Chapter 410: Trending Before Breakfast

They stepped out of the hotel and the morning attacked them.

Bennett’s driver was already waiting with the black jeep at the curb. For one second it looked normal. Then the cameras detonated.

Yesterday had been loud.

This was a full ambush.

Flashes exploded from every angle so hard Bennett stumbled and covered her face. People shoved forward in a messy wave, phones up, mics out, voices crashing over each other. Somebody screamed her name wrong. Somebody else screamed Lucas’s name even wronger. One man kept yelling "Chiara bodyguard!" like that was Lucas’s official title and passport identity.

"Look this way!"

"Is the bodyguard okay?"

"Did you plan it?"

"Are you dating?"

The questions made no sense. The volume made it worse.

Lucas did not pause to admire the circus.

He put a hand on Bennett’s back and pushed through. She stayed glued to his side, half-blind from the lights, while he carved a path toward the jeep. A reporter jammed a mic at his mouth. Lucas walked past it like the man was invisible. Another one asked if the bodyguard was still drinking soup through a straw. Lucas did not give that one the gift of a reaction either.

They hit the jeep. The driver already had the door open with the face of a man who had seen war coming and prepared early. Bennett almost fell in. Lucas followed. The door slammed shut, cutting the noise in half, though a few cameras still slapped the windows like desperate insects before the vehicle finally pulled out.

Inside, Bennett turned to him, still blinking hard.

"Why were they taking pictures like that? Like we are famous."

The driver looked at them through the mirror and nearly lost it.

"Wait. Hold on. You two are serious right now?"

Bennett frowned. "Serious about what?"

Lucas stayed calm. "Talk."

The driver shook his head like he was disappointed in their entire bloodline.

"You are trending. Everywhere. Hotel entrance. Bodyguard on the floor. Then the restaurant clip where the assistant came to collect an apology and left with her dignity in a plastic bag. People have been eating those videos since last night. Some are calling it the best tourist moment of the year."

Bennett’s mouth opened.

Lucas leaned back slowly.

The driver kept going, fully entertained now.

"Bro, what you did was madness. The whole country is watching. People made stickers. People made edits. People are saying Chiara finally met a real problem instead of another yes-man. You have not even spent two clean days in this city and you are already national content."

Lucas let out a short laugh.

A little attention, he had expected.

This?

Strangers outside a hotel treating him like a celebrity because he dropped one bodyguard and refused to entertain an assistant’s performance?

That was new.

Bennett sat there processing it, still slightly stunned.

"So that is why..." she muttered.

Lucas only turned to the window as the jeep joined traffic, the hotel and its circus shrinking behind them.

---

Moretti Private Collection showed up like it was trying to intimidate the whole street.

The building was massive. Glass and dark stone. At the front, luxury cars sat under bright lights, some slowly spinning on polished platforms like they were too important to touch the ground. Deep paint. Clean chrome. The kind of machines people bought when normal money stopped being interesting.

Lucas stared for a second longer than he meant to.

The jeep stopped.

They stepped out and walked in.

Bennett had been here before, but never for something this heavy. The car they came for was not in the same world as her usual purchases. This one was on a different level entirely.

Inside, the reception floor was wide and cold with money. White marble. Soft music. A long desk with about ten receptionists behind it, all dressed in black, all looking expensive, all wearing the same polite face that said they had seen richer people than you.

Bennett walked straight up.

One of the women smiled.

"Good morning. How may I help you?"

"I’m here to see Moretti."

The smile stayed, but it got thinner. That line alone never worked here. Half the city wanted Moretti. Most of them got sent in circles.

Bennett did not wait for the rejection speech.

"Tell him it’s about a rare collection. One that costs more than a fortune."

That did it.

The receptionist’s eyes changed immediately. She picked up the phone, spoke quietly, listened, then stood up.

"Please follow me."

She left the desk and led them toward a private elevator. The other receptionists watched them go a little too long before pretending to return to work.

The elevator doors opened.

They stepped in.

No music. No talking. Just the soft climb upward and their reflections in the mirror. Bennett stood straight. Lucas stayed relaxed, already reading the place.

When the doors opened again, the upper floor was quieter. Thicker carpet. Fewer people. The kind of floor where real money got discussed and ordinary clients never reached.

The receptionist stopped at a wide wooden door, knocked, and leaned in.

"Sir. Your guests are here."

A voice answered from inside.

They entered.

---

Moretti’s office was wide, dark, and arranged so that whoever walked in faced him first.

He sat behind a heavy desk in a suit that looked expensive without trying too hard. Late forties, maybe early fifties. Long mustache. One arm resting lazily on the desk. Phone pressed to his ear as he finished another deal in a bored voice.

He did not stand.

He only lifted a hand and pointed them toward the chairs.

Lucas and Bennett sat.

Moretti kept talking on the phone.

A cigarette sat in the ashtray beside him, smoke rising slowly. He listened, answered short, controlled the whole conversation, and made no effort to hurry because two people were waiting in front of him.

One minute passed.

Then another.

Bennett kept her face controlled. Lucas leaned back a little and watched.

By the fourth minute, the silence in the room had weight.

Moretti finally ended the call, set the phone down, and only then looked at them properly.

His eyes went to Bennett first.

Mild recognition. Nothing deep.

Then they moved to Lucas.

And stayed there.