Chapter 6
Cecilia closed her eyes the moment she finished speaking, as if she'd finally used up the last bit of energy she had left since waking up.
Elena quickly helped her lie back down, then turned to look at Luciano. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself. In the end, all she said was, "Go get some rest."
And left it at that.
Luciano didn't leave the tower. He sat on the windowsill at the end of the hallway for the rest of the night.
He was thinking about one thing.
Cecilia was right — the old man's words had never been verified. But the thing was, his body didn't lie. The moment he'd taken her hand, the burning sensation from the tattoo on his chest, the return of strength inside him — all of it was real. That meant she really was his destined soul, no question about it.
As for how the Bloodseed inheritance would awaken, he still wasn't sure which way it would go. But he was willing to bet on it.
By early the next morning, the news had already spread.
Cecilia Helsing, who had been in a coma for three years, had woken up. And the person who woke her was an adopted son named Luciano, sent by the Costa family.
Everyone around Verna Harbor started talking.
"That guy's seriously lucky. He's set for life now."
"I wish that had been me. Beats hauling cargo at the docks every day."
"Don't get your hopes up. I heard the people who go to these ceremonies are basically hired bodies. One wrong move and you end up dead in some family power struggle — and you won't even know what got you."
Edmond smashed everything in his study that could be smashed. "Damn it. That bastard got incredibly lucky."
Three years of careful maneuvering, gone overnight — all because of some nobody who crawled out of a fighting pit on Mornveil Isle. When Cecilia was alive before, he'd only ever been the nephew managing family affairs in her absence. Now that she was awake, he couldn't even hold onto that much.
But what really sent him over the edge wasn't that Cecilia had woken up. It was how fast the news had traveled.
Too fast.
Fast enough that it didn't feel like word spreading on its own. It felt like someone was pushing it from behind.
His first suspicion was Elena, but Elena didn't have that kind of reach. She'd been sidelined in the family for years — no people, no channels.
Which left only one possibility.
Luciano.
This man was absolutely not some washed-up nobody from a fighting pit.
Around the same time, the Costa family on Genova Isle received the news.
When Vito set down the phone, his hands were shaking.
Not from anger. From excitement.
"It worked!" He shot to his feet, eyes burning with greed. "That useless Luciano actually woke Cecilia up! Isabella, do you have any idea what this means?"
Isabella hadn't even processed it yet. Vito was already pacing back and forth across the living room.
"The Helsing family controls a third of the artifact smuggling network across the islands. If Luciano can marry Cecilia, we'll have a direct line in. After that, who's going to tell us what to do?"
He was getting more worked up by the second, completely forgetting that just three days ago he'd sent Luciano there as a throwaway.
"Call him. Call Luciano right now. Tell him to talk to the Helsing family — push for a trade partnership between them and us. We want our cut."
Isabella hesitated. "But when we sent him there, we told him he was just a ceremony participant. Basically a stand-in to die. If we ask this of him now, will he even agree?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Vito said, like it was obvious. "He's a Costa. We raised him. Without the Costa name, the Helsing family wouldn't even open the door for him. Everything he has right now is because of us."
Alessio came down from upstairs just in time to hear that last part. His expression shifted immediately.
"Dad, what are you saying? Letting that nobody go cozy up to the Helsing family? What about me? I'm the rightful heir of the Costa family. Why should an adopted son walk away with everything?"
Vito shot him a look. "Shut up. If you'd gone to the fighting pits on Mornveil Isle, you wouldn't have lasted three days. What exactly do you think you'd do with the Helsing family — give them something to laugh at?"
Alessio choked on his words, face flushing red.
Victoria gave a quiet, cold laugh from the side, but said nothing.
The call went through to Luciano's side shortly after.
Carl took it, then relayed what Vito had said.
Luciano listened, then laughed.
Not a cold laugh. He genuinely found it funny.
"He said what? He wants me to push for a trade partnership between the Costa family and the Helsing family — specifically artifact smuggling?"
"Yes, sir."
"Tell him one thing."
"What?"
"No."
Carl paused, then understood. He called back.
Vito was silent on the other end for a full ten seconds.
Then his voice changed — from excited to something flat and dark.
"He said no? He actually said no?"
Isabella's face dropped beside him. "After everything we did for him. Sixteen years. And this is how he repays us?"
Vito didn't speak, but the knuckles around his phone had gone white.
He suddenly remembered something.
Three days ago, when Luciano left the estate, he'd said: "Wishing the Costa family all the best."
At the time, Vito hadn't thought much of it. Now, thinking back, that tone had been full of sharp edges.
Just then, the butler Theron rushed in, face drained of color.
"Sir, there's a problem. The cargo in Warehouse Three at Genova Isle port has been seized by the dock union. They're saying the paperwork is incomplete and demanding the whole process start over. The buyers have called over a dozen times already. If the goods aren't delivered soon, the penalty is two million dollars."
Vito grabbed Theron by the collar. "What? Who did this? Since when does the dock union have the right to hold my cargo?"
"We don't know. The union only said it came from above. They won't say who."
Vito's head rang.
He wasn't stupid. The goods in Warehouse Three moved through the Savoy family's logistics network — a line that had only been folded in after Alessio and Victoria's marriage. Very few people knew the details of that arrangement. But Luciano had lived with the Costa family for sixteen years. Of course he knew.
"It's him." Vito let go of Theron, his voice dropping to something low and dangerous. "Luciano did this."
The room went quiet for a moment.
Alessio exploded. "Dad, he's going after us. We need to hit back — otherwise he'll think he can just walk all over the Costa family."
Victoria's expression darkened too. If the Savoy family's logistics line had a problem, her father would come after her for it. She'd be the one catching the heat.
Vito sank back into the sofa and stayed quiet for a long time.
Then he picked up his phone and dialed.
"I need you to look into someone. Luciano Costa. What exactly he's been doing on Mornveil Isle for the past seven years. And what kind of leverage he's sitting on right now."
After hanging up, he looked over at Alessio.
"Reach out to the Massimo family and the Pellegrini family. Tell them the Costa family needs a favor."
Isabella frowned. "What are you planning?"
Vito didn't answer. But his eyes said everything.
If Luciano wasn't going to fall in line, then he couldn't blame his adoptive father for forgetting what family meant.
