CHAPTER 117: THE SOUND BENEATH THE HEART

Aria

The room did not feel like her room anymore.

The walls seemed smaller, the air denser. Shadows clung to the corners like they were watching. Every light felt dim no matter how bright Rosetta made it. The faint scent of antiseptic from the doctor’s equipment made Aria’s stomach tighten.

She held Luca’s hand, gripping it as though it were the only solid thing left in the world.

"He will die trying," Luca had said.

She clung to those words, but the trembling in her hands would not stop.

Rosetta stepped away to fetch more water, leaving them momentarily alone. The doctor prepared another round of checks, but Luca waved him back with the flick of his fingers.

Not now.

Not while she was shaking.

"Look at me," Luca murmured, lifting her chin.

Aria forced her eyes up to his. The warmth she usually found there was overshadowed by something cold and sharp. Something violent. Something ancient inside him had awakened too.

"I am here," Luca said. "You are not alone. You are not facing this alone. Do you understand."

Aria nodded, though her breath fluttered in her chest.

Luca brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Tell me what you feel. Every detail."

Aria swallowed. "It is like... like the baby knows something is wrong. She is moving more than usual. Not kicking. More like... trying to find space."

Luca’s hold tightened. "Is it pain."

"No," Aria whispered. "It feels like pressure around her. Like something is trying to pull at her through me."

Luca’s face darkened. "That ends now."

He released her only long enough to pace to the window. His reflection in the glass looked like a stranger’s. Hard. Controlled. Deadly.

Aria watched him, seeing the way his fists clenched and unclenched.

She wanted to reach him. To ground him. To remind him that he was more than the violence running through his veins.

But another wave of pressure hit her.

This one sharper.

Aria gasped and doubled forward slightly, her hands flying to her belly.

Luca was at her side in an instant. "What happened. Aria. What is it."

She breathed through clenched teeth. "Something is... calling her."

Luca froze. "Who."

Aria shook her head violently. "I do not know. I cannot see him anymore. But I feel the pull. It started the moment you stepped into that circle."

Luca’s jaw locked.

He turned to the doctor. "Check her. Now."

The doctor rushed forward, attaching monitors and preparing the ultrasound probe again. Rosetta returned, dropping the water pitcher when she saw Aria bent in pain.

"What happened," Rosetta asked, her voice cracking.

Aria held out her hand. Rosetta grabbed it tightly.

The doctor’s eyes narrowed at the screen. "Her heart rate is elevated. The baby’s too, but not dangerously."

Luca frowned. "Then why is she in pain."

The doctor hesitated. "It is not pain. It is stress. Her body is reacting as if something external is pushing her system to the edge."

Aria squeezed Rosetta’s hand harder.

"This is him," she whispered. "He is pushing. He is trying to break something."

Rosetta looked horrified. "Why."

"To weaken her," Aria whispered. "To weaken me."

Luca stood so still that Aria could barely tell he was breathing. Then he turned and walked to the far end of the room.

The air around him changed.

Not supernatural.

Luca.

Pure, contained rage.

Aria watched him, her heartbeat matching the frantic rhythm of the child beneath her skin.

"Luca," she whispered.

He did not move.

"Luca," she said again, softer this time.

He turned slowly.

And when he did, his eyes were wet.

Aria’s breath caught.

Not with tears.

Not yet.

But with a fury so deep it had broken through his control.

He walked back to her and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Aria," he whispered, brushing her hair from her forehead. "I cannot lose you."

"You will not," she whispered back.

He rested his forehead against hers. Their breaths mingled. Aria felt the pounding of his heart through his chest. His fingers trembled on her cheek.

She had never seen him scared.

She had seen him angry.

Furious.

Deadly.

Empty.

Cold.

Ruthless.

But never afraid.

"Luca," she whispered. "You are shaking."

He closed his eyes for a moment. "I am watching something I cannot fight touch you. I am watching someone reach for our child."

Aria cupped his face gently.

"Then we face it together."

Luca opened his eyes.

The trembling stopped.

He kissed her forehead softly.

"You are the only thing in this world that can calm me," he whispered.

Aria felt warmth bloom in her chest despite the fear.

But then the temperature in the room dropped.

So quickly that Rosetta gasped and the doctor stepped back.

Luca’s hand tightened around hers.

"Did you feel that," Rosetta whispered, looking at the walls.

Luca’s eyes sharpened. "Where."

Aria exhaled slowly. "Everywhere."

The lights flickered.

A gust of cold air swept through the room, though every window was closed.

The doctor backed toward the door. "Something is wrong with the ventilation."

Luca shook his head. "No. This is not the ventilation."

Another cold wave washed over them.

The baby kicked so hard Aria cried out.

"Luca," she gasped. "He is close."

Rosetta grabbed Aria’s hand. "Stay with us. Breathe."

Aria’s vision blurred. The world tilted. She could hear whispers again. Ancient words she did not understand but felt in her blood.

Luca turned in a circle, scanning the room.

He felt it too.

Something brushed the back of his neck.

A presence.

Close.

Too close.

He snarled and drew his gun.

"Show yourself," Luca growled.

A faint whisper rippled through the air.

Not here.

Not yet.

Aria’s eyes flew open.

"I heard him."

Luca moved instantly to her side again.

"Tell me."

"He said... not here. Not yet."

Luca cursed under his breath.

"He is waiting," Aria whispered. "He is waiting for something."

Luca’s mind raced. "What. What would he wait for."

Aria looked down at her belly.

Her voice trembled.

"For her to grow stronger."

Luca froze.

Then he stood slowly, like a man stepping into the center of a battlefield.

"Nico," Luca said, his voice calm but deadly.

Nico ran in moments later. "Boss."

"Call the helicopter. The doctor. The guards. We leave in two hours."

Nico blinked. "Leave. Leave where."

Luca turned to Aria.

His voice softened.

"Somewhere he cannot reach her."

Aria shook her head. "Luca. He will find me anywhere."

"Let him try," Luca said.

Nico hesitated. "Boss, with respect, if this man can appear at the estate without triggering alarms, where can we take her that he cannot follow."

Luca’s eyes hardened.

"To the Morrelli house."

The room fell silent.

Aria’s breath caught. "Luca."

Luca walked to her and took her hand again.

"You said the visions feel like memory," he whispered. "Then your blood remembers something. Something old. Something tied to that place."

Rosetta’s eyes widened. "The old Morrelli estate. Aria has not been there since she was a child."

Luca nodded. "Exactly. And whatever is after her has a connection to that bloodline. If we want answers, we go to where it started."

Aria felt her pulse quicken.

Fear.

Recognition.

Something pulling her.

Something calling.

She swallowed hard.

"I think you are right," she whispered.

Luca cupped her face again.

"I will get you there safely," he promised.

Aria leaned into his touch.

But even as she did...

A whisper echoed again through her mind.

Do not go home.

Aria stiffened.

Luca saw her freeze.

"What is it."

Aria grabbed his wrist.

"He does not want us to go there."

Luca’s expression sharpened. "Then we go now."

Aria nodded slowly.

Luca lifted her into his arms.

"I have you," he whispered.

She rested her head against his chest, listening to the sound beneath his heart.

Fierce.

Determined.

Unbreakable.

But beneath it, she heard something else.

Fear.

For her.

For the child.

For what waited in the Morrelli shadows.

As Luca carried her out of the room, the temperature shifted again.

The air exhaled.

And from somewhere far beyond the estate walls...

A voice whispered.

Come home, child.

Aria shivered violently.

Luca held her tighter.

He did not know what waited in the old Morrelli estate.

But he would walk into hell itself to protect her.

And hell was exactly where they were heading.