Chapter 63 Ghost In The Machine
Chapter 63 Ghost In The Machine
The dinner lasted another two hours. It felt like two decades.
By the time the men finally stood to leave, stumbling slightly from the expensive Barolo and the weight of their own egos, I was exhausted down to my marrow.
My face ached from the frozen, porcelain smile I had forced myself to wear. My body felt brittle, as if one wrong move would shatter me into a thousand pieces.
Dante stood at the head of the table, shaking hands, accepting deferential nods. He looked every inch the King of Castello Nero. He was powerful, untouched by the stress that was eating me alive.
When the last Capo had exited the double doors, Dante turned to me.
The warmth he had shown for his men vanished instantly, replaced by the cold, efficient demeanor of a handler managing an asset.
"You did well," he said. It wasn't a compliment; it was an appraisal. "You didn't embarrass me."
"I tried not to," I whispered.
He nodded at Enzo, who had reappeared by the door. "Escort her upstairs. Lock the door. I have business to conclude."
He didn't say goodnight. He didn't touch me. He simply turned his back and walked toward the war room, his mind already moving to the next battle.
I walked out of the dining room with my head high, clutching the beaded purse like a lifeline. Enzo followed me, his heavy boots silent on the marble stairs.
He was a shadow, a constant, silent presence that I had grown to fear and respect in equal measure.
When we reached my bedroom door, Enzo reached into his jacket pocket.
"Here," he grunted. He held out the black box.
I stared at it. My heart skipped a beat. "It... it's done? Already?"
"Tech boys are fast," Enzo said, his voice gravelly.
"It's clean. Standard factory settings. No bugs. No trackers. No malware. Your father must have actually bought it retail." He gave a short, dry chuckle that sounded like grinding stones. "Miracles happen."
I took the box. My fingers brushed his, and he didn't flinch, but his dark eyes lingered on my face. He saw something there, but he didn't comment.
"Be careful with that thing, Lilith," he said quietly. "Information travels fast in this house. And it travels both ways."
"I just want to talk to my father," I lied again. The lies were coming easier now, slipping off my tongue like oil.
Enzo stared at me for a moment longer, his scar twisting in the dim light of the hallway. He knew I was lying. I could see it in his eyes. But he didn't care enough to call me on it. Not yet.
"Right," he said. "Goodnight."
He waited until I entered the room and closed the door. I heard the heavy thud of the lock engaging from the outside.
I was alone.
The mask fell. I rushed to the bathroom, locking that door too, my breath coming in short, panicked gasps. I turned on the faucet, letting the water run loud and hard to mask any sound. I opened the clutch purse and dug out the crumpled note.
I smoothed it out on the cold marble counter.
Since you broke the last one. We have more work to do.
I stared at the words until they blurred. "We have more work to do." It implied partnership. Complicity. It bound me to them.
I tore the note into tiny confetti, shredding it until the words were illegible. I dropped the pieces into the toilet and flushed them, watching the water swirl away the evidence until it was gone.
Then, I sat on the edge of the bathtub and opened the black box.
The phone sat there, sleek and dark. I pressed the power button. It booted up instantly with a silent, generic animation.
Enzo was right. It looked like a standard phone. No contacts. No messages. Just the factory apps. A clock. A calculator. A calendar.
But I knew better. The person who sent this knew I had destroyed the burner phone. They had eyes inside the house. They knew about the tech sweep. They were steps ahead of Dante's security.
I held the phone in my hand, my thumb hovering over the screen.
Buzz.
The vibration startled me so badly that I nearly dropped it into the sink.
A notification appeared at the top of the screen. It wasn't a text message. It was a calendar alert.
I tapped it. The calendar app opened. There was one entry, set for five minutes from now.
Job: The Study.
Notes: 04-21.
I stared at the numbers. 04-21. It looked like a date. April 21st? Or maybe a code?
Then another notification popped up. This one was a photo.
It was a picture of me.
It was taken from behind, showing me standing on the balcony earlier today, looking out at the ocean. The angle was high. It was taken from the roof.
Text appeared below the photo in a green overlay that vanished as I read it.
UNKNOWN: Nice dress. Red is your color.
UNKNOWN: Dante keeps the ledger in the wall safe behind the painting in his study. The combination starts with 04-21. You have until dawn to get the rest.
My stomach dropped. They wanted me to rob him. They wanted me to steal from the most dangerous man in Italy, inside his own fortress, while his guards were patrolling the halls.
I typed back, my fingers shaking so hard I kept hitting the wrong keys.
LILITH: I can't. He locks the study at night. The hallway is guarded.
The response was immediate.
UNKNOWN: Figure it out. Or we send the recording of you loading the gun to Dante. He will be so disappointed.
I stared at the screen until it went black.
They had me. They had proof I helped kill Jose. If Dante saw that recording, it wouldn't matter that I was "under his protection." It wouldn't matter that I saved Jasmine. I would be a traitor. And traitors in this house didn't just die; they vanished. They were erased.
I stood up and looked in the mirror. The girl in the red dress looked back at me. She looked terrified. She looked like a victim.
I splashed cold water on my face, scrubbing at the makeup Lucrezia had applied until my skin was raw.
"No," I whispered to my reflection. "Not a victim."
I was a survivor. I had survived my father selling me. I had survived the attack on the ramparts. I would survive this.
I hid the phone in the ventilation grate under the sink, wrapping it in a towel to muffle any vibration. Then I unlocked the bathroom door and walked back into the bedroom.
I needed to get into Dante's study. I needed to find the safe.
But first, I needed to wait for the Wolf to go to sleep.