Chapter 3 - The Bloodline Secret
Sleep did not come easily that night,
nor the nights that followed.
The room Adrian had given me was beautiful,
filled with silk sheets and antique furniture,
but it felt like a gilded cage.
Every time I closed my eyes,
I saw the man with the serpent ring.
On the third morning,
Adrian summoned me to the library.
The room was vast,
smelling of old paper and secrets.
He was standing by a map spread across a table,
several folders lying open beside him.
"We found Marcus,"
he said without looking up.
My heart jumped into my throat,
a mixture of fear and a dark,
burning curiosity.
"Is he...?"
"He's being handled,"
Adrian interrupted,
his tone cold and final.
"But he was just a pawn,
Lena."
"The people behind him are called The Council."
He handed me a document,
yellowed with age but preserved with care.
It was a birth certificate,
with my name on it.
But the father's name was not the man I had grown up with.
The father's name was Lorenzo Viscari.
"My uncle,"
Adrian whispered,
walking toward me.
"Which makes us..."
"Connected,"
he said,
cutting off the word I was afraid to say.
"But not by blood."
"Lorenzo adopted Elara,"
"he raised her as his own."
"But she was the true heir to the Rossi fortune,"
"a fortune that disappeared when she went into hiding."
I looked at my hands,
the hands of a woman who had worked three jobs just to pay rent.
"The Council wants the money?"
I asked,
confused.
Adrian shook his head,
stepping closer until I could feel the heat radiating from him.
"It's not about the money,"
"it's about the keys."
"The Rossi family kept the ledgers of every corrupt politician,"
"every judge,"
"and every kingpin in this country."
"Your mother hid those ledgers,"
"and she told no one where they were."
"They believe you have the location,"
"hidden in your memories,"
"or perhaps,"
"hidden in your skin."
He reached out,
his fingers brushing the small,
star-shaped birthmark on my neck.
I shivered,
not from fear,
but from the intensity of his touch.
"I don't know anything,"
I cried out,
frustration boiling over.
"I was a child!"
Adrian grabbed my shoulders,
forcing me to look at him.
"Then we will have to make you remember,"
May you like
"because they are coming,"
"and I cannot protect a woman who doesn't know her own power."
