Page 84 of Alpha-Ex Wedding Ruse
Then my phone buzzed. The sound sliced through the haze, snapping me back to brutal reality.
“Luca, please,” I said, placing my hand on his chest. “Let me go.” I shoved gently, and in that sliver of space, I slipped past him, clutching my chest as if it could calm my pounding heart. I checked the phone. A text from Victor. I made a mental note to text him back, to reschedule dinner.
But Luca must have seen the screen. Because that voice that had been hoarse and full of longing just seconds ago, now roared like thunder.
“Your dinner plans were with my brother?!”
I turned sharply. He was glaring at my phone, fists clenched, his face contorted with fury.
“You’re going out with Victor?” he bit out. “Fucking Victor?”
I shoved the phone into my bag. “This was a mistake, Luca. We can’t keep doing this. We have to stay away from each other.” I forced my spine straight, pretending my heart wasn’t shattering as I said those words. “What happened at the observatory…it can’t happen again. It won’t.”
I didn’t wait for him to respond, couldn’t afford to.
“Goodnight, Luca,” I said, and walked away fast. Because if he stopped me again, if he so much as said my name the way only he could, I wasn’t sure I’d walk away.
My thoughts drifted to my father’s words in his letter. If anyone ever offers you love—real love—with presence, patience, and kindness, don’t turn away.
I’d only ever felt that with one man: Luca. And God, I didn’t know how much longer I could keep lying to myself, pretending I didn’t want him. But wanting him was one thing. Letting myself fall all over again?
I wasn’t sure I could risk that kind of love—just to be broken by it.
Chapter Nineteen
Luca’s POV
“We have a major problem.”
Charles met me the moment I stepped through the front doors of Vaughn Industries, his voice urgent.
I didn’t respond—not right away. My head was still spinning with the image of Leila storming off, her words echoing like a slap. We have to stay away from each other. And the thought that she was going out with my brother.
I didn’t know which was worse—the fact that she actually agreed to a dinner date with him, or that Victor, knowing full well what she meant to me, had the balls to even ask. After what happened on the rooftop, she was supposed to be mine again. Not pulling away. Not running straight into my brother’s arms.
Leila was becoming a maze I couldn’t navigate. Every time I thought I’d found an opening, she’d seal it shut with steel and fire. I’d need a wrecking ball to get through to her at this point. And it was driving me out of my damn mind.
We turned the corner toward my private elevator just as my secondassistant popped out from behind a column, looking breathless and disoriented. “Mr. Vaughn—I’m glad I caught you. There’s—”
She froze mid-sentence when she saw my face.
Good. I wasn’t in the mood for fumbling or small talk, and whatever “urgent” thing she had could wait. The real storm was already brewing—and it had nothing to do with whatever she had to say.
I brushed past her and jabbed the elevator button like it had personally offended me.
Charles, ever the buffer, gave her a polite nod before stepping in behind me. He hit the button for the eighth floor—my office.
The doors slid shut.
“All right,” I growled, eyes fixed on the floor, my count ticking upward. “What now?”
“You know the board meeting is in three days, right?”
Right. The board meeting. My jaw clenched.
I should be focused on that—on prepping for the vultures circling to assess my leadership. Vaughn Industries’ quarterly board meetings were never routine check-ins. They were an examination. And every time, it felt like I was being measured against my father’s legacy.
They wouldn’t admit it out loud, especially not him, but I’d taken this company from its stale, old money roots and transformed it into a sharp, modern contender. Vaughn Industries wasn’t just surviving under me, it was thriving. I rebranded the company from the inside out, invested in the right talent, tore down outdated systems, and expanded into markets they never thought to touch. Our numbers were the highest they’d ever been, and yet, it never felt like enough for them. Especially not for him.
