CHAPTER 110: WHAT BREATHES IN THE SILENCE (PART 2)

The hallway leading to the interrogation wing was colder than the rest of the estate. Even after the renovations, even after layers of new walls and reinforced steel, the air here never warmed. It still carried the memory of darker years. Luca’s footsteps echoed against the concrete floor, each step steady, controlled, but fueled by a rising fury that pressed against his ribs like a tightening fist.

Two guards stood outside the reinforced door. At the sight of him, both straightened.

"He is inside, sir," one of them said.

"Has he spoken?" Luca asked.

"Not a word since he arrived. He only said he will talk to you."

Luca nodded once. "Open it."

The guard unlocked the heavy steel door. It creaked as it swung inward.

Luca stepped inside.

The interrogation room was sparse. A single metal table. Two chairs. A fluorescent light overhead, flickering slightly. And sitting calmly in the chair opposite the door was Adrian Mendez.

He looked nothing like Vittorio.

Where Vittorio had been loud, bloated with arrogance, Adrian was lean, composed, and unsettlingly quiet. His dark hair was slicked back, his posture relaxed, his hands resting loosely on the table. His clothes were damp from the rain, but he seemed comfortable. As if he were sitting in a cafe rather than the heart of his enemy’s stronghold.

His eyes lifted to Luca.

"Don DeLuca," he said softly.

Luca did not sit. The door shut behind him.

"You asked for me," Luca said.

Adrian nodded. "I did."

His voice was calm. Too calm. A practiced calm.

"What do you want," Luca asked.

Adrian studied him. "You killed my brother."

"He touched something that does not belong to him," Luca replied.

Adrian tilted his head. "You say that as though you believe you own her."

Luca’s jaw tightened. "Choose your words carefully."

Adrian smiled faintly. "You always were your father’s son. Direct. Efficient. Impatient. He believed ownership and protection were the same thing."

Luca stepped closer. "Speak."

Adrian folded his hands. "The Circle died with Vittorio. I have no intention of rebuilding it. I have no intention of fighting you, or seeking revenge."

Luca gave a cold laugh. "You expect me to believe that."

"You should," Adrian replied. "Because the world changed when you killed him. The balance shifted. I have no army left, no territory worth defending, and no interest in starting a war I cannot win."

Luca stared at him. "Then why are you here."

"A warning," Adrian said simply.

"A warning," Luca repeated.

"Yes." Adrian’s eyes were remarkably steady. "About the child."

Luca did not react outwardly. His expression did not change. But a flash of fire rushed beneath his skin.

Adrian continued. "Your wife carries something powerful. Something more valuable than all the territories you have fought for."

Luca’s voice was low. "You do not speak about her."

Adrian lifted a hand in a small gesture. "It is not disrespect. It is calculation. You married into a bloodline your enemies know very little about."

Luca stared at him. "Explain."

Adrian leaned back. "The Morrelli family did not disappear from weakness. They disappeared because someone wanted their legacy erased. Someone who feared what they could do. What they represented."

Luca felt a slow, cold shift in his chest. He said nothing.

Adrian’s gaze sharpened. "Your wife is one of the last. Which means your child will be, too."

Luca stepped forward until he stood at the edge of the table.

"Who," he demanded quietly.

Adrian’s lips curved, but it was not a smile. "If I knew, I would not be sitting here. But someone funded the Circle for years. Someone kept us supplied. Someone who was never in our rooms, never in our meetings, but always watching."

Luca’s pulse ticked hard behind his ribs.

Adrian continued. "And when Vittorio died, when our network collapsed, they did not reach out to me. They did not try to stop you. They did not attempt to salvage anything."

"They disappeared," Luca said.

"Yes," Adrian replied. "And vanishing is something a man only does when he is preparing to move."

The light flickered above them.

Luca’s voice dropped to something lethal. "If you know nothing, why come here."

Adrian’s eyes softened. "Because Vittorio was a fool. But I am not. I know when a game has changed. And if there is one thing I have learned from men like the one who funded us, it is that when a new power rises, they seek to control it."

Luca felt his hands clench.

Adrian lowered his voice. "Your child is a threat to someone. Someone old. Someone dangerous. Someone who fears what your bloodlines combined could become."

Luca’s vision narrowed.

"You think you are walking into peace," Adrian said. "But peace is rarely the end. It is the pause before a new beginning. A beginning someone else has already planned."

Luca stared at him.

Silent.

Unmoving.

A storm contained in human form.

Adrian continued, almost gently. "You can kill me. I expect it. But the man who sponsored us is still alive. He has resources. Reach. And an interest in removing obstacles quietly. If he learns your wife is pregnant, he will come for her."

Luca’s voice was barely a whisper. "He already knows."

Adrian’s breath stilled. "Then you have less time than I thought."

Silence coated the room.

Thick.

Cold.

Unforgiving.

Finally Luca asked, "Why warn me."

Adrian looked at him with something almost human. "Because I have no interest in taking what little of my brother’s legacy remains. And because your wife spared a child once, during the siege in Palermo. That child was mine."

Luca’s eyes widened a fraction.

Adrian nodded. "She does not know. She never will. But I will not forget it."

The room felt smaller.

Luca stepped closer, voice quiet but suffocating. "If you ever come near her again. Or speak her name again. I will end you."

Adrian nodded once. "I expect you will."

Luca turned to leave.

"Don DeLuca," Adrian called softly.

Luca stopped.

Adrian’s voice lowered. "Protect her. The shadows coming for her are not the ones you have fought before."

Luca did not turn around.

He opened the door.

Walked through it.

And closed it behind him.

The guards looked at him expectantly.

Luca’s expression revealed nothing.

"Take him to the lower holding cell," Luca said. "No one speaks to him without me."

"Yes sir."

As they moved to carry out the order, Luca walked up the corridor, the cold air following him like a warning.

He reached the top of the stairs and paused.

Aria slept somewhere behind the next door.

His child moved beneath her skin.

Someone had known.

Someone had planned.

Someone was moving in silence.

His fingertips brushed the railing as he stared down the empty hallway.

Luca exhaled.

Not out of fear.

Out of certainty.

The past was not done with them.

But he was done allowing it to bite.

He turned toward Aria’s room.

Whatever was coming, he would end it before it even reached her shadow.

Because Adrian Mendez was right about one thing.

The world was changing.

And Luca DeLuca would burn it to the ground before he allowed anything to touch his family.