Chapter 21 – The Trap
Valentina Cruz
Rule number one when running from the mafia: never trust quiet streets.
Rule number two: don't ignore your instincts when your skin starts to itch and your heartbeat suddenly sounds too loud.
I broke both rules before breakfast.
So yeah — the kidnapping? That's on me.
⸻
It started with a knock.
A soft one.
One of those gentle, I'm-not-a-threat knocks that feel too polite for the world I lived in now.
I peeked through the peephole.
Just a pizza box. No delivery guy in sight.
Weird.
But not weird enough to stop me from opening the door — like an idiot in a horror movie.
Two steps. That's all I took.
Two steps before the world spun sideways and something heavy slammed into the back of my head.
⸻
I woke up to blood in my mouth, ropes around my wrists, and a migraine that could end empires.
Dim light.
Concrete floor.
The metallic stench of rust and something worse — fear.
"Well, well. Sleeping Beauty wakes."
That voice.
Smooth. Calm. Deadly.
Luca.
So that's what Rafael's brother looked like up close.
He had Rafael's eyes, but none of his darkness.
No, Luca's was colder. Smiling darkness.
"You're probably wondering why you're here," he said, crouching beside me like we were on a coffee date and not in a dungeon.
"I'm going to guess… girl scout meeting?"
He grinned. "Feisty. He always liked that about you."
I spat blood at his boots. "If you're trying to impress him by kidnapping his wife, I think you missed the 'flowers and chocolates' memo."
His smile thinned.
"Oh, I'm not trying to impress him, darling. I'm trying to break him."
⸻
Apparently, I was the pressure point.
The crack in Rafael's armor.
And Luca?
He intended to exploit every inch of it.
"You should've stayed obedient," he whispered, brushing a bloody strand of hair from my face. "This world doesn't reward women with backbones."
I looked him dead in the eye. "No, but it fears them."
He laughed. "We'll see how brave you are when Rafael comes crawling for you."
⸻
I was alone for hours after that.
Rope burns on my wrists. Head pounding. Hands numb.
And yet…
There was no fear left in me.
Just fire.
Because Rafael might've broken my heart…
But I'd be damned if I let anyone break me.
Not Luca.
Not fate.
Not even the monster I'd married.
I wasn't just his wife anymore.
I was a weapon.
And the moment I got free?
Someone was going to bleed.