Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE WITH NO WINDOWS
The guest residence was beautiful.
It was also a prison.
Elizabeth understood that by the second morning.
Security stood outside.
Her phone had been replaced.
Every driver was vetted.
Every meal came from a controlled kitchen.
Alessandro insisted it was temporary.
Elizabeth didn't argue.
She knew someone wanted her dead.
But she refused to let fear become her entire life.
One afternoon, she found an old photograph in Alessandro's library.
It showed him as a teenager.
Beside him stood a boy with dark curls.
A younger version of Marcus Bell.
Elizabeth frowned.
“Who is that?”
Alessandro turned.
“My cousin, Daniel.”
She froze.
“Daniel?”
“My father's nephew.”
Her pulse quickened.
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared fifteen years ago.”
“Why?”
Alessandro's expression darkened.
“Because he stole money from the family.”
Elizabeth looked at the photograph.
“No.”
“What?”
“He wasn't stealing.”
Alessandro stared at her.
“How would you know?”
“My father mentioned him.”
That night, they searched old records.
The Hart files had been deliberately erased.
But Elizabeth remembered something.
Her teddy bear.
She had kept it for twenty years.
Back in Liam's apartment.
She called him.
“Liam, I need you to find the old bear.”
“Why?”
“Please.”
Two hours later, Liam arrived at the residence.
Alessandro watched him carefully.
Liam watched Alessandro even more carefully.
“This is Liam,” Elizabeth said.
“I know.”
Liam's eyes narrowed.
“You investigated me.”
“Yes.”
“Charming.”
Elizabeth sighed.
“Please stop.”
Liam handed her the teddy bear.
The left eye was missing.
Elizabeth opened the seam.
Inside was the brass key.
Alessandro stared.
“Where did you get that?”
“My father gave it to me.”
She placed it beside the key Matteo's attorney had left.
They were identical.
Then they found something else.
A small strip of paper.
Three words.
Warehouse Seventeen.
The address belonged to an abandoned Vitali property.
They went that night.
The warehouse had no electricity.
No windows.
Only a steel door.
Elizabeth inserted the key.
The lock opened.
Inside were boxes.
Hundreds.
Most contained financial records.
One box had her father's name.
Alessandro opened it.
Inside was a ledger.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
Bribes.
Political contributions.
And one repeated name.
Victoria Vitali.
Alessandro went still.
“Who is Victoria?”
“My father's second wife.”
Elizabeth looked at him.
“Your stepmother?”
“Yes.”
“Then she knew my father.”
“Apparently.”
A sound came from the far end of the warehouse.
Footsteps.
Alessandro pulled Elizabeth behind a concrete pillar.
Liam whispered, “We're not alone.”
A shadow crossed the doorway.
Then a man shouted:
“Burn it.”
Gasoline splashed across the floor.
Fire erupted.
Elizabeth screamed.
Alessandro grabbed her hand.
“Run!”
They raced toward the exit.
The fire spread rapidly.
A beam collapsed behind them.
Alessandro pushed Elizabeth through the doorway.
Then the roof groaned.
He turned.
“Alessandro!”
He disappeared beneath falling debris.
Elizabeth screamed his name.
Liam pulled her back.
“Elizabeth, we have to go!”
“No!”
She fought him.
Then a hand emerged through the smoke.
Alessandro dragged himself out.
Blood covered his forehead.
Elizabeth threw her arms around him.
For one second, neither spoke.
Then Alessandro whispered:
“You shouldn't have come here.”
She looked into his eyes.
“You came back for me.”
“Of course.”
And in that burning parking lot, Elizabeth realized something terrifying.
May you like
She was falling in love with him.
Again and again, despite every reason not to.
