Burned Out of the Moretti Name Chapter 04

Burned Out of the Moretti Name Chapter 04

On the drive to Bianca’s penthouse, Lorenzo felt a sharp pain in his chest.

It passed quickly, but the unease stayed.

He could not shake the sense that something important was slipping beyond his reach.

One image kept returning to him: Sofia at the end of the auction. She had been too calm. Too distant. That

was not how she used to look at him.

He could not have said exactly what was wrong, only that something in her expression had unsettled

him.

By the time he arrived at Bianca’s building, the feeling had not eased.

She was still angry with him.

On another night, he might have found it charming. That bright streak of defiance in her, that refusal to

soften herself for anyone, had been part of what drew him to her in the first place.

Tonight, it only tired him.

He simply handed her the velvet jewelry case.

The moment she saw it, her face lit up.

“I knew you wouldn’t let me leave empty-handed,” she said, the last of her temper fading as she took it from him. “Wait here. I want to change before I show you.”

Lorenzo watched the excitement in her face and felt, for reasons he did not want to examine too closely,

a flicker of discomfort.

It was not as though this was the first thing he had given her.

The penthouse, the gowns in her closet, the jewelry, the bags, the easy luxury she had already learned to

live inside-most of it had come from him.

And yet something about the way she had looked at that yellow diamond necklace at the auction had left

a bitter taste in his mouth.

It had been too open.

Too eager.

Bianca was still too young to hide what she wanted well. And because of that, certain things were

impossible not to notice.

And when it came to expensive things, she lit up in a way that was impossible not to notice.

Sofia had never been like that.

She had appreciated the things he bought her, yes. But the gifts she had loved most were rarely the most

expensive. They were the small ones, the thoughtful ones, the things that meant he had been paying

attention

The comparison came uninvited, and Lorenzo frowned.

Bianca disappeared into the bedroom with the jewelry case pressed to her chest.

“Give me a minute,” she called back. “I need something worthy of it.”

Lorenzo stood alone in the middle of the sitting room, tension still coiled tight beneath his skin.

A sudden thought hit him with surprising force.

He wanted to go home.

He had just turned toward the door when the bedroom door opened.

Lorenzo stopped.

Bianca had changed into a violet dress.

The silk skimmed her body, the cut modest enough to be elegant. On Bianca, that restraint only made it more provocative. On an older woman, it would have looked polished. On her, with that bright, unguarded youth still clinging to her, it became something more dangerous.

She walked toward him with her hair loose and her throat bare, holding out the jewelry case with a small,

satisfied smile.

“Well?” she asked.

What followed happened quickly.

Lorenzo opened the case and fastened the necklace around her throat. The diamonds caught the light as they settled against her skin. And somewhere in that moment, whatever hesitation had been holding

him back broke cleanly in two.

He bent and kissed her.

By the time he rose from the bed, two hours had passed.

He pulled on his shirt and reached for his jacket.

Bianca caught his wrist.

“You said tonight was mine.”

Lorenzo did not look at her. “I have to go.”

“Why?” She pushed herself upright, the sheets slipping around her. “At this hour?”

He had no answer that would make sense, even to himself.

He just wanted to see what Sofia had left in that drawer.

But Bianca did not let go.

“You weren’t in such a hurry before,” she said. Hurt and anger were already beginning to sharpen her voice. “You told me you were staying.”

“Bianca,” he said, colder now, “don’t start.”

She froze, then she dropped his wrist.

“Oh, now I’m too much?” she said, letting out a bitter laugh. “That’s not what you used to say. You said

this was what you liked about me.”

Lorenzo said nothing.

Because she was not wrong.

In the beginning, it had been that spark in her that caught his attention. At first, he had only meant to honor a promise to her father by keeping her close and making sure she was looked after. But over time,

the boundaries had blurred.

“I’ll see you later,” he said at last.

Then he turned and walked out without another word.