Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Anton
I paced the length of my hotel suite, jaw clenched, and my hands fisted at my sides. This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go. I shouldn’t have let her leave. I should have made her stay—made her listen long enough for me to explain. What had started out as a fact-finding mission to protect myself had turned into genuine worry for Serena’s safety. Now, I no longer cared about myself. It was all about her.
I exhaled sharply, running a hand through my hair. Her expression when she threw my concern back in my face before storming out flashed in my mind. Her leaving wouldn’t have bothered me a month ago. She would have been just another woman, and I’d had plenty walk away before.
But everything had changed. Serena wasn’t just another woman.
She’d gotten under my skin in more ways than I cared to admit. She had become my obsession, consuming my thoughts with an intensity I hadn’t anticipated. She was fire and steel, sharp enough to cut when she felt threatened, yet soft in all the ways that mattered. I had made her feel threatened tonight, possibly shattering the fragile trust she’d placed in me.
I picked up the folder, flipping through it without really seeing it. Pages of information stared back at me—reports, photographs, timelines. My gaze landed on the serpent symbol. I traced the swirling lines with my finger as frustration coiled in my gut. Somehow, I knew everything led back to this. I just hadn’t pieced together the connection.
I tossed the folder back onto the desk.
“Dammit!”
I began to pace again, the walls of the suite making me feel too confined.
Sirens blared in the distance, faint but insistent. A single instance wouldn’t have caught my attention, but as I stood there, the sound repeated. More joined in. The sirens were different in Italy compared to New York City. Back home, they wailed with a high-pitched, undulating urgency. Here, they seemed to cut through the quiet streets like a relentless war cry.
I walked to the window, pushing aside the curtain to glance out. The street appeared quiet. Lights flickered against the darkened skyline, but nothing seemed out of place. But inside, my world turned to hell in the blink of an eye. Unease clawed at my chest, unsettling and persistent. I could still feel Serena’s cutting words.
“All that bullshit about wanting to get to know me was exactly that—bullshit. You already had everything you needed, didn’t you? I don’t care if you’re some mega rich billionaire. You had no right to invade my privacy like this!”
And then she’d run.
I hated seeing the icy betrayal in her ocean blue eyes when she looked at me, her words cold and heavy with feelings of betrayal. I may have deserved it, but I wasn’t the enemy here. While I had no proof that she was in imminent danger, something told me that Serena wasn’t safe. Call it instinct or intuition, but my gut feelings were never wrong. I needed to protect her—to make her understand.
“To hell with this,” I muttered to myself. I had to go after her.
I turned from the window and grabbed the suit jacket I’d left hanging over a chair. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I paused before dialing Zeke. As much as I was beginning to understand the need for constant security, I knew Serena didn’t care much for his hovering so I pocketed the phone. If I wanted her full attention, I would need to do this alone.
The night air was cool as I stepped outside. I fastened the two buttons on my jacket as I began the walk down the quiet street toward Serena’s mother’s house. My frustration with the situation burned hotter with each step, fueling the restless energy inside me.
The sirens grew louder, an urgent wail cutting through the otherwise still night. I hadn’t thought much of it when I’d first heard them from the hotel, but then I smelled the sharp, acrid bite of smoke curling through the air.
My pace quickened, the hairs on the back of my neck rising. Looking ahead, I noticed an orange glow in the sky. I began to jog when I realized it was coming from the direction of Serena’s mothers house.
I turned the corner—and saw hell.
Flames clawed at the sky, devouring everything in their path. Serena’s mother’s house was an inferno, fire licking up the walls and spilling from the shattered windows like molten fury. The glass-blowing workshop beside it was barely visible through the churning smoke, the heat warping the air around it like a living thing.
For a moment, all I could do was stare, my mind struggling to process the scene before me. The workshop roof had already caved, fiery embers cascading through the air like vengeful stars. The fire crackled and roared like a beast devouring its last meal.
Then I heard her scream—a sound of pure, raw agony.
My gaze snapped away from the burning structures toward the chaos. I scanned the area until I found Serena. She was wild-eyed, straining against the grip of a fireman holding her back.
“No! Let me go!” she sobbed, her voice breaking. Her fists hammered against his chest as she fought to get free.
I was moving before I even realized it, instinctually surging forward. I shoved through the cluster of onlookers and emergency responders, reaching her within seconds.
“Serena!”
She didn’t seem to hear me. She was lost in sheer panic as her entire world burned before her eyes. I grabbed her, wrenching her from the fireman’s hold and pulling her against me. She thrashed at first, fists pounding against me just as they had against him, but I didn’t let go.
“Serena, stop,” I ordered, my voice rough. “I’ve got you.”
As if she suddenly realized whose arms she was in, she stilled and sagged against me. Her fingers fisted in my jacket as broken sobs tore from her throat.
“My mother,” she gasped. “She—she was inside. I saw her earlier. She brought my dinner to the workshop. She said she had a headache, and that she was going to lie down. She’s in there!”
My spine stiffened, finally understanding the reason for her hysteria. If Sylvia Martinelli was truly inside…
I glanced back at the burned house, then turned to the fireman, my grip on Serena tightening. “Why are you just standing there? Her mother is in there!”
The firefighter shook his head, his face grim. “ Tetto instabile . The roof is too unstable. If we try to send anyone in now?—”
A loud crack split the air, deafening over the roar of the flames. We all turned just in time to see part of the roof collapse, a fiery explosion of embers shooting skyward. The firemen scrambled back, barking frantic orders to one another.
Serena screamed, and I pulled her in closer, forcing her against my chest before she could try to run toward the destruction. Her nails dug into my arms as she choked out, “No, no, no!”
I gritted my teeth, my own heart hammering as I whispered, “Shh, princess. I’ve got you.”
Her body shook, wracked by sobs as I stroked her hair. Flames licked at the night sky, casting an eerie glow over the frantic chaos. Firefighters yelled orders to one another, their silhouettes a blur of motion as they fought to put out the fire. Smoke billowed thick and black, choking the air with the pungent scent of burning wood, plastic, and other things I couldn’t name.
Serena sobbed against my chest, her fingers clutching desperately to my shirt.
“She was inside,” she repeated. Her breath hitched, coming out in broken gasps. “She—she was inside.”
I tightened my hold, needing to keep her anchored to me. Another loud crack, and we both flinched as the front part of the roof caved in, sending up a fresh shower of embers and debris. The firefighters closest to the house shouted, scrambling back. The inferno surged higher, the flames feeding on the oxygen created by the collapse.
Serena’s strangled cry cut through the noise, raw and laced with a new kind of agony. “Oh, my God. What if this was me? What if I did this?”
“What do you mean?”
“I was working earlier today. I know I turned the needle valve off to close the fuel source, but I had to leave the blower running overnight to keep the burner tip cool. I think I cleared the area but now I’m not sure. I could have left flammable material or?— ”
“Stop.” I seized her chin, forcing her to look at me. Her face was streaked with tears as her wide, devastated eyes locked onto mine. “Stop it right now. Don’t do this to yourself. You don’t know anything yet.”
She let out another choked sob and collapsed against me, her strength giving out. My heart pounded against my ribs as I looked past her, back toward the fire. My mind scrambled for hope, for something to cling to.
Then I saw it.
The front door stood open. The fire hadn’t fully consumed the entryway yet, leaving it eerily intact amid the destruction. My breath caught.
Why would the door be open?
Maybe there was a chance that Sylvia had made it out alive. I opened my mouth to tell Serena my thoughts, but the words never left me.
Because just beyond that open door, barely visible through the thick smoke, was a symbol spray-painted onto the far wall. It was a serpent—the familiar looping pattern the very same as the one I’d seen at the motel in New York.
“Holy shit,” I whispered. Ice crawled through my veins.
This wasn’t just an accident.
This was a message.