chapter 24: final hour

The night air was thick with tension as Elena stood at the edge of the rooftop, her eyes fixed on the horizon. The city below twinkled with the pulse of life, oblivious to the war that was about to unfold. She could hear Luca's voice echoing in her head, his words a constant reminder of the path she had chosen. You're with me now. There's no turning back.

But what if she wasn't ready for this kind of power? What if the woman she used to be, who she had fought to become, was now lost, swallowed by the darkness of ambition?

A soft click behind her signaled Luca's arrival. He stood beside her, his presence a heavy weight on her chest. She could feel his gaze burning into her, but she refused to meet it. Instead, she let her mind wander to the past, to the life she had before the empire, before the bloodshed, before the cage of ambition closed in around her.

"Are you ready, Elena?" Luca's voice was low, almost affectionate, but there was an underlying force in it that made her shiver. "We move in an hour. Tonight, Vincenzo's reign ends."

She turned to face him, the weight of his expectation settling deep in her bones. "I don't know if I'm ready for this," she confessed quietly. The words felt like a betrayal of everything she had chosen, but they were true. "What if we're no better than him?"

Luca's expression shifted, his smile never faltering. But his eyes darkened, his patience thinning. "You think too much, Elena. Vincenzo has ruled with fear and violence for years. We will rule with control, with precision. It's a new era. And you're a part of it." He reached out, lifting her chin to meet his gaze. "Trust me, I won't let you fall."

She could feel the pull of his words, the temptation of a future shaped by power, but something inside her was breaking, something deeper than her desire to belong to this new world. She had given so much of herself already. But now, with the final move looming, she wasn't sure she could keep losing pieces of herself.

"Elena," Luca said again, his voice softening, "don't worry. Once Vincenzo is out of the picture, you'll have everything you ever wanted. We'll rule together. You'll see."

Elena's heart thundered in her chest. The empire they were about to create was dark, dangerous, and built on blood. She knew she couldn't turn back, but the question remained: Would it be enough? The power, the control, the revenge—it all felt like a drug now. She wasn't sure she could stop herself from chasing it.

But something gnawed at her. A sense of finality. Once this was over, there would be no way to go back to the life she had before.

"I'll be ready," she finally said, the words tasting like ash in her mouth.