The silence of the Moretti mansion was deafening as Elena walked through the grand foyer. Her leather jacket was scuffed, and a thin trail of dried blood traced a line down her cheek—a souvenir from the struggle where Gino had slipped through her fingers like sand.
Lorenzo was standing by the fireplace, his silhouette tall and imposing against the flickering flames. He didn't turn around immediately, but the tension in his shoulders told Elena everything. When he finally faced her, he didn't use the gentle nickname 'Perla.'
"What happened, Elena?" His voice was a low growl, heavy with the weight of a Don who demanded answers. "Where did you go? Look at you—you look like you've been through a war." Elena sank into a velvet armchair, the luxury of the room feeling like an insult to the grit under her fingernails. "That bastard slipped away," she hissed, her eyes flashing with a cold, predatory light.
"He knew the alleys better than my men did."
Lorenzo stepped toward her, his shadow stretching across the floor. "This is why I told you to let me go with you. You want to be a lone wolf, Elena, but in this valley, wolves are hunted by packs."
"I didn't let you in because I don't want you in my mess," Elena countered. Her voice, usually like steel, suddenly thinned into a fragile whisper that echoed against the marble walls. "I've already lost everyone I loved. I won't lose the only family I have left to my ghosts."
Lorenzo's expression softened, the hard lines of the Mafia boss melting into the face of a worried uncle. "Oh, my child... I know the path to revenge is long. But if you have someone to walk with you, the road feels a little shorter."
Elena stood abruptly, her armour snapping back into place. "I'm going to my room. I expect my personal space to be respected."
"Perla, wait," Lorenzo stopped her, his voice turning professional again. "There is an invitation. The elite of our society are holding a gathering to welcome a 'very important person' who has just arrived in Italy. They specifically requested to hold it here, in our courtyard. Does that not strike you as suspicious?"
Elena let out a long, weary sigh. "My mind is a labyrinth right now, Uncle. I don't have the energy to solve riddles about garden parties. We will talk when the storm in my head calms down."
Elena lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling as the darkness of the room pressed in on her.
Ping.
The blue light of her phone illuminated her sharp features. An unknown number. A video file. A note.
I found your prey, Elena. He's waiting for you at the old foundry. Come alone, or I'll make sure he never speaks again. You have thirty minutes. Don't bring the Moretti guards. They'll only get in the way of the blood.
She clicked the video. Her breath hitched. Gino was strapped to a rusted chair in a skeletal building, his face was drench into blood.
Elena didn't hesitate. She checked the 9mm tucked into her waistband and slipped out the window, vanishing into the night. She wasn't foolish, though. She sent the coordinates to Lorenzo with a one-line instruction: "If I'm not out in twenty minutes, bring the force ."
~Inside the foundry~
When she reached the foundry, the atmosphere was suffocating. The air tasted of rust and old grease. She walked into the main hall, her heels clicking rhythmically like a death march. Gino was there, unconscious and broken, but the man who sent the message was gone. Only a group of silent, stone-faced guards remained.
"Who called me here?" Elena demanded, her hand hovering near her weapon. "Where is your boss?"
The lead guard stepped forward, his voice devoid of emotion. "Master told me to hand you the man. He said he hasn't helped you for nothing. You will soon find out who he is—and exactly what he intends to collect in return."
Elena looked at the broken man in the chair. This wasn't a gift; it was a debt. "Tell your master," she said, her voice dropping an octave, "not to walk in my shadow. Or he will be the next name I carve into a headstone.
Elena then called someone and in no time a bunch of men came inside and took the guy away with them . Elena also followed them after glancing back for a last time.
~At the church ~
Meanwhile,Alex was busy at finding the nun as he had immense power it was not a big thing for him find a normal nun and so he did found her in no time.
"Sir she is at the back of the church" jimmy told as Alex headed towards that direction with Jimmy and some other men following him.
The nun was sweeping, her movements slow and rhythmic, until she turned and saw the wall of men approaching. She saw Alex—clad in a sharp maroon suit, looking more like a fallen angel than a businessman. She turned to bolt, but a bullet hissed through the air, shattering the stone wall inches from her head.
The sound echoed like a thunderclap. The nun froze, trembling like a leaf.
Alex calmly handed the smoking suppressed pistol back to Jimmy. He stepped into the light, his gaze unnervingly steady. "I won't harm you," he said, the word please hovering invisibly in the air. "But I need the truth. I need to know the secret of... Freya."
The nun looked up, her eyes watery with age and terror. "Why? Why dig up a grave that has been sealed for so long?"
"Because," Alex leaned in, his voice a silk-wrapped blade, "I found someone who carries her ghost in her eyes. I think the story didn't end the way the world thinks it did."
The nun sat down, her hands clutching her prayer beads so hard her knuckles turned white. She began to speak, her voice trembling.
"Freya... she wasn't from our world. She and her sister, Sia, came from across the ocean. They were like light in this dark valley. But then," the nun's voice broke, "our happiness caught the evil eye. Shadows of grief eclipsed our lives."
" Freya and sia came to into italy at their teenage phase to live with their grandparents. At that time I was working as a family doctor for the Harris family. Sia and Freya often visited me in the church. They have always helped me with the chores and i always prepared a special soup only for them . We spend a quality time together everyday , it had become a routine for us. But soon our happiness was gone. As Sia fall in love with her college senior. He was a bad guy and had relationships with many girls in the past. He was chasing after Freya but as Freya didn't want to be with him he chooses Sia as a pawn to reach Freya . But my innocent Freya fall deeply in love with that heartless monster. One day sia found out she was pregnant so she confronted it to that guy but he refused to take the responsibility of the child."
"He told her he doesn't love her ;Sia was heartbroken. So they decided they will move abroad to start a new life . The day before the flight Sia got a message from the boy that he was now sorry for the mistake and now he is ready for both of them. Sia was soo happy that she didn't noticed it was all his plan . He then called her to an unknown place and she went there. But Freya had knew that it was nothing but manipulation so she followed sia. B-but ... " The nun started crying after.
" But what happens " asked alex " but that boy was a freak . He killed both of my child he didn't even leaved the unborn baby. He taught that sia will use the child against him and his reputation will be gone so he and his father made a plan and then he raped and killed sia. Freya was also caught by them and people says he had also killed her but i don't believe it .M- my Freya is alive .M- my Freya is alive. " The nun said as she broke down completely.
" Why do you think Freya is alive " alex curiously asked her. " Because, because at the same night the tickets were gone from my cupboard and there was footprints covered with blood. I believe it was Freya. " The nun explained.
" Do you have any idea who was that boy " alex asked the lady . " Umm it was it was something like j-ju....." She was going to say something as a bullet came from the window and hit her chest . Alex looked at that direction and ordered his men to find the shooter.
He than carried the nun towards his car aiming to save her but the nun stopped him saying " No my child, don't bother y-yourself. My time has come now b-but , but if you mind Freya please..please help her. " As the nun tooked a last breathe and leaved the world forever alex close her eyes and got up.
"Take her body and tell the priests to do all the cremations." He ordered as hai guys took away the body. Alex was feeling an unknown burden in his heart today. " Don't you think someone is keeping an eye on us . Someone who doesn't wants us to know the truth. " Jimmy said keeping a hand on alex's shoulder. " Yeah , someone is definately behind it. " Alex said as his eyes darkned.
"Do you think it is Ele..." He was half way through telling the name as he was cut off by alex " No it can't be her. If she is what I am thinking she wouldn't do that. " Alex said as his men came " master we couldn't find the guy but here we found the sniper " as he handed the weapon to Alex . " Take it to the lab and found about it " alex order as he went outside.
~At the gathering ~
The Moretti courtyard was transformed into a fairytale of fairy lights and wisteria. Elena stood in the center of the crowd, looking ethereal in a cherry-red silk dress that clung to her like a second skin. She looked like a queen, but her eyes were scanning the exits like a soldier.
"Meet my niece, more like my daughter" Lorenzo boasted to the gathered elite. Elena smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. She felt like a bird of prey in a cage of peacocks.
Then, the gates swung open.
A fleet of black SUVs rolled onto the gravel. Alex Valois stepped out, followed by the formidable Jimmy Blackwood and some other elite personalites. The air in the courtyard seemed to drop ten degrees.
Elena's blood boiled. She waited until the introductions were over and Alex was standing alone by the fountain. She glided toward him, her movements lethal and graceful.
Alex," she hissed, her voice a low vibration that only he could hear. "You have exactly three seconds to tell me why you shouldn't die on this grass."
Alex didn't look threatened. He took a slow sip of his wine and let out a dark, melodic chuckle.
"Because if I die, Elena, the secret of the person you are dying to meet dies with me. I know who the boy was. I know what happened to Sia." He leaned in, his breath warm against her ear. "And we both know you've spent your whole life starving for a taste of the truth. Are you ready to stop running, Freya?"
The name hit her like a physical blow. The music of the gala faded into a blur. There, under the Italian moon, the CEO and the Titan stood locked in a silent battle, the ghosts of the past finally stepping into the light.
Author's POV:
The moon over Italy tonight doesn't shed light; it casts shadows.
As the music of the gala swells, a question hangs in the air, sharper than Elena's blade: Who is the girl behind the armor? We see Elena, the "Perla" of the Moretti empire, a woman who breathes fire and tracks her prey through blood-soaked foundries. But Alex Valois has whispered a name that has the power to turn that fire into ice. Freya.
A name from a grave. A name from a soup-stained kitchen in a quiet church. A name that was supposed to have died alongside a sister and an unborn child.
The nun's final breath was a warning, but the bullet that silenced her was a declaration. Someone is watching. Someone who knows that the past isn't a memory—it's a debt. The mystery of the "heartless monster" from the college years is only the beginning. If Sia was the pawn, and Freya was the target, then who was the architect pulling the strings? Was their another person from her past .
The man who delivered Gino to the foundry didn't do it out of mercy. In this world, every "gift" is a hook, and every secret is a currency.
Elena thinks she is hunting ghosts, but Alex Valois is suggesting that she is the ghost. As they stand by the fountain, the line between revenge and identity has blurred. Is she the hunter, or is she the prey finally being lured back into a trap laid years ago?
The "Master" is waiting. The debt is due. And as the storm in Elena's head meets the darkness in Alex's eyes, only one thing is certain:
The truth doesn't set you free. It just gives you a more beautiful cage.