Chapter 163 – The First Time In Years, I Hope I’m wrong

Chapter 163 – The First Time In Years, I Hope I’m wrong


Vittorio’s POV

The office smelled like whiskey and smoke. Valentino was already there, sitting behind my desk like he owned the place.
I closed the door.

He looked up. “She asleep?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Finally.”

He nodded, slow. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, pouring myself a drink. “You look worse.”

He smirked, but it didn’t last long. “We need to talk about Fiorella.”

I leaned against the desk, glass in hand. “Yeah. We do.”

“She’s not her,” he said quietly.

I stared at him for a long second. “You finally see it too.”

He sighed. “I kept trying not to. But… it’s obvious now. The way she talks, moves—everything. It’s off.”

“Not just off,” I said. “It’s wrong.”

He rubbed his jaw. “So it’s not jealousy, or trauma, or memory loss?”

“No,” I said. “It’s something else. Something planted.”

Valentino leaned forward. “You think she’s compromised?”

“I think whoever that woman is—she’s not Fiorella.”

He went quiet. The clock ticked on the wall.

“You were the one who loved her first,” I said. “You should’ve seen it sooner.”

He looked up sharply. “Don’t start that.”

“I’m not blaming you. I’m saying—if you didn’t feel it, then something’s really wrong.”

He exhaled, grabbed his glass, and drank. “I felt it. I just didn’t want to believe it.”

Silence. The kind that says everything.

After a moment, he spoke again. “There’s something I didn’t tell you.”

I didn’t move. “Of course there is.”

He hesitated. “Fiorella was working with a private investigator before she came here.”

I frowned. “What investigator?”

“He  Claimed he was helping me find her. Turns out, he was working with her the whole time.”

“I paid him to track whoever kept leaving flowers at her grave. Instead, he was reporting everything straight back to her.”

I set my drink down. “You knew this and didn’t tell me?”

“I was trying to protect her,” he said quickly. “I thought maybe she had reasons. Maybe she was hiding from something.”

“And now?”

He met my eyes. “Now I think she wanted to be found. On purpose.”

I felt my jaw tighten. “You’re saying she planned all this?”

He nodded slowly. “When I confronted her, she said it was all part of her plan. That she wanted us to look for her.”

“Why?”

“Just the usual she wanted too be close to us ,” he said. “Just smiled. The same way she used to when she was lying.”

I walked around the desk, trying to think. The floor creaked under my boots. “You should’ve told me the moment you found her.”

“I know,” he said. “I fucked up.”

“You also kept something from me,” he said. “You knew about Katarina’s pregnancy.”

I met his stare. “She didn’t want it out until it was confirmed.”

“And you listened?”

“She’s not my soldier,” I snapped. “She’s a woman scared out of her mind!”

We stared at each other—same blood, same fury.

Then, slowly, the anger cracked and we laughed . I ran a hand down my face. “We’re both idiots.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Big ones.”

I sat down across from him. “No more secrets.”

He nodded. “Agreed.”

We clinked glasses without smiling.

I leaned back. “Ghost is already checking into Fiorella. Pietro’s on it too. By tomorrow, we’ll know what she’s hiding.”

“You think she’s tied to the whole Kitsune and katarina situation ?” he asked.

“Everything points there,” I said. “The timing, the mark, the way she’s acting.”

Valentino frowned. “If that’s true, then she’s not just compromised. She’s dangerous.”

“She’s in our house,” I said quietly. “Sleeping near the kids.”

That hit him. He went pale.

“What do we do?” he asked.

“Watch her,” I said. “But from a distance. I don’t want her to know we’re on to her.”

He nodded slowly. “You want me to play along?”

“For now,” I said. “Pretend she’s still yours.”

He gave a dry laugh. “Still mine. Hell of a joke.”

I stared at the floor. “We both lost her once. I’m not losing her again—not like this.”

“Vittorio—”

“I mean it,” I said. “If she’s dead, I’ll bury whoever’s wearing her face myself.”

The room went still.

Valentino looked at me for a long time. “You ever wonder if we’re cursed?”

I looked up. “Every damn day.”

He rubbed his temples. “Maybe its the prophecy.”

“Maybe,” I said. “But if it is, I’m not letting it play out.”

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “You think you can beat fate?”

“I can kill anything that bleeds,” I said.

He gave a small laugh. “You sound like Dad.”

I didn’t smile. “Dad’s dead.”

“Yeah,” Valentino said softly. “And we’re next if we don’t figure this out.”

The silence stretched again.

I poured us another round. “Tomorrow, Ghost gives me everything he’s got. Every photo, every file, every message. If that woman is fake, I want proof.”

“And if she’s not?” he asked.

“Then she’ll explain the mark behind her ear,” I said. “The one shaped like a fox tail.”

Valentino’s brow furrowed. “You saw it too?”

“Ghost did..”

“Jesus.”

“Exactly.”

We both drank.

After a moment, Valentino said quietly, “When this is over, I want out. No more blood. No more war.”

I looked at him. “You think we get to walk away?”

He met my eyes. “We can try.”

I nodded once. “Then let’s live long enough to try.”

He exhaled, almost a smile. “Deal.”

I stood, pushing back from the desk. “Get some rest. I’ll stay here.”

“You’re not sleeping either, huh?”

“Not tonight.”

He started for the door, then stopped. “Hey,” he said softly. “No more secrets. Promise?”

I nodded. “Promise.”

He left. The door clicked shut.

The office was quiet again, except for the faint hum of the city outside. I sat back down, pulled a file toward me — Fiorella’s photo, the real one, the woman I once trusted.

Same face. 

I poured another drink and whispered to the photo, “Who the hell are you?”

The clock ticked on. The night stretched long.

And for the first time in years, I hoped I was wrong.