Aria’s POV 

I heard it. 

Even with the door closed, Dominic’s voice carried like a curse through the hallway. 

“Put eyes on Emilia. Someone leaked information.” 

My breath caught in my throat. I stepped away from the door like it had burned me, heart pounding in my ears. 

Emilia? 

No. She couldn’t. She was the only one in that house who didn’t look at me like I was property or a puzzle. She brought me tea without asking, tucked extra blankets under my feet when I fell asleep on the couch. She was… safe. 

Wasn’t she? 

I found her later that evening, standing in the kitchen, carefully slicing lemons. She always kept her hands busy when she didn’t want to talk. 

I leaned against the counter, watching her. “How long have you been working for him?” 

Her hands paused for half a second. “Since before you got here.” 

“You’re close to Dominic?” 

She gave a small laugh that didn’t reach her eyes. “No one is close to Dominic.” 

“But he trusts you.” 

She wiped her fingers on a cloth. “Trust in this house is like glass, Aria. Looks solid. But the moment it cracks…” 

“You shatter,” I finished quietly. 

We stood there in silence, the tension between us fragile. 

I took a step closer. “Emilia… did you tell anyone about me?” 

She finally looked up, her eyes meeting mine–soft, sad, and filled with something unreadable. “Not here,” she whispered. “I can’t speak here.” 

I narrowed my eyes. “So you do know something.” 

She didn’t confirm it. Didn’t deny it. 

Instead, she reached into the pocket of her apron and pressed something small into my palm. Cold. Rectangular. 

A phone. 

Not mine. 

A cheap, plastic burner phone. 

“What is this?” I whispered, glancing toward the hallway. 

Emilia’s voice was low. Careful. “It’s not tapped. It’s clean. Wait for a message. Midnight.” 

“Midnight?” 

She nodded once. “Don’t ask questions right now. Just… be careful. And don’t tell anyone we spoke.” 

I opened my mouth, questions burning my tongue, but she shook her head firmly. 

“You’re not safe here,” she whispered. 

My blood turned to ice. 

Before I could respond, we heard footsteps down the hall. She snatched a lemon, cut it sharply in half, and turned her back to me like nothing had happened. 

I slipped the burner phone into the pocket of my dress. 

When I turned to leave, I could feel Dominic’s gaze burning into my back from the hallway. 

I didn’t look at him. 

I couldn’t. 

Back in my room, the silence was unbearable. 

I paced, the burner phone hidden beneath a pile of my clothes in the drawer. Every tick of the clock made me more restless. 

Dominic had given me a necklace earlier. One that felt too heavy for how delicate it looked. 

1/4 

Chapter 95 

A part of me already knew. 

He was watching me. 

The necklace wasn’t just a gift. It was a leash. 

I unclasped it slowly, staring at it in my hand, and placed it carefully on the dresser. 

“I just want to know where you are. Always.” 

His voice echoed in my mind. 

What kind of man needed that kind of control? 

I sat on the bed, gripping a pillow like it could hold me together. My parents were gone. Nico was acting strange. Emilia was slipping burner phones into my hand like I was some spy in a thriller novel. And Dominic… 

Dominic made me feel things I didn’t want to feel. Safety. Obsession. Heat. Fear. 

All tangled in one. 

Midnight came too fast. 

The burner buzzed once. 

My hand shook as I picked it up. 

UNKNOWN NUMBER: “There’s something you need to see. This isn’t just about your father’s debt. Wait for instructions. Trust no one.” 

I reread it three times. 

This wasn’t just about my father’s debt? 

Then what the hell was it about? 

I thought of Victoria’s voice, echoing in my head during that terrible night. “She’s more valuable than you know.” 

And Dominic… He had always been there. Before everything. Watching. Waiting. 

My stomach twisted. 

None of this added up. 

I slipped the burner phone into the lining of my boot, heart pounding in my chest. 

Dominic would be back soon. I could feel it in my bones. 

The air in the room shifted when he was near–like it thickened with tension. 

I had to keep calm. Act normal. Pretend I didn’t hear anything. 

But how do you pretend to be sane in a house where every wall has ears? 

I lay on the bed, eyes open, staring at the ceiling as the shadows danced with the moonlight. My chest felt tight, like my ribs had turned to stone. 

Who was I really up against? 

Mikael? Victoria? 

Or was it Dominic? 

And Emilia… Was she saving me or setting me up? 

I didn’t know anymore. 

I pulled the covers over my body, trying to calm my thoughts, but all I could feel was that note Emilia had slipped me at the graveyard still tucked deep in my coat pocket: 

‘Of course. Here’s the continuation, Aria’s POV, 

“They died for more than debt. Don’t trust him completely.” 

And the only thing worse than not knowing who to trust… 

Was knowing you might be sleeping beside the devil himself. 

The words repeated in my head like a cursed lullaby as I moved silently down the hallway, the mansion cloaked in midnight silence. My hands were cold, but I wasn’t sure if it was fear or the polished marble floors beneath my bare feet. 

Dominic was out. 

Again. 

No explanation. No details. Just a tight–lipped Matthias at the end of the hallway and a guard stationed outside my door like I was a prisoner in a silk cage. 

I waited until he changed shifts. Waited until the footsteps faded and the cameras turned just enough for a sliver of time. 

2/4 

Chapter 95 

I counted them. 

Eight seconds. 

That’s all I had. 

I moved quickly. 

Down the hall. Past the kitchen. Toward the dark oak door at the far end–the one he never let me near. The one he locked 

whenever he wasn’t inside. 

Except tonight… it was slightly open. 

I pushed gently. 

It creaked. 

Just a little. 

The office was what I expected and not at all what I imagined. Warm lighting, walls lined with bookshelves, a mahogany desk too big for any normal man. His scent lingered–cedarwood and something darker. 

I crept inside and shut the door behind me, pulse thudding hard in my ears. 

“Ten minutes,” I whispered to myself. “No more.” 

I didn’t know what I was searching for. 

But I knew I’d know it when I saw it. 

The first few drawers were empty–stacks of legal documents, blank stationery, maps of Beldova with pins in them. One red pin sat directly over Florence. 

Where my parents died. 

I swallowed. 

The bottom drawer stuck slightly when I tried to pull it. My fingers traced along the edge until I found it. 

A keyhole. 

And just beside it, in the open drawer above it–his key ring. 

He always thought I was too broken to try something like this. 

He underestimated me. 

I slid the key into the lock, heart thumping harder with each click. 

One… two… three… 

The lock gave. 

The drawer creaked open–and what I saw made my blood run cold. 

A file. 

Labeled in block letters: FLETCHER CASE. 

My hand trembled as I opened it. 

Inside was a photo. Old. Faded. But I recognized those eyes. 

Mine. 

A little girl with long black hair and a smile too wide for her face, sandwiched between a man and woman in expensive clothing. 

The woman had high cheekbones and cold, proud eyes. 

The man had a smile too polished. The kind that never quite reached the eyes. 

But the little girl… that was me. 

Not a strip club fantasy. Not a pawn. 

Me. 

And above the photo, a sticky note in Dominic’s handwriting: “Possible leverage. Lineage confirmed. She doesn’t know.” 

I froze. 

“Lineage?”