their paths diverged quickly.
Richard Ricky, with his sly grin and restless spirit, announced he would return to his small village, as though he could outrun both Seraphina’s wrath and Daisy’s contempt.
Romeo embraced Daisy tightly, the hug lingering, filled with words unspoken. "We will be in touch," he promised.
"I will hold you to that," Daisy replied, her voice was soft.
For the first time in a long while, her thoughts carried her elsewhere..... to Alessia.
A name that tasted like innocence and home, a memory untouched by the blood-soaked games of their present.
Daisy’s heart clenched with longing.
She had missed her childhood friend more than she had ever admitted, and tonight, she couldn’t wait any longer.
She walked toward the Morano mansion, each step driven by the hunger for a piece of her past.
*****
Luca had just excused himself from Alessia’s side.
Her recovery is steady but he doesn’t want anything to slow it, they had long waited for this precious thing and even though she smiled, he knew the pain of the past days still lingered in her bones.
He stepped into the quiet hallway, phone pressed to his ear, expecting news.... hoping for it.
But the voice on the other end wasn’t the one he longed for.
"Luca," Princess Elowen’s soft tone carried both apology and urgency.
His heart sank, his high hopes falling like shards of glass.
He had thought and prayed it would be Donato, his elder brother.
As though sensing his disappointment, Elowen rushed her words. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to raise your hopes falsely.
But I found something... in his bag. A phone. His other phone was destroyed by Enzo, but this one this one he must have forgotten to search."
Luca’s grip tightened around the device. "Go on," he commanded, his voice low, rough with suppressed tension.
"I only called because... I wanted you to know I seen Donato. He’s alive, Luca. And he’s responding to treatment. I pray... " her voice cracked slightly. "I pray he wakes soon."
For a moment, Luca closed his eyes, letting the words wash over him like fragile light piercing endless dark.
Relief was dangerous in his world, but in that instant, he allowed himself to breathe it in.
"I pray so too," he murmured, his voice heavy yet sincere. "Thank you, Elowen."
He hung up, his chest heavy with both gratitude and frustration.
Hope was alive, yes but fragile, trembling, and far away.
******
When he returned, Alessia was already preparing to leave the hospital bed.
She had fought hard to convince the doctors, and Luca, though protective, had finally relented.
The ride home was quiet, her hand resting in his, her eyes lost in thought.
And then like a miracle waiting on their doorstep she saw her.
Her childhood friend, Daisy.
She stood at the entrance of the mansion, her figure familiar, her eyes carrying years of longing and secrets.
For a heartbeat, Alessia thought she was hallucinating. She had really missed daisy.
But then Daisy’s lips curved, and tears welled in her friend’s eyes.
Alessia didn’t hesitate.
She ran, her body still fragile, but her soul surging forward.
She fell into Daisy’s arms, hugging her tightly, as though embracing not just her friend but every lost piece of her childhood.
"Daisy," Alessia whispered, her voice trembling with joy and disbelief. "I can’t believe it’s really you."
Tears slid down Daisy’s cheeks as she held her. "I missed you so much, Alessia. More than words could ever carry."
Behind them, Luca approached slowly, his gaze cautious yet respectful.
His protective instincts burned, but he saw the purity in Alessia’s joy.
He leaned close, his lips brushing her ear as he whispered, "Don’t stress yourself too much, angelo mio."
Alessia nodded, her heart full, her smile radiant.
Daisy straightened slightly, bowing her head in acknowledgment as she greeted Luca. "It’s an honor, signore."
He inclined his head, his sharp eyes softening for a brief moment. "Welcome."
And with that, he stepped aside, giving the two women space to breathe, to reconnect, to stitch together the fragile threads of a friendship long frayed by distance and shadows.
Together, Alessia and Daisy walked inside, the air carrying both reunion and foreboding.
******
Some minutes later Alessia entered the marble-walled bathroom, the steam curling around her as she let Daisy’s laughter echo faintly in her ears.
They had just finished discussing fabrics, diamonds, and gowns for the upcoming anniversary.
Daisy, ever the queen of fashion, had insisted Alessia deserved nothing less than perfection.
But perfection was a fragile thing.
The warm spray of the shower cascaded over Alessia’s skin, a soft reprieve from the chaos of the Luca morano’s mansion.
She leaned back against the cool tile only to feel herself slip.
Her heart leapt, but before she could hit the ground, her palm struck a strange groove on the wall.
The tile shifted, a hollow clicked and a hidden mechanism groaned.
Alessia froze.
The "design" wasn’t a design at al... it was a disguised panel.
And when her trembling fingers tugged it forward, a narrow cavity revealed itself, as though the house itself had been guarding a secret.
Her breath caught. Why is this house full of shadows? Why does every corner whisper something Luca never tells me?
Inside, wrapped in dust and time, lay a leather-bound book.
Its surface was scarred with dried, rust-colored stains and Blood.
Alessia’s throat tightened when her eyes traced the fingerprints, two distinct marks pressed into its cover like eternal seals of betrayal.
And beneath them... names.
One blood finger print was under the name "Morano Alessandro".
Her heart faltered. That was Luca’s father.
The founder of this dynasty. The one whispered about in legends as though he would sold half his soul to build an empire.
But then came the second name.
Her knees buckled.
Bianchi Soroda, Her father. And the name was under the second blood finger print.
Alessia slapped her hand against her mouth, stifling the scream clawing up her throat.
The walls of the bathroom seemed to close in, the sound of rushing water drowning in the roar of her blood. Father? And Luca’s bloodline? Together?
She turned the book open with trembling fingers.
The ink had bled into the parchment, and words leapt out like curses carved into her destiny:
"Debt Price: Alessia Bianchi shall serve the House of Morano until the coin of blood is fully paid."
Her world shattered.
The past ten years.... every night she had spent as a servant, every humiliation, every whisper behind her back, it had not been mere punishment for her father’s debts.
It was blood-bound? A written curse, A contract sealed in flesh.
Her chest heaved. So there was more, Always more, Why didn’t Luca tell me? Why does he keep me locked in shadows while claiming he loves me?
The words blurred before her eyes, but the message burned into her soul.
She was never meant to leave the Morano family.
She was not bound by choice, nor by fate of love, but by an ancient bargain, one sealed by both their fathers.
And if the fingerprints were proof, it wasn’t just ink It was blood..... Their blood.
Alessia clutched the book to her chest, water dripping from her hair, her nightdress plastered against her trembling frame.
Her lips quivered as the questions tore her apart.
Did Luca know all along? Did he keep me close because he loved me or because he knew I was nothing more than the debt his family owned?
For the first time, the walls of the Morano mansion didn’t feel like a palace.
They felt like a prison.
And the chains binding her heart had just revealed themselves in ink, blood and betrayal.