Chapter 4

Luca Valentini didn't realize his wife was gone until he reached for her in bed at 3 AM and found cold sheets. I know this because Marco told me—weeks later, after his loyalty quietly shifted. But that night, in real time, I was already sixty miles away behind walls Luca couldn't breach, carrying a secret that would have brought him to his knees. He wouldn't kneel. Not yet. That would come later. According to Marco, Luca searched the mansion first. Bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, garden, the...