The Mafia's Heir's bride-Chapter 146: The Dream that seems real

Darkness swallowed Luca whole.

Not pain, not death Just a void.

A void filled with one sound.

"Luca..." her voice.

Alessia’s voice soft, and broken.

Calling him from somewhere he could not reach.

And then—Everything cracked.

Like glass shattering under the weight of a truth too heavy to hold.

A scream tore through the dark—his scream, her scream, the river’s scream—and then the world snapped...

Alessia shot upright.

Gasping and crying. It was all a dream.

She clutches her chest like something inside was clawing to get out.

Her vision blurred with tears.

The space spun and her pulse thundered in her ears, and her hair clung to her sweat-damp cheeks.

For a moment, she didn’t know where she was.

She didn’t know when she was.

The river, the creature.

Luca’s silver eyes—cold, godlike.

Her own voice, not hers, whispering his name—It all felt real.... Too real.

Her fingers shook violently as she clawed at the sheets, pulling herself out of the nightmare that wasn’t a nightmare.

A warm hand cupped her face. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Alessia." and Her breath hitched.

That voice—deep, gentle, unmistakably alive.

"Alessia, amore... hey. Look at me."

She forced her eyes open.

And there he was.

Her Luca Morano. No silver-eyed, no glowing, no monstrous.

Just Luca in his warm skin, dark eyes . Hair mussed from sleep.

Shirt half open like he’d rushed to her the second she whimpered.

He sat on the edge of the bed, breathing hard—like he’d sprinted from another life just to reach her.

She reached out with trembling fingers, touching his jaw, needing to feel he was real.

"You... left," her voice cracked.

Luca frowned, brushing sweat from her temple. "I went to the small shop to get you a fruit cake and juice.

You said you wanted something sweet before sunset".

Her throat tightened, fruit cake and a juice

It sounds normal, human and mundane.

A world away from the creature... the river... the death that had swallowed them whole.

"But you weren’t there," she whispered. "In my dreams I looked for you... I called you... and you were talking to someone—Helena. You were whispering with her. You looked at her like you knew her. Like she mattered."

Luca stilled completely.

"What did you say?" he asked .

Alessia swallowed, voice shaking.

"In the dream... I saw you with her. Helena. She said something... something that broke me. I don’t remember the words but—your face, Luca. It was cold. Like you didn’t care I was there."

Her breath hitched again, desperate, terrified.

"And then... I felt up and walk away I jumped.... I don’t even know.

I just remember the river swallowing me.

Everything was black, everything hurt. I heard you screaming my name from far away....."

Her whole body trembled.

Luca pulled her tight against him.

His arms were iron, protective and

terrified.

He kissed her forehead, her cheek, her temple—everywhere her skin felt cold from fear.

"Alessia... amore mio... you’re safe. You’re here with me. I wasn’t talking to anyone. I didn’t leave the inn. I didn’t..." His voice cracked, rare and raw. "I would never look at another woman the way I look at you."

Her breath trembled into his chest.

He held her tighter.

The sun hadn’t risen yet. Serena City outside was quiet, calm, unaware that Alessia’s soul felt like it had just crawled back from the grave.

After a long moment, Luca exhaled shakily.

"Maybe... we should talk to someone."

"Someone?" she whispered.

"A fortune teller," Luca said. "The real ones...The ancient ones in this seriona city is real, not the street clowns."

He ran a hand through her hair.

"You’ve been dreaming too much lately. And not like normal dreams. These ones... they shake you. They leave bruises on your heart."

Her fingers tightened in his shirt.

"Luca... in my dreams , why did she say your name like she knew you? Helena."

He froze, just barely.

But she felt it.

"Luca," she repeated, lifting her head. "Who is Helena?"

A muscle in his jaw jumped.

He didn’t lie. Luca didn’t know how to lie to her.

Instead, he let out a slow breath.

"I know Helena," he finally said. "From years ago. From before all this. And yes... she stays here. In Serena City."

Alessia’s stomach dropped.

"Why didn’t you ever tell me about her?"

Luca’s eyes softened in a way that punched oxygen from her lungs.

"Because she doesn’t matter," he murmured.

"You’re my wife, Alessia. You’re the only one who matters."

The place went quiet, except the noise from the festival display , coming from afar.

Their breathing, their heartbeat.

The muffled hum of a city not yet awake.

Everything fragile, everything perfect.

Everything still trembling with cracks from the dream she couldn’t escape.

Luca leaned in, forehead resting against hers.

"Tomorrow morning," he whispered, "we’ll go to the Seriona fortune seers. The old ones. They’ll tell us why you’re dreaming this. I won’t let anything hurt you. Not even a dream."

She nodded, though her fingertips still shook.

He wiped her tears and kissed her again.

And just when the room had settled into fragile peace—

A voice cut Very familiar, breathless and unmistakably

"Well, look who finally crawled out of hiding."

Luca stiffened and Alessia’s eyes widened.

They both turned—

Standing in the doorway, dirt-stained, shaken, and very much not supposed to be in Seriona city—

Daisy And Romeo....

********

"Alessia?". Daisy spun.

She stood there—dusty, breathless, eyes wide with disbelief. Romeo beside her froze mid-step, staring at Luca like he was seeing a ghost.

Luca stiffened instantly, shoulders tensing in protective instinct. "What are you two doing in Seriona ?"

Romeo let out a humorless laugh. "Funny, We were about to ask you the same."

The coincidence was so sharp, so unbelievable, it made Alessia’s skin prickle. Of all places in this massive city... they ran into each other in the heart of the square like fate had dragged them all by the collar.

Before anyone could speak again, Daisy grabbed Alessia’s hands.

"You look pale, are you okay?"

Alessia swallowed hard. "I... I had a dream."

She looked at Luca, then back at them. "A dream that felt too real, like I lived it."

Romeo exchanged a quick glance with Daisy.

"What kind of dream?" Daisy asked quietly.

Alessia hesitated. "I dreamt I jumped into the river. After I got obsessed ....That Luca wasn’t with me—he was... talking to someone else." Her breath quivered. "And the river swallowed me whole."

Daisy inhaled sharply.

"You need to check that," she said firmly. "Sometimes dreams are warnings, sometimes dreams are real."

Alessia froze.

"Real?"

Daisy nodded. "Let’s go there, To the riverbank. If there’s nothing, you’ll rest easy. If there’s something..." She held Alessia’s gaze. "We’ll deal with it."

Luca looked like he wanted to stop this entire thing, but the fear still trembling in Alessia’s fingers destroyed any argument.

He exhaled sharply and nodded.

"Fine, We go."

They walked together—through the narrow streets, past the old mill, then down the slope toward the river that cut through Serena like a silent, ancient spine.

The moment Alessia reached the clearing, her breath left her.

Because lying on the grass—caught between roots and river stones—was a torn piece of golden fabric.

Her golden colour veil, the veil she wore for the seriona veil festival.

She stumbled forward, Luca right behind her.

"This..." She lifted it with shaking fingers. "This is my veil. Part of it." Her voice cracked. "It’s cut. Exactly how I saw it in the dream."

Daisy’s face drained of color.

Romeo knelt beside her, inspecting the area. "Anything else?"

Alessia’s gaze drifted lower—to the sandy patch of soil near the river’s edge.

Her heart dropped.

There—pressed into the earth—was the imprint of a shoe.

A distinct design.

A pattern she knew instantly.

It was Lorenzo’s. And the exact shoe and design he wore in her dreams.

Alessia’s voice trembled as she whispered, "Was this real? Did the dream actually... happen?"

Because suddenly—

she wasn’t sure it had been a dream at all.

And the river seemed to watch her

like it knew the answer....