Chapter 4
Luca answered my call on the first ring.
“Dominic.”
Calm.
Too calm.
“You have something of mine.”
A pause.
Then:
“I have something your fiancée gave me.”
Different framing.
Important.
“Bring it back.”
“No.”
I smiled without warmth.
“Then we’re done talking.”
“Wait.”
He knew me well enough to hear the door closing.
I waited.
He said he had not copied Orison.
Not fully.
He had used three drops to test compatibility with another accord.
That alone made Helena swear.
Then Luca said:
“I didn’t ask for the formula.”
I looked at Valeria.
She stiffened.
“What did you ask for?”
“A scent signature.”
I frowned.
Luca explained.
His new hotel line needed a private fragrance.
He wanted something unmistakably luxurious.
Valeria offered access to Caradonna materials because she wanted to prove she could create at that level.
Not steal my product.
Prove herself.
Then Luca discovered Orison.
Too good.
He pushed.
She resisted.
Then gave him the vial.
“Did you kiss her before or after?”
Lucian muttered something.
I ignored him.
Luca answered:
“After.”
Honest bastard.
“Do you love her?”
Silence.
Valeria looked at the floor.
Luca finally said:
“Yes.”
That hurt.
Not because it was surprising.
Because the word made the affair less disposable.
“What happens tonight?”
He knew what I meant.
The launch.
Caradonna’s largest fragrance event in years.
Valeria had planned something.
Luca hesitated.
Then:
“She was going to announce her own house.”
I looked at her.
Here.
Tonight.
Inside my atelier.
Not a secret elopement.
A declaration.
The event had two stages.
First, Orison launched under Caradonna.
Then Valeria would announce Vesper Knox—her independent line—with Luca as distribution partner.
Guests already gathered.
Editors.
Collectors.
Private buyers.
Mafia families who understood luxury houses as status as much as commerce.
She planned to stand beside me, accept congratulations as my future wife—
then step to another table and unveil herself as someone separate.
I might have admired the nerve.
If she had not built it with stolen concentrate and an affair.
“What was your first scent?”
I asked.
Valeria looked surprised.
“Solenne.”
Helena’s expression changed.
“Where is it?”
Valeria whispered:
“Upstairs.”
Of course.
The launch cases Lucian had helped move in were not all Caradonna.
May you like
A second collection was already inside my building.
My engagement celebration had become the runway for my fiancée’s exit from my shadow.
