CHAPTER 2 #2
Alessandro looked toward him.
"You've been listening."
"I was passing by."
"At midnight?"
"I have terrible timing."
Alessandro gave him a cold look.
Luca's gaze moved toward the locked door.
"How much are you going to tell her?"
"As little as necessary."
"That may not be enough."
Alessandro looked toward the staircase where Elara had disappeared.
"What do you know?"
Luca's expression hardened.
"Someone else has started asking questions."
By the time dinner was served, Elara had decided she was done eating alone.
The three men entered the dining room one after another.
She was already seated.
Dante stopped.
"What is this?"
"Dinner."
"I can see that."
"Then sit."
Luca's mouth twitched.
Alessandro took the chair at the head of the table.
Dante sat opposite Elara.
Luca chose the seat beside her.
Elara looked at all three.
"What did my father mean to you?"
Alessandro answered first.
"He was an ally."
Dante's expression remained unreadable.
"He was a man I didn't trust."
Elara turned to Luca.
"He knew things he shouldn't have known."
She looked between them.
"Those aren't the same answer."
"They aren't," Luca said.
"Which one is true?"
"All of them."
Elara frowned.
Dante lifted his glass.
"Your father was complicated."
"He was my father."
"That doesn't make him simple."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Did you know him?"
Dante lowered the glass.
"Yes."
"When?"
"Years ago."
"Where?"
"Bellacorte."
"What happened?"
Dante looked away.
"Nothing you need to know."
Elara's patience snapped.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Dante looked back at her.
"Because some things aren't safe to discuss."
"Why?"
"Because your father knew when people were lying."
Elara went still.
Dante seemed to regret saying it.
Luca noticed.
Alessandro did too.
Elara pushed back from the table.
"I need air."
Nobody stopped her.
She walked through the glass doors into the garden.
The night was cool.
Water trickled from a stone fountain near the center of the courtyard.
She rested both hands against the balustrade and looked toward the distant harbor.
A few minutes later, footsteps approached.
Luca stopped beside her.
"You ask difficult questions."
"They're simple questions."
"Not in this house."
Elara looked at him.
"Do you know what happened to my father?"
Luca's expression softened.
"Not all of it."
"More than the others?"
"Perhaps."
She gave him a tired smile.
"At least you admit it."
He leaned against the stone railing.
"Your father was protective."
"He was secretive."
"Both can be true."
"He thought hiding things would keep me safe."
Luca looked toward the dark garden.
"Sometimes people hide things because they believe the truth will hurt someone."
Elara studied him.
"And sometimes they hide things because the truth will hurt themselves."
Luca's gaze returned to hers.
For once, he had no clever answer.
The silence between them wasn't uncomfortable.
That surprised her.
"I don't know whether I should hate all three of you," she admitted.
"You don't have to decide tonight."
"Do you want me to hate you?"
"No."
The answer was immediate.
Something shifted inside her.
Luca looked away first.
"Get some sleep, Elara."
He turned.
She watched him walk toward the house.
Then something caught the moonlight near the garden door.
Elara stepped closer.
A small object lay on the stone path.
She bent down.
Her fingers closed around cold metal.
The family seal.
The same one she had found inside her father's box.
Her heart began to pound.
Elara closed her bedroom door and locked it.
She placed both seals on the desk.
They were identical.
She turned them beneath the lamp, comparing every mark.
The design was old.
A crowned bird surrounded by a narrow ring.
She had seen it in her father's belongings, though she had never known what it meant.
Then she noticed something on the underside.
A tiny engraved letter.
V.
Her fingers tightened.
Vesperi.
Or something else?
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Elara froze.
They stopped outside her door.
She waited.
Nothing.
She crossed the room and opened it.
The hallway was empty.
A single seal lay on the carpet.
Elara stared at it.
She hadn't placed that one there.
Slowly, she picked it up.
Alessandro appeared at the far end of the corridor.
"Elara."
She turned.
"Why was this outside my room?"
His eyes dropped to the seal.
Something changed in his face.
Only for a second.
But she saw it.
"You know what this is."
"Where did you get it?"
"It was here."
"Who gave it to you?"
"No one."
Luca stepped out of the adjoining corridor.
He saw the object in her hand.
His expression lost its warmth.
Dante's voice came from downstairs.
"What happened?"
Neither man answered.
Elara looked from one to the other.
"You know."
Alessandro walked toward her.
"Give me the seal."
She pulled it against her chest.
"Don't."
He stopped.
For once, he obeyed.
Elara studied his face.
There was something there she had not seen before.
Fear.
Not fear of her.
Fear for her.
"Why?"
Alessandro's voice lowered.
"Lock your door tonight."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know who left that."
"Are you afraid?"
His answer came without hesitation.
"Yes."
The admission unsettled her.
Alessandro Moretti did not seem like a man who admitted fear.
He turned away.
"Stay inside."
Elara closed her door.
She placed the seal on the desk.
Then she noticed the underside.
There was another mark.
A word scratched into the metal.
REMEMBER.
Her breath caught.
She looked toward the door.
Someone stood on the other side.
She could see the shadow beneath it.
"Elara."
She didn't move.
The voice was quiet.
Not Alessandro.
Not Dante.
Not Luca.
Her hand hovered over the handle.
"Who is there?"
Silence.
Then the voice came again.
"Your father lied to you."
Elara's fingers closed around the handle.
The shadow beneath the door disappeared.
She pulled it open.
The corridor was empty.
Only the faint echo of retreating footsteps remained.
Elara stood in the doorway, staring into the darkness.
Behind her, the family seal rested beneath the lamp.
And for the first time since arriving at the Moretti estate, she understood something clearly.
Someone inside this house wanted her to remember.
She just didn't know what.