The mansion feels colder tonight.
Like it knows something I don't.
I sit by the window in Alessio's bedroom, wrapped in one of his shirts, knees pulled to my chest. The lights of the city burn in the distance, blurred by fog and silence.
He hasn't come back.
And that's starting to scare me.
I know he's dangerous. That's never been the question. But I'd started to believe—stupidly—that I was somehow… safe with him. Special. The one person he wouldn't lie to. Or hurt.
Now I'm not so sure.
The key from my mother's journal is still on the table. I've read the entries a dozen times since we found the hidden chamber beneath the estate. But no matter how many times I read her words, they feel like a puzzle missing half its pieces.
And one phrase keeps circling my brain like a shark that smells blood.
He knew. Don't trust him.
Who was she talking about?
Alessio?
His father?
Someone else entirely?
I don't want to believe she meant Alessio. But what if she did?
What if this entire thing—his protection, his tenderness, his obsession—is all part of some twisted legacy I was never meant to uncover?
My mother wasn't just a casualty in a mafia war.
She was a threat.
A woman with enough secrets to make men like Alessio's father flinch.
And now I'm sitting in the belly of the beast, in the arms of a man who once swore he'd never let anyone touch me… but still hasn't told me why.
There's a knock on the door.
My heart lurches.
But it's not Alessio.
It's Leo—one of his guards. The quiet one with soft eyes and a voice that doesn't match his gun.
"Boss wants to see you," he says. "Downstairs. Study."
I swallow and nod.
The hallways feel like a labyrinth as I follow him down. The guards I pass all stare too long. Like they know something I don't. Like I'm marked.
The study door is cracked open. Alessio's voice leaks through before I reach it.
"…no, I don't care what Riccardo said. She stays under my protection. If anyone lays a finger on her, they answer to me."
A pause.
Then softer: "I'll kill them myself if I have to."
A part of me wants to run into his arms. Another part wants to demand what the hell he's hiding from me.
I push the door open.
He looks up.
His expression shifts when he sees me—from fire to something raw. Almost… regretful.
"Elena," he says, standing.
"You called for me?"
He nods. "Come here."
I don't.
He notices.
"You don't trust me," he says quietly.
I press my lips together. "Did you know my mother and your father were involved?"
His jaw flexes. "Yes."
"Before or after we found the photo?"
"Before," he admits.
It stings.
I take a step back. "And you didn't tell me because…?"
"Because I didn't know how deep it went. I still don't."
"Then tell me what you do know. No more half-truths. No more silence. Just the truth."
He walks to me, slow and deliberate, stopping just short of touching me.
"My father was obsessed with Isabelle Romano. Before she married your father. Before she walked away from this life. She knew things—about him, about the Syndicate—that could've dismantled everything. When she left, he let her go. But when she resurfaced years later, trying to expose him… he ordered the hit."
I freeze.
"You're saying your father… had her killed."
He nods once.
"And you knew?"
"I suspected. But I didn't have proof until Riccardo confirmed it tonight."
My knees nearly buckle.
The fire inside me—rage, grief, betrayal—boils over.
"Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Because I didn't want to break you."
"I'm already broken," I whisper.
He reaches for me. I flinch.
And I see it. That flicker of pain in his eyes.
"I didn't kill her," he says.
"I know. But you're part of the machine that did."
Silence stretches between us like a loaded gun.
Then—
"There's more."
My heart stops. "What?"
"I think there's a traitor inside my inner circle. Someone who wants to use you—to finish what Isabelle started. But not for justice. For power."
My blood turns to ice.
"Who?"
He hesitates.
"I don't know. Yet."
A sudden knock makes us both jump.
Leo's voice on the other side of the door: "Boss. We've got a problem."
Alessio opens the door. "What kind of problem?"
Leo's face is pale. "The files from the chamber. They're gone."
"What?" I gasp.
Leo nods. "Whoever took them knew exactly what they were looking for."
Alessio curses under his breath.
And that's when it hits me.
I'm not just someone's daughter anymore.
I'm a target.
A key.
And someone is about to use me to blow this world wide open.