CHAPTER 3
"Your father lied to you."
The words were still in Elara's mind when she opened the bedroom door.
The corridor was empty.
She stepped outside.
"Hello?"
Only the low hum of the estate's heating system answered.
Elara looked left, then right. The long hallway stretched beneath dim wall lamps, its polished floor reflecting narrow bands of gold. No footsteps. No movement. No open door.
She moved toward the staircase.
A security camera was mounted above the archway.
Elara stopped.
The camera was pointing toward the opposite wall.
She frowned.
It had been facing the corridor earlier.
She looked back toward her bedroom.
Whoever had spoken to her had either known where the cameras were or had been watching long enough to understand the estate's security.
Neither possibility comforted her.
She returned to her room and closed the door.
On her desk lay the family seal.
Elara picked it up.
The metal was cold against her palm.
Her father's words returned to her.
Do not return to Bellacorte.
Then the stranger's warning.
Your father lied to you.
She slipped the seal into the pocket of her robe.
If everyone in this house intended to keep secrets from her, she would have to find them herself.
She left the room again.
This time, she went downstairs.
The estate was quiet. She passed the sitting room and followed a corridor she had noticed earlier. At its end stood a pair of tall wooden doors.
The library.
Elara pushed one door open.
Warm light spilled across the floor.
She stopped before entering.
Voices came from inside.
Luca.
She recognized his voice immediately.
Another man spoke too quietly for her to understand.
Elara moved closer.
Then Luca said something that made her blood run cold.
"Matteo Vesperi never died the way they said he did."
Her hand froze on the door handle.
For several seconds, she could not move.
Her father had died less than two weeks ago.
The doctor had given the family an explanation.
Heart failure.
Sudden.
Uncomplicated.
Elara had accepted it because there had been no reason not to.
Now her father's death had become another locked door.
She pushed the library door wider.
The conversation stopped.
Luca stood near a large desk, one hand resting on an open file.
The other man was gone.
Elara stepped inside.
Luca's blue eyes settled on her.
"You heard."
"I heard enough."
He closed the file.
"Elara."
"What do you know about my father's death?"
He didn't answer.
She walked toward him.
"You told me I needed protection. You told me someone was watching me. Now I hear you saying my father didn't die the way everyone claims."
Luca remained still.
"Who was he talking about?" she demanded.
His eyes flicked toward the doorway.
"No one."
"Don't lie to me."
Something changed in his expression.
Not anger.
Recognition.
He understood she would not let the matter go.
Elara stopped across the desk from him.
"What happened to my father?"
Luca looked at the file beneath his hand.
"I don't know everything."
"Then tell me what you do know."
He hesitated.
"Your father was afraid of someone."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Then what do you know?"
Luca exhaled slowly.
"He was investigating something."
"What?"
His gaze met hers.
"Something involving the three families."
Elara's stomach tightened.
"So my father wasn't running from them."
"Not exactly."
"Then why did he leave Bellacorte?"
Luca said nothing.
Elara's frustration rose.
"Everyone in this house knows pieces of my life except me."
"That's not true."
"Then prove it."
Luca studied her for a long moment.
Finally, he opened the file again.
"Sit."
Elara remained standing.
"Why?"
"Because what I'm about to show you changes what you think you know about your father."
She pulled out a chair.
Luca turned the file toward her.
And Elara saw her father's name.
Elara stared at the page.
The document was old and slightly yellowed. Matteo Vesperi's name appeared near the bottom beside several names she recognized from Bellacorte businesses.
She looked at Luca.
"Where did you get this?"
"I found it during my investigation."
"You've been investigating my father?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't believe the story."
"What story?"
"That Matteo betrayed the families."
Elara's fingers rested on the edge of the paper.
"Everyone believed he did?"
"Almost everyone."
"Did you?"
Luca leaned against the desk.
"I wasn't sure."
"That's not what I asked."
A faint smile disappeared from his face.
"No."
The answer surprised her.
"You didn't?"
"I had questions."
"Why didn't you ask him?"
"By the time I had enough questions, he was gone."
Elara looked back at the document.
"How long have you known?"
"About the investigation?"
"About my father."
"Years."
She looked up sharply.
"You knew my name before you came to my house."
"Yes."
"And you knew who I was."
"Yes."
"And you still kidnapped me."
Luca's expression tightened.
"We were ordered to keep you alive."
"That isn't an answer."
"No. It isn't."
For once, he did not try to charm his way around the question.
That made Elara trust him a little more.
Luca opened another drawer and removed several pages.
"These are records from the months before your father's death."
Elara leaned over them.
Dates.
Company names.
Meetings.
Several references had been crossed out.
"Why are these marked?"
"Someone removed information from the original records."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
She looked at him.
"You really don't know?"
"I usually know."
"Usually?"
He gave her a dry smile.
"Nobody is perfect."
She almost smiled.
The moment passed quickly.
Elara leaned closer to the papers.
Their shoulders touched.
Neither moved.
She became suddenly aware of how close he was.
Luca's gaze dropped briefly to her face.
Then he looked back at the documents.
"You really don't know anything, do you?"
The question was quiet.
Elara swallowed.
"No."
Luca nodded.
"I believe you."
Something about those three words loosened the knot in her chest.
She had spent days surrounded by people who watched her, questioned her, and doubted her.
Luca was the first person who simply believed her.
"Why are you helping me?" she asked.
"Because I think your father was trying to protect something."
"Me?"
"I don't know."
That answer was honest enough to hurt.
A noise sounded outside the library.
Luca's head lifted.
The warmth disappeared from his face.
He closed the file.
"Who is that?"
He crossed the room without answering.
Elara followed.
The handle moved slightly.
Luca reached the door first.
He opened it.
The corridor was empty.
A security guard stood near the staircase.
"Sir?"
Luca looked at him.
"Did you see anyone?"
"No."
Luca glanced toward the upper floor.
Then toward Elara.
His expression had changed.
"Someone shouldn't know we're here."
Before Elara could ask who, footsteps sounded from the main hall.
Heavy.
Fast.
Alessandro appeared at the end of the corridor.
His eyes went immediately to Elara.
Then to Luca.
"What happened?"
Luca's answer was quiet.
"Security has a problem."
Alessandro's face hardened.
Within minutes, the quiet estate had changed.
Two guards checked the upper corridor.
Another examined the cameras.
Alessandro stood in the security room watching footage from the previous hour.
Elara remained near the doorway.
She watched him.
He had removed his jacket. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms, but nothing about him looked relaxed.
"Stop it," she said.
He glanced at her.
"Stop what?"
"Looking at those screens like they offended you."
"They failed."
"So?"
"So someone entered an area they shouldn't have entered."
Elara folded her arms.
"Someone spoke to me."
Alessandro turned.
"What?"
She told him about the voice outside her room.
His expression became colder.
"What did the person say?"
"That my father lied to me."
Dante appeared behind him.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Alessandro looked toward the guards.
"Check every camera."
"They already are," Elara said.
He ignored her.
"Double the night watch."
"Alessandro."
"Nobody enters her floor without clearance."
Elara's patience broke.
"You can't lock every door and call it protection."
He looked directly at her.
"I can if it keeps you alive."
"What happens when protecting me becomes another way of controlling me?"
Silence.
The question struck deeper than she expected.
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
Dante looked away.
Luca remained near the doorway, watching them both.
Alessandro finally said, "Someone entered this estate without being detected."
"Then find them."
"We're trying."
"And until then?"
"You stay where security can reach you."
Elara shook her head.
"You brought me here because you said I was in danger. Fine. But I'm not going to spend every hour locked in a bedroom."
Alessandro studied her.
"What do you want?"
"Answers."
"About your father?"
"About everything."
He glanced at Luca.
Then back at her.
"If you investigate, you do it with him."
Elara blinked.
"You're allowing it?"
"I'm not allowing anything."
His voice softened.
"I'm giving you a safer way to do what you're going to do anyway."
She wasn't expecting that.
"Why?"
"Because you're right."
She stared at him.
"About what?"
"Protection without trust becomes control."
For the first time, she saw the man beneath the authority.
Not weak.
Not gentle.
Simply willing to admit he had gone too far.
She looked away.
A broken latch on the door had caught the sleeve of her coat.
Alessandro stepped forward.
"Hold still."
He freed the fabric carefully.
His fingers brushed her wrist.
Elara looked up.
Their eyes met.
For one quiet second, neither moved.
Then Alessandro released her.
"You're free to investigate," he said. "Within reason."
Elara nodded.
Before she could answer, Dante entered.
His expression was unusually serious.
He looked at Elara.
Then Alessandro.
"There's something you should know."
Elara waited.
Dante's voice lowered.
"Your father came to Bellacorte years ago because of me."
Dante led them into a private study overlooking the dark gardens.
Elara remained standing.
She didn't trust herself to sit.
"What did my father want from you?"
Dante closed the door.
"Nothing."
"Then why did he come?"