Chapter 19 – Bloodlines and Bombshells
Valentina Cruz
If fairy tales were real, this would be the part where the curse broke.
Where the monster turned into a prince and the girl found her happily ever after.
But I wasn't that lucky.
And Rafael D'Amico?
He wasn't cursed.
He was created.
By blood.
By betrayal.
And now — by a secret that shattered everything I thought I knew.
⸻
It started with a letter.
Delivered by a silent courier in a gray suit with eyes like a corpse.
Rafael took one look at the envelope and froze.
Not flinched. Not frowned.
Froze — like a statue made of rage and history.
"Who's it from?" I asked, watching him from across the room.
He didn't answer.
Just left.
⸻
I found him two hours later, in the wine cellar — sitting on the floor like a man who'd just realized his throne was made of bones.
I sat beside him. "You going to tell me what's in that letter?"
He said nothing. Just handed me a single sheet of paper.
Typed. Signed. Dated.
Subject: Luca De Rossi
Status: Alive.
I blinked.
"Who's Luca?"
He rubbed his face with both hands like he was trying to scrub off the truth.
"My brother."
The silence that followed wasn't empty — it was heavy.
Like the air before a bomb goes off.
⸻
I didn't know Rafael had a brother.
Correction: I didn't know Rafael had a living brother.
He told me Luca had died when they were kids — caught in crossfire between rival families. It was the tragedy that made him ruthless. That turned him into the cold, calculating beast who now ruled a criminal empire.
But now…
"He faked his death," Rafael said. "Joined the De Rossi family. My father's enemies. My enemies."
"And now he's back?"
Rafael laughed. But it wasn't joy. It was fury wrapped in disbelief.
"He never left. He's been working in the shadows. Undermining me. Setting traps. Manipulating allies. Watching."
I felt my stomach twist. "Why now?"
Rafael turned to me, eyes dark as an executioner's hood.
"Because he knows I've found something he can use against me."
His hand brushed mine.
Me.
⸻
Later that night, I was in the hallway when I heard voices.
Low. Urgent. Familiar.
Celia.
Of course it was Celia.
"Are you sure it's her he cares about?" she whispered.
"He'd burn this empire for her," someone else said. "Which means she's our perfect target."
I backed away slowly. Quietly. Every inch of me trembling.
But not with fear.
With fire.
Because if they thought I was still the naïve little girl sold off to a monster…
They hadn't met the woman who could make monsters kneel.
⸻
Back in our room, I found Rafael sitting at the edge of the bed.
"They're going to come for me," I said quietly.
He didn't flinch.
"I know."
"And you'll try to stop them."
"Yes."
"But what if I don't want to be saved?"
He turned to me slowly, eyes burning.
"Then what do you want to be, Valentina?"
I stepped closer.
"A weapon," I whispered. "For once… I want to strike first."
His expression didn't change. But something in him cracked.
"You're not who I married," he said.
"No," I agreed. "I'm better."
And that night, we didn't make love.
We planned war.