Chapter 136 Fiorella
Everything was calm and good. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that something else was coming. Something low-key.
My phone had been ringing with encrypted messages all week , soft chirps from untraceable numbers. The last one contained only one letter. N.
At first, I'd thought nothing of it though ot bothered me. But then another message appeared yesterday morning, short, sharp, deliberate.
"You'll know soon."
And then, sitting at my desk by the garden, staring at my phone, I couldn't help but replay the strange shiver that went up through me every time I read it.
The letter was a presence. A sign-off from someone who already knew me.
"Fiorella?"
Leo's voice pulled me back from my trance. He entered, jacket over his shoulder, coffee in hand. "You're up early again. Didn't Rocco tell you to take it easy?"
I scowled at him. "Since when do I ever listen to that?"
He smiled, plopping down into the chair across from mine. "Never. And that's what keeps me awake."
I leaned back, rubbing my temples. “Something’s off, Leo. I’ve been getting messages. Anonymous ones. No traceable IP, no number location. Just… initials.”
He frowned, instantly alert. “What kind of initials?”
“N. Only N.”
He set his cup down, his eyes narrowing as he thought. “And the content?”
"Just vague lines. The last one said, 'You'll know soon.' And then this morning—" I hesitated, turning the phone over to show the most recent message that had come in mere minutes ago.
It read:
'I'm sure you must be wondering who I am. A little tip: I know a big secret of your father.'
The words hung there between us, prolonging the silence until Leo spoke.
"Your father?"
I nodded, attempting to soothe the pulse racing in my chest. "That's what it says. I have no idea what the devil it means. My father's life was an open book, or so I'd believed."
Leo leaned back, running his hand through his hair. "Whoever this is, they're playing games with your head."
"Maybe. But if they do know something…" I exhaled. "Then I want to know what."
I stood up and began walking slowly around the window. Outdoors, workers were hauling trash from the east wing onto trucks. The estate was secure again, but inside me, that increasing sense of tension still spread.
"What if it's true?" I breathed. "What if my father…”
Leo raised a brow. "You think he lived a double life?"
"I don't know. Maybe he did. Maybe there's another family somewhere or another wife, or for heaven's sake, a whole army of step-siblings waiting to show up one by one."
I'd spent so long believing I knew everything about my father, everything he did, every deal he made. But the more I got older, the more I realized power always kept secrets.
Leo's mouth curled into a small, weak smile. "If you had secret siblings, wouldn't you have run into at least one by now? Your dad wasn't subtle."
I fought off a gentle laugh, more to release the knot tightening in my stomach. "Yeah. He'd invite them over for dinner, introduce them like trophies."
“Exactly.” He leaned forward. “Look, Fi, I’ve been with your family for over twenty years. I’ve seen every contract, every partnership. Your father wasn’t perfect, but a second family? No. Not his style. But secrets? Maybe. The kind that could get people killed.”
The thought sent a chill through me.
I looked back at my phone, rereading the message until the letters blurred together. A big secret of your father.
“Is it business?" Leo asked.
"It’s possible." My mind was already working overtime with possibilities. past ventures, quiet backers, hidden assets. My father's business had been built on charm and blood, in equal measure. "Or someone he swindled. Or someone who thinks I owe them for what he did."
"Maybe this 'N' is working with Phillipe to scare you?”
I shook my head. "No. I don’t think so, but it’s not impossible."
He tilted his head. "Then maybe it has something to do with Rocco's side. The De Lucases tend to attract enemies like sugar attracts ants."
I smiled wryly. "And still you are involved with both of us."
"Yeah, because I like living on the edge," he replied cynically.
The levity faded quickly, replaced with something darker, curiosity, to be sure, but fear, too.
I walked over to the window again, arms folded, watching a couple of guards walk the courtyard. "Whoever this is, they know something intimate. And they're waiting for me to bite."
Leo stared at me in silence for an instant. "Are you going to?"
I glanced back at him. "Of course."
He exhaled slowly. "Of course."
I went back to the desk, booted up my laptop, and began a deep dig through our encrypted databases. All names linked to my father, all aliases, all offshore accounts. Hours went by like minutes, nothing but the clacking of the keyboard, my heartbeat, and the gentle hum of the ceiling fan shattering the silence.
By noon, I’d dug through a decade’s worth of files. No N. No Niccolo. No Nathaniel. No Nero. Nothing.
I sat back in my chair, frustrated, my head pounding. “It’s like he doesn’t exist.”
Leo looked up from his tablet where he was running separate scans. “Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe this is someone using an old ghost to get to you.”
But ghosts always came from somewhere. And this one was getting bolder.
As if on cue, my phone buzzed again. The same number. The same clean, deliberate tone of someone who liked control.
This time, just three words appeared on the screen.
“Are you ready for the secret?”
My hand tightened around the phone. A faint tremor ran down my spine, not from fear, but anticipation.
Leo stood instantly. “What does it say?”
I showed him.
He frowned. "He's kidding around."
"I hope so."
I turned around to send another message before he could complain, and opened a new one.
Who are you? What do you want from me?
The reply in seconds.
I told you. I know a secret. One your dad buried before you could read.
I hesitated, then typed again. What secret?
But this time, no answer. Just silence.
My stomach curled, ache of dullness growing beneath my ribs. My mind began circling the thing I didn't want to believe, if this guy actually did know something that in the depths of my being, then he had access to people or documents long gone.
And if he knew my father, then perhaps he could know me too.
Leo crossed his arms. "You need to tell Rocco."
I shook my head. "He’s aware."
"Alright. Honesty is good.”
"Yeah, I’m trying not to keep things from him.”
Leo exhaled a slow breath but didn't push it. "Good. We need to find who this N is, the secret he’s keeping and get rid of him.”
I nodded, eyes still fixed on the screen, where the message shuddered like a riddle I couldn't forget.
Somebody's laughter drifted through the window from outside, distant, almost green in contrast to the storm within my heart. The estate might have been reconstructed, but the heart of my existence seemed fragile all of a sudden once more.
I rose, going to the balcony. The horizon bent over the spread-out city, quiet, unaware, deceptive. Somewhere beyond it, a man named N was staring, waiting, peeling away pieces of my past that I didn't even know were there.
And if he discovered my father's secret… then he'd know where to next hit.
My phone buzzed again.
One new message.
“Don’t dig too deep, Fiorella. Some coffins were meant to stay closed."
The wind that surrounded me became chilly.
Leo stepped in. "Now what?"
I didn't answer. Eyes still gazed at the horizon, fingers tightly gripping the railing.
Whatever N was, he wasn't making it up. He knew too much. And he wanted me to know he was in control.
But he didn't know me, not really.
Because I'd spent my entire life burning fear into flame.
And if he thought that he was going to play games with my dad's name, he was going to learn that I always finish what others start.
Even if that meant burning the truth out of the darkness myself.