Chapter 1 - The Midnight Flight
The sound of heavy tires grinding against wet gravel shattered the silence of the fortress. I pulled my thin jacket tighter around my shoulders, my pulse hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
Matteo stood in the doorway of my guest room, his towering frame cutting off the light from the hallway. In the dim, amber glow of the bedside lamp, his sharp jawline looked as though it had been carved out of granite. He carried no coat, no luggage—only a dark leather holster fitted snugly over his crisp black shirt.
“You have three minutes, Maya,” Matteo said, his voice flat, dangerously quiet. “Take only what you can carry in one hand.”
“Matteo, what is happening?” I asked, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to keep it steady. “Who is outside?”
He didn't answer. His dark eyes flicked toward the small shadow standing behind me. Lily was shivering, her tiny fingers clutching the hem of my shirt so tightly her knuckles were white. Her big, dark eyes were wide with a terror I had seen once before—the night in the restaurant when the glass shattered.
Slowly, Lily raised her left hand, keeping it hidden behind my hip where her father couldn't see, and rapidly flicked her fingers: S-N-A-K-E. C-A-M-E. B-A-C-K.
My blood ran cold. Silas.
“He knows everything now,” I whispered, repeating the words Lily had signed to me moments before Matteo breached my door.
Matteo’s eyes narrowed slightly, a subtle shift in his composure that told me he had caught the movement of my hands, even if he didn't fully comprehend the silent language we shared. “He knows who you are, Maya. Or should I call you Elena Vance?”
Hearing my real name—the name I had buried five years ago under forged papers, fake employment records, and endless nights of moving from town to town—felt like a bucket of ice water poured over my head. My breath hitched.
“Matteo, I can explain—”
“There is no time to explain,” he cut me off, stepping into the room and grabbing my wrist. His grip was firm, unyielding, but remarkably void of cruelty. “Silas brought eight armed men to the outer gate. He bypassed the security codes using my personal clearance keys—keys only three people in this family possess. He isn't here to talk, Elena. He’s here to erase the evidence.”
“Evidence of what?” I begged, glancing down at the cedar box sitting on my nightstand—the box Lily and I had unearthed from the lower archives hours earlier.
“Of my father’s murder,” Matteo said softly, the confession dropping into the quiet room like a lead weight. “And yours.”
Before I could process his words, a muffled thud echoed from the floor below, followed immediately by the sharp, metallic burst of silenced gunfire. The house’s main power cut out, plunging the bedroom into absolute darkness.
Lily let out a silent gasp, burying her face into my waist. I dropped to my knees instantly, wrapping my arms around her small body.
“Stay low,” Matteo commanded. In the pitch blackness, I heard the smooth, terrifying slide of a gun chambering a round. “The south staircase leads to the underground wine cellar. There is an exit behind the rack in the third alcove. Marco is waiting there with an unmarked vehicle.”
“What about you?” I asked, clutching Lily to my chest.
“I am going to buy you five minutes,” Matteo replied.
In the faint moonlight filtering through the window, I saw him bend down to his daughter’s eye level. He placed his massive hand gently on the back of Lily’s head. He didn't know sign language, but the way his expression softened was a language all its own.
He tapped her chest twice over her heart—their private sign for I love you.
Lily raised her trembling hand and tapped his chest back. Then, she reached out, grabbed his collar, and signed frantically: D-O-N-T. D-I-E.
Matteo didn't understand the hand movements, but he understood the tears streaming down her cheeks. He kissed her forehead softly, then stood up, his face instantly hardening back into the feared Don of the Varela syndicate.
“Go,” he ordered me. “If Silas gets past me, do not look back.”
May you like
He turned and strode out into the pitch-black corridor, his footsteps completely silent. Two seconds later, the hall erupted into chaos as Matteo engaged the intruders.
I didn't waste a breath. I snatched the small cedar box off the nightstand, scooped Lily up into my arms, and ran into the shadows.
