bChapter /bb73 /b

The manor was restless tonight.

it wasn’t the creak of ancient floors beneath shifting shadows, or the trees groaning in the wind outside. No–this was different. The airf het electrified, thrumming with barely–contained dominante.

Francesco was awake.

Awake in a way the world had forgotten.

He was no longer the grieving Alpha hidden behind thick stone walls and the veil of old grief. He had stopped fully into himself again–and the world had no choice but to remember who he truly was

The council had grown arrogant during his absence, mistaking his mourning for weakness, mistaking his silence for surrender. For two decades, they held sway over territories they never earned, supported by the im that Francesco had abandoned his throne

But now?

Now the Lycan Alpha had returnedb. /b

“What do you mean you have no guards around ckpine territory!?”

His voice boomed from somewhere down the corridor, cold and thunderous.

My spine stiffened even as I smiled bfaintly/b. That tone–that absolute authority–it made my wolf stir in quiet awe

“I don’t want to hear your excuses. I want the names, the reports, and your guard rotation logs in one hour–er I’ming to your office myself.”

A soft sigh of pity escaped my lips.

Whoever was on the other end of that

it call was probably regretting every decision they made since waking up this morning.

I pulled the thick, leather–bound book closer to my chest and retreated deeper into the blibrary’s /bwindow seat. The warmth of the fire to my right flickered

ke the heartbeat of the room, but even that was quiet in the presence of this diary.

Anastasia’s diary.

I’d skimmed through it before, and bI /balready knew its secrets.

I knew she had lied to Francesco

That she was never histed mate

That she was not human–but a witch. A powerful one.

And that she had used forbidden magic to forge ba /bbfalse /bmate bond with the strongest Alpha this world had seen in centuries.

But tonight…

Tonight, I read further. And what i found twisted something inside me.

b23 /bAugust

He doesn’t see through me yet.

I don’t know whether to be relieved… bor /bsick

I can feel the magic pulse between us–it binds him like silk, soft but unbreakable.

He thinks I’m his mate. That the Moonted us. But I know better.

Imade it happen

Because bI /bhad to

Because Francesco is too strong.

And Luca said if we don’t bbreak /bhim, we lose everything.

I felt my fingers tighten on the page. There it was. Cold. Blunt. Calcted.

She told me that she hadn’t just tricked him but she’de to bdestroy /bhim.

Her diary shows bit /ball.

I turned bthe /bpage

24 August

He trusts me. More than I thought he would.

I told him I was a bhuman/b–lost, naive, fascinated by his world. He believed it.

Every time he smiles bat /bme, I want to scream.

Because he’s already falling

And L…

am still pretending

w

A heavy ache settled in my chest.

I could hear her voice between the lines–steady but cracking at the edges. Cold, but shaking beneath the surface.

Howe ba /bperson could do something like this to him?

fcan’t imagine someone was this horrible.

26 bAugust /b

He showed me his Lycan form btoday/b.

I

was not prepared.

I thought I was.

I told myself I was.

But seeing

seeing him…

He is not just strong.

He is divine.

A force of nature shaped into a man.

And for the first time..

I felt the befalter.

I turned another page, breath uneven for read another truth revealed

28 August

He made me tea this morning.

Not because I asked.

Not because of anything I did.

bJust/b…because….

He kissed my temple and told me he dreamt of me.

Haughed. Pretended to be flustered.

But inside… I was quiet.

He looks at me like I’m sacred.

And I don’t know how to carry that weight anymore..

Because bI’ve /blied.

And lied.

And blied/b.

But his love is not a lie.

And I think…

some part of bme /bis starting to wish it was real

I drew bin /bba /bshaky breath.

This wasn’t what I expected.

Not from her. Not after what she’d done.

She hade with poison. But somewhere along the way, she had started to drink it herself.

31 bAugust /b

I told him I loved himb. /b

He said it back

He meant it

I didn’t.

But I wanted to

is that enough?

NA

Of course it’s not

But I don’t know how to fix this.

I want to stop lying.

I want to be the girl he thinks Lam

But the spell is already rotting.

He’s starting to see the cracks.

And if he ever learns the truth..

He never forgive me.

I couldn’t turn the page yet

The fire beside me hissed softly.

I pressed my bhand /bover the next nk sheet, wondering if more magicy hidden beneath.

There was.

Words shimmered into being beneath my touch,

2 September

I dreamt of him dying

By bLuca’s /bhands.

It was supposed to be our triumph.

Instead, I woke up screaming.

He held me.

So gently.

And I realized… I would die for him.

Not because of the spell.

Not because bof /bguilt.

Because Hove him.

b4/7 /b

I don’t know when it happened.

But I love him.

And I can never tell him the truth new

bI /bbclosed /bthe book slowly.

The ache in my chest was real. Sharp. Complicated.

I knew she had tricked him. Used him. Lied to him at every turn.

I’d known it before opened the diary, but reading it seeing it unfold in her own trembling handwriting–was different. It was one thing to hear a truth, another to feel it bleed through parchment and ink.

She came into his life with poison on her tongue and a mission in her heart–to weaken the greatest Alpha the supernatural world had seen in centuries. And yet, somewhere in the bcracks /bof her deception…she fell.

She hadn’t meant to love himb. /bBut she did. And it destroyed her.

That was the part I hadn’t expected the slow, aching transformation of a woman who had walked into his life wearing a mask, only to find that the mask no longer fit.

She loved him.

Not because of a spell. Not because it was convenient. Not because it was part of the n.

She simply…

And it broke her from the inside out.

The weight of that truth sat bheavily /bon my c

y chest–not out of sympathy, but because I understood how someone like him could unravel the walls you

swore were imprable,

Francesco Totti was never meant to be anyone’s weaknes

But love doesn’t ask for permission.

And it had undone her–just as it had, in some small way,

undone me too.

And Francesco

He had loved her back. Even if everything else had been false–his feelings had been real?

He didn’t know that she lied.

The door opened quietly behind me.

I felt him before I saw him.

Francesco

bHis /bpresence soaked into the room like the scent of rain–wild, ancient, and grounding all at once. The weight of him filled every breath i took.

I didn’t move.

-5/1

11.14 Mon, 1400 2

He stepped closer, pausing beside me. I locked up, our eyes locking

His gaze flicked to the diary on myp.

“You could read it?” he askedb, /bbtoice /blow.

Inodded once. “Yes.”

His brows drew together. “It was empty pages, Noone could see anything on it:

I gave a small shrug, “it let me in.”

He knelt beside the bseat/bb, /bsearching my face. “How?”

I touched the cover gently “Magic,” I said. “Not mine. Hers.”

He frownedb, /bwaiting

Thesitated, then whispered, “I think… she wanted someone to find it. Eventually.”

His expression darkened with something unreadable. But he didn’t speak,

So I continue

“It was about how she lied,” I said softly. “About being your mate. About who she was. But she also lied to herself. She didn’t mean to fall in love with

you.”

His jaw tightened.

“But she did.”

He was silent

b“/bShe came to weaken you,” I continued. “So Luca could control you. But the longer she stayed, the more it changed. She loved you, Francesco, Truly saw it in her words. It wasn’t just pult.

Still, he didn’t speak.

Then, slowly, his eyes drited shut.

bAnd /bin the next breath, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me.

My breath caught as he pulled me into his warmth, into his strength. I melted into him instinctively, my arms shipping around his neck as he held me close his heartbeat steady against mine.

He didn’t speak for a long while…

Then bhis /bvoice rumbled near my ear, quiet and hoarseb. /b

“I don’t care about the past anymore.”

felt his grip tighten slightly.

“I have you now, Eine. That’s all that matters”

He pulled back just enough to meet my eyes

“You’re my everything.”

b11:14 /bMon, 14 Jul. 77. N

Tears pricked my vision, unexpected and uninvited.

But I didn’t look away.

I reached up, brushing my fingers along his jaw, and whispered, “And you’ve mine.”

He nodded “Always”

Aith