The scream tore through the darkness.
“ELENA!”
Elena froze.
She knew that voice.
Isabella.
Damien tightened his grip around Elena’s hand.
“Stay behind me.”
They rushed up the stairs, with Luca and two armed guards following close behind.
The mansion was almost completely dark.
Emergency lights flickered along the hallway, casting long shadows across the walls.
“Isabella!” Elena called.
No answer.
They reached the second floor.
A bedroom door stood wide open.
Damien raised his weapon.
“Luca, check the hallway.”
Luca nodded and moved ahead.
Damien pushed Elena behind him before stepping inside.
The room was empty.
The curtains moved violently in the cold night air.
A window was open.
Elena’s heart pounded.
“Where is she?”
Damien scanned the room.
Then Luca’s voice came from the hallway.
“Boss!”
Damien turned.
Luca was standing beside a fallen table.
There was blood on the floor.
Elena’s breath caught.
“Is Isabella hurt?”
Damien crouched and touched the blood with his fingers.
“It’s fresh.”
Suddenly, something moved behind the curtains.
Damien raised his gun.
“Come out.”
Silence.
He moved toward the window.
Then a figure suddenly appeared behind him.
Elena screamed.
“Damien!”
He turned instantly.
A man dressed in black lunged at him.
The two men crashed into the wall.
Damien dropped his weapon as the attacker swung at him.
He blocked the punch and drove the man backward.
Luca rushed forward, but the attacker kicked him away.
Elena backed toward the door.
Then she noticed something.
The man’s face.
She had seen him before.
Not in the mansion.
Not in a photograph.
Somewhere else.
Her eyes widened.
“Wait!”
The attacker looked at her.
For one second, their eyes met.
Then he ran toward the window.
Damien grabbed his jacket.
The fabric tore.
The man jumped through the window and disappeared into the darkness.
Damien reached the window, but there was nothing he could do.
Luca ran to his side.
“Should I send the men after him?”
“No.”
Damien looked down at the torn piece of black fabric in his hand.
“He wants us to chase him.”
Elena stared at the empty window.
“Damien…”
He turned toward her.
“I know that man.”
Damien’s expression hardened.
“From where?”
Elena swallowed.
“I don’t remember exactly. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
But I’ve seen him before.”
“Where?”
She closed her eyes, trying to force the memory back.
Then it came.
A funeral.
Rain.
Black umbrellas.
Her father’s coffin.
And a man standing across the cemetery.
Watching her.
“I saw him at my father’s funeral.”
Damien went completely still.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Elena looked at him.
“He was watching me.”
Damien’s eyes darkened.
“And you never told me?”
“I didn’t know who he was!”
Before Damien could respond, a weak voice came from behind them.
“Because…”
They turned.
Isabella was standing in the doorway.
Her face was pale.
There was a small cut above her eyebrow.
“Elena…”
She took a shaky breath.
“He wasn’t here for me.”
Damien walked toward her.
“Then who was he here for?”
Isabella looked directly at Elena.
“You.”
The room fell silent.
Elena felt a coldness spread through her body.
“Why?”
Isabella’s eyes filled with fear.
“Because he said your name.”
Damien’s jaw tightened.
“What exactly did he say?”
Isabella looked at him.
“He said…”
She hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Tell Elena her father never betrayed the Morettis.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Damien didn’t move.
Isabella continued.
“He said your father was trying to expose someone.”
“Who?” Elena asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Isabella, please.”
“I swear, Elena.
That’s all I heard.”
Damien stepped toward the window.
His expression had become unreadable.
“Luca.”
“Yes, boss?”
“Lock down the entire estate.”
“Already doing it.”
“No one gets in.”
He paused.
“And no one gets out.”
Elena stared at Damien.
“Why?”
He turned slowly.
“Because we have a traitor inside this house.”
A cold silence followed.
Then footsteps echoed from downstairs.
Everyone turned.
One of the guards reached for his weapon.
Damien raised his hand.
“Don’t.”
The footsteps stopped.
A moment later, Marco appeared at the bottom of the staircase.
There was blood on his sleeve.
Elena immediately recognized him.
“Marco?”
He looked up.
His face was pale.
“I…”
Damien descended the stairs slowly.
“Where have you been?”
Marco swallowed.
“I was attacked near the east entrance.”
Damien’s eyes narrowed.
“By whom?”
“I couldn’t see his face.”
“Convenient.”
Marco looked nervous.
“Boss, I’m telling the truth.”
Damien stopped directly in front of him.
“You disappeared immediately after an intruder entered my wife’s room.”
Marco’s face changed.
Elena noticed.
So did Damien.
“You knew about that?” Damien asked.
Marco froze.
“I…”
“You weren’t supposed to know.”
Marco stepped backward.
Damien’s hand moved toward his weapon.
“Who told you?”
“No one.”
“Then how did you know?”
Marco said nothing.
Luca moved behind him.
Marco suddenly looked toward the door.
Elena realized what he was about to do.
“Damien!”
Marco ran.
Two guards tackled him before he reached the exit.
He struggled violently.
“Let me go!”
Damien walked toward him.
“Search him.”
One of the guards reached inside Marco’s jacket.
He pulled out a small black phone.
Damien took it.
The screen was still unlocked.
There was only one recent message.
Damien read it.
His face became stone.
Elena stepped closer.
“What does it say?”
Damien looked at her.
Then he turned the phone around.
The message contained only six words:
SHE KNOWS TOO MUCH.
GET RID OF HER.
Elena’s blood ran cold.
She looked at Marco.
Marco’s eyes dropped.
Damien’s voice became dangerously calm.
“Who sent this?”
Marco remained silent.
Damien leaned closer.
“I’m going to ask you once.”
He looked into Marco’s eyes.
“Who sent the message?”
Marco finally raised his head.
His lips trembled.
Then he whispered a name.
A name that made Damien’s entire body go still.
“Isabella.”
Elena turned toward Isabella.
Isabella’s face had gone completely white.
And for the first time, Elena wondered if the person she thought she could trust most in the Moretti family…
was the person she should fear the most.