Aria’s POV
At midnight, I woke up to the sound of thunder ripping across the sky.
The windows rattled.
It was so cold.
I turned cuddling into my blanket…wait.
Oh no.
I sat up quickly, heart racing.
Shit.
I’d overslept.
The burner phone was supposed to buzz at midnight.”
I reached under the pillow where I’d hidden it, hands clammy against the cool plastic.
It lit up just as I grabbed it.
One message.
“They didn’t die because of the debt. They died because of blood. Family. I will only be able to drop little messages. So sorry.”
I blinked at it.
Blood?
What did that mean?
The room suddenly felt colder.
Was it about the Fletchers? The photo I’d seen in Dominic’s office?
The one with my face in it?
Blood.
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat.
The Montels were never affectionate. Never really mine.
But if that message was right-
If my parents were killed for something bigger-
Then I wasn’t just in danger.
I was a target.
And I was still living under the roof of the man who’d hidden all of this..
My hands shook as I stared at the message again, wishing it came with a name. A voice. A map.
Anything that could help me understand what kind of blood got people killed.
The burner buzzed again, just once. A second message.
“You’re not who you think you are. Look deeper.”
My stomach twisted.
Not who I think I am?
Look deeper? Look deeper the fuck where!
Another clap of thunder shook the house, and then-
a knock.
Not a loud one.
Just a soft, quiet tap at the door.
I froze.
The burner phone slid beneath my blanket.
I didn’t breathe.
Another knock.
1/4
Successfully unlocked!
Chapter 99
More deliberate this time.
I glanced at the clock. 12:07 AM.
The storm howled louder.
It drowned out everything–except my heartbeat.
“Aria,” a voice called from the other side of the door.
Not Dominic.
Not a guard.
Emilia.
I scrambled to the door and opened it just wide enough to pull her in.
She was soaked, her apron damp, her hair sticking to her cheeks.
“Why are you here?” I whispered. “It’s past midnight-”
“I know,” she cut in. “I was trying to wait until the halls cleared. We don’t have much time.”
My pulse jumped. “I got the message.”
Emilia nodded quickly. “That wasn’t from me.”
“What?”
“It came from someone watching. From outside. I don’t know who–but they’ve been trying to get info to you. I just passed the burner to keep it clean.”
“Clean?” I repeated. “You’re telling me someone else knows what happened to my parents?”
She stepped further inside and shut the door behind her.
Raindrops clung to her lashes.
She looked… scared.
“They weren’t supposed to be at the house that day,” Emilia whispered. “Your father wasn’t even supposed to be there. That‘ s why it went wrong.”
“Why what went wrong?” I whispered, moving closer. “What do you mean?”
“They were meant to disappear,” she said, voice cracking. “Not die. Just vanish.”
I went still.
“Disappear for who?”
She hesitated, eyes darting toward the wall like she expected it to listen.
“I can’t say everything now,” she said. “But what I know–what I’ve been piecing together–is that someone in Dominic’s circle is using you. For something bigger. Your name. Your bloodline.”
“My bloodline? I’m a Montel.”
“No,” she said softly. “You’re not.”
I didn’t move.
But my mind screamed.
“I found the file,” I whispered. “The one labeled Fletcher Case.”
Emilia’s eyes widened slightly. “Then you already know.”
“I don’t know anything. I just know it had a picture of me. With two strangers.”
“They’re not strangers, Aria.”
I didn’t say anything.
I couldn’t.
“They were your real parents,” Emilia said. “And the Fletchers… they weren’t small people. They had power Something happened. Something Dominic doesn’t want you to know.”
My knees felt weak again.
Like they had at the funeral.
At the grave.
I turned toward the mirror and caught my own reflection.
I looked pale.
2/4
- es.
Chapter 92
Older Hollowed I looked dead alive
I rubbed my hand against my face and turned back to Emilia If before I died and I get to know this about myself it’s going to be one I my best death wishes.
“So Dominic’s been lying to me this entire time?”
Emilia nodded slowly. Her fingers twisted in the hem of her sweater, knuckles pate
“I believe that the reason he has you here is because of the money that the Fletchers have hidden”
My breath hitched “The Fletchers?”
Her eyes darted toward the door. “Keep your voice down.”
I blinked at her, trying to process everything “How the hell did you even get in here?”
She hesitated, then whispered, “The door was open”
I frowned. “He didn’t lock it?”
She shook her head.
I turned away, heart racing. “Whatever.”
That wasn’t like him. He always locked it. Every night. Like I was some expensive thing he didn’t want stolen
But tonight… he didn’t.
Why?
“You said… Fletchers,” I repeated, swallowing hard. “As in… that file I found?”
Emilia stepped closer, her voice lower now, urgent. “They were a crime family, Aria. Years ago. Quiet. Clear on paper but powerful behind the scenes. They were part of the original Beldova syndicate. Old money. Old rules. Until-”
“What happened?”
“There was a betrayal,” she whispered. “Someone inside gave up one of their own. Their name vanished overnight. Killed off or forced into hiding. Everyone thought the bloodline died with them.”
I stared at her. “So… what does this have to do with me?”
She looked at me like it should’ve been obvious. “You’re a Fletcher.”
I shook my head, laughing bitterly. “No. I’m a Montel.”
“Are you?” she asked, her voice gentle.
1 blinked. “My parents-”
“Weren’t your real parents, Aria.” Her voice cracked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, heart pounding. “So what, I’m some kind of… mafia heir?”
Emilia hesitated. “Not heir. Not anymore. But you’re the last known link. That’s why the Montels took you in. That’s why people want you dead. You’re the key to what’s left of that legacy.”
I looked up at her. “What legacy?”
“The money. The secrets. Whatever the Fletchers buried before they vanished. There’s talk of an offshore account. Properties. Codes. Things only a blood relative could access.”
“And you think Dominic knows all this?”
She didn’t answer.
I stood, my voice trembling. “Do you think that’s why he’s with me?”
“I think it started that way,” she said softly. “But now… I’m not sure anymore.”
The room spun a little.
Every moment we shared. Every whisper. Every look.
Was it real?
Or just part of some sick, slow–played game?
I turned to her again. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Because I didn’t know how deep it went,” Emilia said. “And because I was afraid. Of what Dominic would do. Of what Mikael might already know.”
That name made my skin crawl.
“Mikael’s involved in this too?”
“He’s looking for something,” Emilia said. “And I think it’s you.”
3/4
Chapter 99
The weight of it all hit me like a punch to the chest.
My parents weren’t my parents. My family had been slaughtered not for debt–but for blood, I was dragged into this life not because of Dominic–but because of who I really was.
A Fletcher.
A target.
I wrapped my arms around myself, every part of me numb.
“Why didn’t Dominic just tell me?” I asked quietly.
Emilia’s answer was soft, but honest. “Because once you know the truth, you have a choice. And when you do. You leavre”
I turned my back to her and sat on the bed. My room felt smaller. The shadows longer. Even the silence felt like it was watching me.
“I don’t know what’s real anymore.”
“I know, but I will help you, it’s what your real mother would have wanted” she whispered.
My…real mother. I wanted to say something but I couldn’t.
Real…mother.
I didn’t move when I heard her slip out of the room.
Didn’t flinch when the door clicked shut behind her.
I just sat there, in the dark.
No tears this time. No screaming. Trust. Me I wouldn’t even want to scream at this moment.
I felt like I don’t know myself. It felt as if they planned everything before. And I…was a doll placed in a doll house that isn’t
mine.
I took in a deep slow breath.
“What else haven’t you told me, Dominic?”
