Chapter 168 – We Dug Up Your Grave

Chapter 168 – We Dug Up Your Grave
Vittorio’s POV

“Sit her down.”

Fiorella didn’t fight when the guards pushed her into the chair. Her wrists were tied, ankles too. Her hair was a mess, eyes swollen, face pale but proud. Like she still thought she had a way out.

Valentino leaned against the table, arms crossed. “Comfortable?”

She smirked. “I’ve had worse.”

I ignored her and nodded for the guards to leave. The door shut, heavy and final.

The silence that followed was thick. Only her breathing and the small hum of the light.

Katarina stood by the wall, arms crossed, a bandage still on her head. She shouldn’t have been here. I told her that, twice already.

“You’re not staying,” I said without looking at her.

“I’m not leaving either,” she said.

“This isn’t your fight.”

“She hit me in the head,” she shot back. “It feels like my fight.”

I turned to her then, slow. “Not this time. You’re done getting hurt for me. I’ll handle it.”

Katarina’s mouth tightened, but she didn’t argue again. She just moved to the corner and folded her arms, watching.

I looked back at Fiorella.

She was too calm. Like she was waiting for something. Like she knew a secret we didn’t.

“Start talking,” I said.

“About what?” she asked lightly. “Breakfast? Politics?”

I stepped closer. “The map. Where is it?”

She smiled. “Safe.”

Valentino chuckled. “Do not play with words.”

Her gaze flicked to him, then to me. “You think threats will work on me?”

“I don’t threaten,” I said quietly. “I ask once. Then I stop asking.”

That got her attention. For the first time, a small shift in her face. She looked from me to the ropes around her wrists.

“I didn’t take anything that didn’t belong to me,” she said.

“That map doesn’t belong to you.”

“It doesn’t belong to you either,” she snapped back. “You don’t even know what it is.”

I leaned forward. “Then tell me.”

She looked away. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

For a second, she went silent again, like she was thinking whether to play the card or keep it close.

Then she said, “You already know what this is about. Everyone wants her.” She nodded toward Katarina. “The Kitsune fox girl.”

Katarina frowned. “What?”

“The one with the blood,” Fiorella said softly. “The kind they’ve been hunting for years.”

Valentino straightened, his smirk gone. “What are you talking about?”

Fiorella smiled again, small and tired. “You really think she’s just some girl who fell into your world by accident?”

Katarina stiffened. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Fiorella tilted her head. “Then why did I get sent here, huh? Why do you think they replaced me with my sister?”

“Your sister?” I asked.

She looked up at me, eyes glinting. “Fiorella was my sister. The real one. She’s dead. I took her place.”

That silence again. The kind that makes your stomach drop.

Valentino was the first to break it. “So what are you then? An actress?”

She shrugged. “Something like that. Only with higher stakes.”

“Who sent you?” I asked.

She smiled. “You already know.” My chest went cold. For a second I only heard my blood. I’d trusted my instincts and they’d missed something. 

“I want to hear it from you.”

She didn’t answer.

“Who sent you?” I said again, sharper this time.

Still nothing. Just that look ..calm, steady, taunting.

Katarina took a step forward. “Why me? What do they want with me?”

Fiorella’s eyes softened for the first time. “You don’t even know what you are, do you?”

“I’m warning you..” I started.

Fiorella cut me off. “Half Japanese. Half something else. That blood in you… they’ve been looking for it. You were supposed to die the day you were born. But you didn’t. You lived. And they just found out you exist.”

Katarina’s breath hitched. “Who are they?”

“The ones who made me come here,” she said. “The ones who’ll come again if you don’t stop them.”

Valentino slammed his hand on the table. “Enough riddles. Names. Who the hell are they?”

She didn’t flinch. “You won’t stop them by killing me.”

“I’ll feel better though,” he muttered.

I rubbed my jaw, watching her. “You think we won’t hurt you?”

“I think you don’t hurt women,” she said. “I did my homework.”

She wasn’t wrong. I didn’t.

But I wasn’t against letting her sweat.

I leaned in, close enough to see the small scar on her jaw. “You hurt Katarina. That’s the last mistake you’ll ever make.”

She met my eyes. “I did what I had to.”

“Who are you working for?”

She smiled faintly. “Does it matter? They’re already coming.”

I turned away, biting back my anger. “You’re wasting your breath.”

“No,” she said softly. “You are.”

Valentino exhaled and straightened. “You know what? Let’s call Ghost. He’s got something.”

He radioed in. “Ghost. Bring the file. Now.”

A few minutes later, the door opened. Ghost walked in, holding a tablet and a folder. “You’re gonna want to sit for this,” he said.

I didn’t.

He placed the folder on the table and looked straight at Fiorella.“I dug up your grave.”

Fiorella’s face froze for the first time.— a blink, a ghost of pain she couldn’t hide. For a second she looked like someone I almost felt sorry for.

“Yeah,” Ghost said. “Real Fiorella’s body’s still in it. Decomposed, but there. Your fingerprints match half, but DNA doesn’t. You’re not her.”

Valentino let out a low whistle. “Told you she was too damn talkative to be the real one.”

Fiorella blinked, face unreadable. “Congratulations. You found a corpse.”

“That corpse says you’re a liar,” Ghost said.

I looked at Fiorella again. “So if you’re not Fiorella, why do you have her exact face?”

She leaned back in the chair. “Does it matter?”

“It does to me.”

She looked at Katarina, then back at me. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Ghost handed me another folder. “There’s more. The lab results from Katarina’s blood sample.”

Katarina blinked. “My blood?”

“Yeah,” Ghost said. “I ran it twice. Half of it reads as Italian-European. The other half… Japanese. But not just Japanese. There’s something else in there.. old lineage markers. Stuff that doesn’t match anything modern.”

I looked at him. “You saying she’s special?”

Ghost nodded slowly. “She’s not normal, boss.”

Fiorella smiled faintly. “Told you.”

Katarina took a step forward, voice low. “What do you mean not normal?”

Ghost looked at her, then back at me. “Whatever they want her for.. it’s in her blood.”

Fiorella chuckled softly. “And you two thought you were just protecting some girl with a temper.”

Valentino muttered under his breath. “Well, this day keeps getting better.”

I ignored him and turned back to Fiorella. “You said they’re coming. When?”

She swallowed. Her voice dropped, shakier than before. “They don’t send messages before they come . They bring men. Lots of them.”

Then She tilted her head. “Soon.”

“How soon?”

She smiled. “Soon enough.”

Valentino slammed his hand on the table again. “You think this is a game? You hit her. You broke into our safe. You stole from us. Talk!”

Her voice rose for the first time. “You don’t get it! You can’t stop them!”

“Watch me,” I said.

Fiorella’s lip trembled just slightly not fear, more like frustration. “You’ll regret this. All of you.”

“Maybe,” I said. “But not today.”

I nodded to Ghost. “Lock her up. No food, no water till she talks.”

Katarina flinched. “Vittorio….”

I turned to her. “She hit you. You still bleeding for her?”

“She’s got a kid,” she said quietly. “Suzy…”

“She should’ve thought about that before she lied her way into my house,” I said flatly.

Ghost grabbed Fiorella by the arm, pulling her up. She didn’t fight. She just looked at me, calm again, that same eerie confidence.

“You’re making a mistake,” she said softly.

I met her eyes. “You already did.”

They dragged her toward the metal door at the end of the hall. She kept talking, her voice echoing.

“You can’t hide her forever! You can’t protect her from them!”

Ghost shoved her inside. The door slammed shut. Her fists hit the metal once, twice.

“Let me out!” she screamed. “You don’t know what’s coming!”

The sound rang down the corridor.

Katarina stood frozen. Valentino stared at the closed door, silent for once.

I turned, walking away.

“Let her scream,” I said quietly. “We’ll talk when she’s ready.”

The metal door vibrated with her last shout. Then — a low rumble outside, like a truck starting up. Ghost’s hand went to his radio. Everyone heard it. We all knew: this wasn’t over.