~ Lilliana's POV

I stood there, watching her smirk at me. I put the phone in my pocket and tried to reason with her. "Christian asked it to keep me safe," I said. "Not whatever game you're playing here."

She chuckled, her eyes gleaming under the dim light of the room. "Oh, honey, it started the moment you said 'I do' at the wedding."

I took a deep breath and lunged at her, pushing her to the corner and opening the door. I ran out of the room and rushed through the estate, going wherever my weak legs were taking me. I made it out of the estate, and the guards didn't even pay attention for some reason. I ran into the woods as branches scratched my arms and legs, while I ran barefoot through the muddy ground.

Elizabeth's voice rang from behind me. "You're making this harder than it has to be, darling."

I didn't care, so I just kept running because deep down, I knew what she would do to me if she caught me. That woman didn't look any better than the wolves circling these very woods. I hit a garden wall like a boundary inside the woods.

Before I could move, masked men flooded out of the trees like shadows. One of them slammed their hand over my mouth, while I screamed, as he yanked me off the ground. I kicked and thrashed under his grip until someone pricked me with a needle in my arm.

And then, everything swirled around.

~ After a While

When I woke, I felt myself tied to a chair in a room that smelled gross. A man was leaning against the wall, smoking.

"I was beginning to think you weren't worth the trouble," he said without even looking at me, his voice smooth and slow. "But here you are. Still breathing. That's a start."

"Who are you?" I croaked out with a sore throat.

He finally turned around and for some reason, I knew---I knew who he was.

The man from the picture, hidden behind Eva's painting.

IL Fantasma.

The Phantom.

Alessandro.

There was no need for introductions for the ghost himself. He waved a hand, and two guards stepped toward me---one of them cracking his knuckles.

"Let's test her," Alessandro said lazily. "Loyal wives don't go snooping through murder files."

The punch hit harder than anything as my head snapped sideways, stars exploding in my eyes, as blood started to drip down.

"Wait!" I gasped. "You knew Eva! You know what happened to her---"

Another guard raised his hand as I closed my eyes, ready for the hit that never came.

"I know everything," Alessandro said with his cold voice. "What I don't know is if I can trust you."

My wrists started to burn against the ropes. "Then untie me and ask like a human being."

He tilted his head. "You know I'm not one," he smirked. "You married the man who murdered your mother and had your sister buried in pieces. Forgive me if I'm not convinced you're the honest type."

That made me silent.

Alessandro stepped closer to me, crouching down in front of me, his eyes gazing into mine. "She was brave, your sister. Foolish, but brave. She thought she could save everyone. You? I think you're just trying to survive."

"I want answers."

"And I want leverage," He stood up again and threw a thick folder onto a metal table beside me. "Eva worked with the feds. She had a full file on Christian, including footage from your mother's supposed 'accident.' Your sister didn't die because she had to. She died because she got too close and too careless."

He opened the folder beside me. Inside were several surveillance photos. Bank transactions. FBI logs and just in the middle was a black-and-white image of Christian shaking hands with a man I recognized from old family photos.

It was my uncle---who disappeared after a huge argument between him and my mother six years ago.

"What is this?"

"Your legacy."

Then, he slid an envelope out of the file and tossed it into my lap. He untied me, gesturing for me to open the envelope. Inside was a photograph of a six-year-old girl, sitting in a corridor, painting on a canvas.

"Who is she?"

"Your sister's daughter."

My breath hitched in my throat.

"That's impossible--" I couldn't believe my sister had a daughter she never told me about.

But then, it hit me. Eva's dead, which means---

"Is she also---?"

Alessandro shook his head. "She's alive," he said. "Your sister kept her hidden---far away from the mafia. Christian never knew. He wanted a son, not a reminder that he couldn't control everything."

I swallowed a huge lump in my throat.

"Where is she?"

His stare sharpened. "That's not how this works. Do you want the truth? Earn it. I need you to deliver a message."

He handed me a piece of paper with coordinates and a fake memo about a planned FBI raid. "Feed this to Christian. Let's see which side you're really on."

"Why would he believe me?"

"Because you'll make him."

~ After A While

Alessandro let me go before sunrise, and when I returned to the estate, the house was still asleep, so I moved to Christian's study, knowing he'd be there and grateful that Elizabeth was nowhere in sight.

I limped to him, and he rushed to me as soon as his eyes landed on me. I told him that some men kidnapped me a while ago and had my eyes closed while they handed me some piece of paper to give to Christian. I skipped out the Elizabeth part, leaving it for later.

"Are you sure, Lilliana? Because I always find out when someone's lying." He murmured, sitting me down on the couch.

"I'm not lying."

He laughed, a cruel sound. "If you say so,"

That night, he helped tend to the small wounds all over my body, but then I excused myself from him to take a shower, and he did.

"Don't worry, I'll find out who took you. It won't happen again. Ever." He said, gritting his teeth, and I gulped, nodding. I walked out of his study and went straight to my bedroom.

The moment I stepped inside the room, I knew something was off. I looked around the space and realized that my pillows were slashed and feathers were scattered like snow. The closet door was hanging open, swinging slightly.

And then, I saw it---

It was written in blood-red paint all over the mirror.

"Just like your sister, you're next. Sleep well, Mrs. Esposito."

~ Lilliana's POV

My breath hitched as I stared at the blood-stained message in the mirror. I quickly snapped photos of everything as evidence. Something I could use to get Alessandro to trust me fully.

I didn't scream, didn't even cry. I grabbed a towel and soaked it in cold water before removing the message from the mirror until it looked crystal clear. Despite the ache in my body, I vacuumed up every feather from the floor and fixed the closet door before stuffing the ruined pillows under the bed and taking out the spare ones from the closet.

By the time Christian knocked on the door, the room looked untouched.

"Everything okay?" he asked, stepping inside with the same calculating gleam in his eyes.

"Fine," I lied smoothly. "I was just resting for a second before taking a shower."

He stared at me for a moment before he walked away without another.

~ The Next Morning

I wrapped my coat tightly around me and told Christian that I was going to hang out with Bianca for the day, already telling her beforehand to confirm my story in case he calls. He didn't argue and simply handed me a burner phone and said, "Keep your location on. You go dark, I hunt you."

I smiled like an innocent wife and kissed his cheek before turning towards the door and getting out.

I first went to Bianca's to drop off the burner phone and ignored her questions when she asked me where I was going.

Alessandro's black SUV was waiting right at the location we agreed on---in an alley two blocks away from a coffee shop. I slipped inside quickly.

"You're late," he said. "I don't like waiting."

"I had to get Christian off my back," I said and turned to him. "And I also had to clean up a death threat someone left in my bedroom yesterday night."

He gave me a slide glance before tossing me an energy bar. "You're going to need energy."

We drove for an hour on an unrecognized road. Just when I was going to ask him if he planned to kill me, the car halted.

"A monastery?" I stepped out, looking at the old rustic gates and ivy-covered walls.

"Don't speak unless spoken to," Alessandro warned me, his tone suddenly sharp. "The nuns protect her like a saint."

Her.

My heart sank into the pits of my stomach.

We walked through the cold halls. A nun gave Alessandro a tight nod and led us through a silent corridor. At the end of it was a small room lit up with stained-glass windows.

And right in the center of it, sitting on the floor with a paintbrush gripped in her tiny fingers, was a six-year-old girl.

She was painting a garden on the floor with flowers and everything. Around her neck was a thin silver chain, and a pendant hung from it.

My breath hitched when I realized that it was the family heirloom---shaped into a black teardrop.

I walked inside as she turned and looked up at me. "My mom said you'd come," she said softly. "You'll keep me safe like her."

My phone fell from my hand as I knelt in front of her, unable to breathe anymore. My hands were hovering over her, shaking, like I was afraid she'd disappear if I touched her.

"What's your name?"

"Mia," she said.

"Mia," I breathed out. "God, you look just like her."

She reached out to me and placed her small hand over mine. "I know you. You're Mommy's sister. She showed me your pictures."

Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them away. "Yes, I'm your aunt."

"I kept the secret," she moved closer and whispered in my ear. "Like Mommy told me."

Alessandro gave me five minutes and no more than that before the nun came to collect Mia, I stood and turned to him.

"I want to take her back."

"No."

"She's my blood."

"And she's her legacy," he said, cold in his every word. "You think Christian won't sniff her out the second she sets foot near you? You think the Espositos won't gut her just to make a point? You'll kill her faster than Eva ever could."

I clenched my fists tightly, rage burning inside me. "Then what was the point of this? Why show me?"

"To remind you what's at stake," he snapped at me. "You want to protect her? Stay inside the lion's den until I say otherwise."

Alessandro moved me to another chair before sitting me down and sitting in front of me. "Christian didn't kill Eva."

I turned to him slowly. "What?"

He pulled out a USB and plugged it into a nearby laptop, playing security footage. I recognized the place---it was our family's safehouse---where Eva was found dead. The footage was glitchy, but clear enough to see a man in black slip inside the apartment.

"Watch closely," Alessandro said, fast-forwarding.

I watched the man move throughout the place, and suddenly, Eva appeared, a gun in her hand. She was shouting, but there was no audio in the file.

The man suddenly lunged, and the screen flickered as Eva collapsed on the ground.

The man turned, walking past the camera. I leaned forward. "Stop. Right there."

Alessandro zoomed in.

When my eyes landed on the face, my breath hitched.

I couldn't breathe.

It wasn't Christian.

"No," My voice broke out. "That's not possible."

He played the footage again, and there it was---the same face.

"Your father," Alessandro whispered. "He killed your sister."