(Isla's POV)
The note in my hands felt like it was burning through my skin.
"Don't trust Luciano Virelli… he set the fire… he killed your parents."
The words echoed in my head all night. I didn't sleep. I didn't blink. I just stared at the door, waiting for someone to come in and tell me what was real.
By morning, I couldn't take it anymore.
I marched down the hallway, the note crushed in my fist, my heart pounding hard enough to hurt. Guards watched me as I stormed right into Luciano's office.
He looked up from his desk, surprised. "Isla?"
"Did you kill my parents?" I demanded.
The whole room froze.
Luciano slowly stood. His eyes were calm, but something dark flickered in them. "Who told you that?"
I threw the note at him. "Read it."
He picked it up. His jaw tightened as he scanned the words.
He didn't laugh.
He didn't deny it right away.
He didn't get angry.
Instead, he folded the note carefully and placed it on the desk.
"I was at the warehouse fire," he said quietly. "I won't lie about that."
My stomach twisted. "So it's true? You burned it? You killed them?"
"No." His voice was firm, almost too firm. "I didn't set the fire, Isla. I didn't touch a single match."
I crossed my arms, trying to stop my hands from shaking. "Then why were you there?"
"I was sent to bring your parents in for questioning," he said. "They stole something from the Virelli family. Something important. I was supposed to retrieve it."
My throat tightened. "So you were hunting them."
His expression softened. "I wasn't there to kill them. I was there to bring them home. There's a difference."
"Then why were they killed?"
Luciano stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Because someone else wanted them dead. Someone who knew they were planning to run. Someone who didn't want them talking."
My breath caught. "Who?"
He held my gaze. "I don't know. Not then. But I know I wasn't the one who lit that fire."
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to run. My heart was fighting my head. I didn't know who to trust anymore.
Before I could speak, the office door slammed open.
BANG!
A guard raced inside. "Sir! We need you now!"
Luciano stiffened. "What happened?"
"Men broke through the front gate! Armed! They're inside the mansion!"
My blood ran cold.
Again.
They were here again.
Luciano grabbed my arm. "Stay behind me."
The guard yelled into his radio. "East hall breached! Repeat east hall breached!"
Gunshots exploded somewhere above us.
Dante's voice echoed from the stairs: "They're after Isla! Move her now!"
Luciano pushed me behind him and ran toward the hallway.
A masked man turned the corner with a gun raised
BANG!
Luciano shoved me behind a marble pillar just as a bullet tore through the air. My scream got trapped in my throat.
Another gunshot.
Another shout.
Chaos everywhere.
The gunman aimed again this time directly at me.
I froze.
Everything slowed.
But before the trigger could click
Luciano stepped in front of me.
BANG!
The bullet hit him in the shoulder.
"NO!" I screamed.
He stumbled back, grabbing onto the wall, blood soaking through his shirt. Another guard fired at the attacker, dropping him instantly.
Luciano coughed, trying to stay upright.
"Why… why did you do that?" I cried, grabbing him as he swayed.
"You were the target," he said through clenched teeth. "I'm not letting Viktor take you."
His legs buckled.
"Help!" I screamed. "Somebody help!"
Guards rushed over and grabbed Luciano as he finally collapsed. Dante appeared from the hall, eyes wide when he saw the blood.
"Get him to the medical room now!" Dante yelled.
The guards carried Luciano away on a stretcher, blood dripping onto the floor.
I followed them a few steps before Dante blocked my path gently.
"Isla, you can't go in there. They're prepping him for surgery."
Tears blurred my vision. "But he saved me. He took the bullet for me."
Dante put a hand on my shoulder. "Then trust him to survive it."
But I wasn't sure I trusted anything anymore.
When they finally closed the doors to the surgery room, the hallway filled with tension. Guards whispered. Val rushed to my side, grabbing my hand. Antonio sat slumped in a chair with his head in his hands.
But no one looked at me.
No one saw the storm inside me.
A note said Luciano killed my parents.
Luciano said someone else did.
And now he was risking his life for me.
Nothing made sense.
When the guards left to secure the hallway and everyone's focus shifted to the surgery room, a small thought crept into my mind.
Luciano said he'd tell me the truth.
But what if the truth wasn't in his words…
but in his office?
My heart raced.
I knew it was wrong.
I knew it was dangerous.
But I also knew one thing:
I needed answers.
So while everyone was distracted, I slipped away.
I walked silently back down the hall, turned the corner, and entered Luciano's office. The room was empty. Quiet. Cold.
My hands shook as I opened the drawer where he kept the file.
It was still there.
I pulled it out, sat on the floor, and opened it fast.
There were more pages this time.
Protected pages.
Hidden pages.
Pages he hadn't shown me.
Arson analysis.
Phone records.
Statements.
Surveillance photos.
And at the bottom
A list.
SUSPECTS IN THE MURDER OF MR. AND MRS. TORRES
My hands trembled as I looked at the first name.
My breath left my body.
My heart stopped.
ANTONIO MORETTI.
My father.
My adoptive father.
The man who raised me.
The man who lied about everything.
The man who cried in front of me last night.
He was the top suspect.
A tear slid down my cheek.
"Oh my God…" I whispered, the file slipping from my hands.
The world around me tilted, cold and sharp.
Because if this list was right
The man I trusted
The man who raised me
The man who promised to protect me
…might have been the one
who murdered my real parents.