Chapter 6 - THE GHOST FROM THE PASTThe room felt suddenly suffocating, the oxygen sucked out by the weight of Lorenzo’s words.
"My... my husband?" I choked out, stumbling back until my spine hit the edge of the steel desk. "You're lying. He was a clerk. He worked in logistics. He died in that fire—the police report said—"
"The police report said what my lawyers paid them to say," Lorenzo interrupted, his voice cutting through my panic like a scalpel. "When a man steals from the Moretti family, he doesn't get a standard funeral. He gets erased. And his wife—the sweet, innocent widow left behind—doesn't usually end up working as a maid in the exact mansion she was supposed to help rob three years ago."
"I didn't know!" I screamed, tears finally breaking free, hot and fast down my cheeks. "I swear to God, I didn't know! He told me he was running from loan sharks! He left us with nothing! I came to Milan because it was the only place we could afford rent after he disappeared!"
Lorenzo studied my face, searching every micro-expression for a flicker of deception. For a long, agonizing moment, neither of us breathed.
Then, slowly, the tension in his shoulders eased just a fraction.
"Your pulse isn't racing," Lorenzo murmured, almost to himself. "Your pupils aren't dilated. You're telling the truth. You really are just an ignorant pawn in a very old, very bloody game."
"My daughter," I gasped, panic gripping my throat again. "Marco is in the nursery! If he thinks I'm a threat, or if he realizes I downloaded his files—!"
Before I could finish the sentence, the red indicator light on the security monitor beside us blinked frantically.
[WARNING: Motion detected in Nursery Sector B.] [Audio Feed Active.]
Lorenzo’s head snapped toward the screen. With a swift, fluid motion, he tapped the master audio channel and turned up the volume.
The tinny, amplified sound of a child whimpering filled the silent office.
“...shh, little bird. Go back to sleep,” a gruff, familiar voice whispered through the speaker. Marco. “Your mommy won't be coming back to tuck you in. She’s... busy.”
My blood turned to ice water.
On the screen, Marco was leaning over Lily’s cot, his gloved hand reaching beneath her pillow.
Suddenly, a small, sleepy voice piped up from the speakers—clear, innocent, and carrying a weapon deadlier than any gun in that room.
“You have a funny watch, Mr. Marco,” Lily whispered, her little voice echoing through the office speakers. “The same watch the bad man gave daddy before he went into the big fire.”
Marco froze mid-motion.
May you like
In the security office, Lorenzo went completely rigid. His eyes widened, the dark pupils swallowing the amber light.
"What... did she just say?" Lorenzo whispered, his voice trembling for the first time since I met him.
