Chapter 191:The Face Behind the Mask .

Chapter 191:The Face Behind the Mask .
Aurora

Each measured step scraped against the floor, slow and deliberate, and every instinct in me screamed to run—to get away. But the ropes held, unforgiving, and all I could do was twist against them uselessly, regret clawing up my throat.

I should have told Leonardo. I should have told him everything about Eleanora.

A shadow stretched across the wall, tall and lean, growing sharper as the figure approached. My breath hitched, my eyes straining against the dark.

The closer he came, the more something inside me twisted. I know that shape. I’ve seen it before…

A flash of memory, unbidden—grey eyes, a crooked smile.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head again. “There’s no possible way…”

Curiosity, sharp and desperate, forced the words out before I could stop myself. “Dario? Is that you?”

A low chuckle rolled through the room, dark and unmistakable.

My blood turned to ice.

How? When? My mind spiraled, clawing for an answer. He was in jail. He was locked up. How—

“You… you’re supposed to be in prison,” I forced out, though my voice barely carried.

Silence stretched, heavy with anticipation, until he finally stepped close enough that his features were still just out of reach of the light.

“Isn’t it obvious, my precious darling?”

Cold fingers traced my jaw, tilting my chin up. I flinched against the touch, the ropes straining uselessly.

“It’s your wonderful stepsister, Eleanora,” he murmured, his breath ghosting over my skin. “She planned all of this.”

Dario straightened, his hand sliding from my chin, and turned toward the door.

“Hey, Nora,” he called, voice smooth and mocking. And I couldn’t help but feel betrayed and stupid that I even called her the same thing. “Why don’t you come on out and say hello to your sister?”

The air seemed to still.

For a beat, nothing happened.

Then—another shadow stretched across the wall, smaller, familiar. My breath caught, my pulse hammering painfully in my ears.

When she stepped into the dim light, my lungs stuttered like they’d forgotten how to work.

Eleanora.

She was still wearing the same clothes she had on earlier, her jacket slightly wrinkled, her hair mussed from probably the evening breeze. For a moment, it almost felt like we were still out together, laughing, eating, taking pictures. But the reality slammed into me, sharp and merciless, twisting in my chest until I almost choked on it.

It hurt—God, it hurt. I had known the moment Dario spoke her name, but knowing and seeing were two different things.

Her eyes—usually bright and teasing—held something else now, a flicker of sadness, a heaviness that almost looked like guilt. But it didn’t matter. None of it mattered.

“Eleanora…” My voice cracked on her name. I stopped, the word hanging in the stale air as I tried to swallow down the disbelief choking me.

I searched her face, desperate for something—an explanation, a denial, anything. “You… did this?”

She said nothing.

My heart twisted. “After everything? After all the fun we had together—everything we talked about—” My voice wavered. “You’re telling me it was all fake?”

Still nothing. Her gaze dropped to the floor, shoulders rigid, as if she couldn’t even stand to look at me.

A bitter laugh scraped its way up my throat, harsh and humorless, before another voice cut through the space like a blade.

“Yes,” Dario drawled, stepping closer again. “All fake. You really think she wanted to spend time with you, darling? No, no… she only did it so we could finally get our hands on you. Your father won’t even think twice before handing over his empire when it means getting his precious daughter back unharmed.”

My head jerked toward him, but my eyes found Eleanora again, wide and searching. “That’s why you did this?” My voice trembled, breaking on the edges of each word. “Because you wanted the empire?”

A bitter taste filled my mouth.

“You could have fucking asked, Eleanora!”

Her flinch was barely noticeable, but I saw it—God, I saw it.

“I never wanted to be my father’s heir! Do you know how many nights I lay awake wishing it was someone else and not me.”

My chest heaved, the ropes biting into my wrists as I strained against them, not even noticing the pain.

“One of the reasons I was even relieved to have a stepsister who was older than me was because I thought—” My breath hitched. “I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with all of this. I even considered talking to you about it and now—this?”

The betrayal stung like acid, searing straight through my ribs.

Every memory of us laughing, sharing secrets, sitting shoulder to shoulder—it all turned to ash, the edges curling and blackening with every second that passed.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the burn threatening to spill over.

Was any of it ever real? Or was I just a means to an end the whole time?

“Oh, stop trying to manipulate her into thinking she shouldn’t have done any of this,” Dario’s voice was a cruel purr, smooth and grating at once. “She’s not the only reason you’re here, you know.”

His hand shot out, fingers gripping my chin again, forcing my face up. I jerked back instinctively, but the ropes bit into my wrists, leaving me nowhere to go. He leaned in, close enough that I could feel his breath skim my skin, and inhaled sharply, as if committing my scent to memory.

Revulsion surged up my throat, sharp and bitter. I tried to twist away, but the binds held firm, the chair creaking under the force of my movements.

“You don’t know how unbearable it was,” he murmured, his lips curving into a smile that didn’t reach his cold grey eyes, “being in that cell, day after day, and not getting to see you, Aurora.”

My voice broke into a snarl. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

But Dario only chuckled low in his throat, a dark sound that sent a chill skating down my spine.