The blinking red light stared at her like an eye.
Aria crouched beside the stone balcony railing, her fingers hovering over the tiny camera. Hidden deep in the masonry, it was barely noticeable—unless you were looking for it.
She didn't touch it.
Not yet.
Instead, she stared into it.
"If you're watching me," she whispered, "I hope you're afraid."
Then she stood and walked back into the room as if nothing had happened.
She wouldn't destroy this one. Not yet.
This one was bait.
⸻
By morning, she had her plan.
Luciano left for a meeting downtown—something about the Castellani shipment. Talon and the guards were busy with new recruits.
That left the estate quieter than usual.
Aria slipped into the east wing—an abandoned section of the house that hadn't been used in years. The halls smelled of dust and damp paper. Paint peeled from the walls. But her steps were swift. Focused.
She was looking for it.
What Matteo once hinted at. A forgotten room. A server line that didn't connect to the official network. Something hidden beneath the estate.
And finally, behind a cracked wooden panel, she found it: a narrow staircase, spiraling down into the dark.
She lit the flashlight on her phone and descended.
One floor. Two.
The air grew colder.
Then, at the bottom—an old vault door, half-open.
Inside, a room.
Not for storage.
For secrets.
⸻
The space was no larger than a walk-in closet. But every wall was lined with screens. Recordings. Cables. Hard drives stacked like bricks.
And in the center—a single chair.
Occupied.
By him.
Hooded. Silent.
The man from the graveyard photo.
Enzo.
He didn't flinch when she stepped in.
"You've come," he said, voice low and dry.
Aria didn't blink. "You've been watching me."
He turned in his chair. "I was assigned to."
"By who? Luciano?"
A pause.
Then a slow smile. "By fate, I think. And by men who love power more than truth."
She stepped forward. "Why me?"
"Because you're the crack in the foundation. The one they didn't expect to survive. You were supposed to marry him, submit to him, play the puppet."
His gaze burned into her.
"But instead… you started asking questions."
"I want answers," she said.
He tapped a button on the keyboard.
A screen lit up. Footage.
Her father. Meeting in secret. With someone else.
Talon.
Aria's knees nearly buckled.
"They betrayed your brother," Enzo said. "Your father gave Luca up for a promise of peace. Talon sealed the deal."
She staggered back. "No. That's not—"
"True?" Enzo said. "It's all here. Every file. Every word. Luciano doesn't know the full extent. But he suspects."
Aria's chest heaved.
Her father. Talon. Luca's blood…
She couldn't breathe.
⸻
Back in her room, she barely managed to sit before the grief clawed through her.
Her father.
The man who kissed her forehead after the funeral.
Had traded her brother's life for safety.
And then sold her into marriage like a bargaining chip.
Her hands trembled.
She should have felt rage. But all she felt was numbness.
She pulled out her phone.
One message to Luciano.
"We need to talk. In private. No guards."
⸻
He arrived ten minutes later, his jaw tense.
Aria didn't wait for him to speak.
"I know about the camera in the balcony stone."
A flicker.
"I know about Enzo."
Another flicker.
"And I know about my father."
That one landed.
Luciano sat slowly.
"I wanted to tell you," he said. "But I thought it would destroy you."
"It already has."
Silence.
Then she asked the one thing that burned the deepest:
"Did you know before the wedding?"
Luciano's stare didn't falter.
"Yes."
She stood, breath shaking.
"I was a pawn."
"You were leverage," he corrected. "But never a pawn. I married you because you are stronger than all of them. Including me."
His voice softened.
"And because I knew you'd survive this."
"I don't want to survive," she whispered. "I want justice."
Luciano nodded once. Slowly.
"Then we begin."
⸻
Outside the estate, under the cover of night, Talon stood in the garden.
Phone to his ear.
"She knows," he said.
A pause.
Then:
"Yes. We move to phase two."