Chapter 18 Valentina’s Confession in the Shower #5
“They’re using our own networks,” Enzo said. “Our people.”
Valentina nodded. “Not all of them. Just the ones they can make believe it’s loyalty.”
Enzo’s stomach twisted. Loyalty was supposed to be sacred. In this conspiracy, it had become a costume.
He stepped closer until the steam warmed his face. “Then why tell me now.”
Valentina’s mouth trembled, anger and fear wrestling. “Because they’re hunting him now. And because I can’t keep pretending this secret will stay buried just because I’m afraid of your reaction.”
Enzo’s eyes narrowed. “My reaction.”
Valentina’s gaze dropped to his chest, to the place where his heart beat too hard under his shirt. “You want to keep me safe by owning the outcome.”
Enzo’s breath stuttered. He didn’t deny it. The truth was too sharp, too immediate.
He leaned in, voice low, not a threat but a confession of his own. “I want to keep you safe by being the wall between you and the world.”
Valentina’s eyes glimmered. “And sometimes the wall becomes a cage.”
The words hit him harder than any gunshot. He wanted to argue. He wanted to defend himself.
But then she lifted her chin and spoke like she was forcing the truth through her ribs.
“When I was a child, my grandfather told me the pact wasn’t only legal.
It was personal. He told me there was a reason the enemy chose my bloodline.
He told me my family carried the ability to sign and seal things that could kill without spilling ink. ”
Enzo’s fingers tightened. “He told you that and you believed you were cursed.”
Valentina’s laugh was brittle. “I believed I was useful.”
Enzo stepped back a fraction, shaken by the simplicity of her despair. He hadn’t realized how deep her family training ran - how far back it went.
Valentina’s shoulders sagged. “That’s what the sealed pact was meant to do. It was meant to keep a person alive long enough to become a threat to the enemy. Someone like Matteo. Someone with the kind of leverage the enemy couldn’t tolerate.”
Enzo’s voice went rough. “So your family signed away their neutrality.”
Valentina nodded. “We signed away our innocence.”
Steam rolled over them. Water hissed behind the glass, turning the air into a warm curtain. The locked door felt suddenly thin, like it couldn’t keep out more than noise.
Enzo’s mind flashed to the unknown man in black gloves who’d moved like a gunman’s instinct. To the handler who’d said, coldly, “We already did.” To the midday message that referenced the trapdoor clause.
This wasn’t just about paper anymore. It was about timing. It was about forcing the pact back into public view.
“They’re going to trigger the clause,” Enzo said.
Valentina’s gaze sharpened. “They already tried. They failed to take the folder. They failed to get the sealed pact into the right hands.”
Enzo’s chest loosened a fraction - relief that they hadn’t succeeded. Then that relief curdled into rage. Because the attempt meant they were close enough to keep trying.
“What happens if they succeed,” he asked.
Valentina’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Matteo dies.”
Enzo felt the room tilt. He didn’t know Matteo personally. He hadn’t earned grief for a man he’d never met.
But the conspiracy demanded payment in blood, and Valentina had already shown him how carefully they chose the victim.
Enzo stepped forward again, and his voice came out steadier than he felt. “Then we stop them.”
Valentina shook her head. “We can’t just stop them. Not if the clause requires a public filing. Not if language is the key.”
Enzo’s eyes narrowed. “Then we change the language.”
Valentina’s lips parted. “You think I haven’t already considered that.”
He stared at her. “You have.”
“Yes.” Her voice was taut. “But the sealed pact isn’t just a single clause.
It’s an agreement with chain-of-custody rules and witness requirements.
If they’ve already forged the stamp and altered what the verification will prove, then even if we say the right words, the system might still treat it as compliance. ”
Enzo’s control threatened to collapse. The idea that the enemy could win with bureaucracy made him want to break the bathroom tile with his fists.
Instead, he pressed his hand against the wall beside the shower, steadying himself. “Then your secret agreement doesn’t just involve Matteo.”
Valentina’s eyes widened slightly, as if he’d reached the conclusion she’d been afraid to name.
Enzo turned his head, slow. “It involves a person inside The Shadows who can be convinced to trigger the clause - or a person outside who can be framed to do it.”
Valentina’s breathing turned shallow. “Enzo…”
He looked at her and saw the fear behind her eyes. Not fear of him. Fear of what her family’s secret had already set in motion.
“What did you hide,” he demanded, softer than before. “Where is the seam you didn’t tell me about.”
Valentina’s eyes shimmered. She looked away, toward the locked door, as if she expected someone to be listening through the hinges.
Then she returned her gaze to him.
“I didn’t just hide that Matteo was meant to be