CHAPTER 5 : A Promise Written in Blood

Rain battered the tall windows of the library.

The soft rhythm echoed through the room, filling the silence Adrian's confession had left behind.

"I made your mother a promise."

The words refused to leave Elena's mind.

She stared at him, searching for any sign that he regretted saying them.

He didn't.

Instead, he looked like a man who had carried those words for years.

"What promise?"

Adrian drew a slow breath.

"When your mother realized she was being hunted, she came to my father."

Elena frowned.

"My mother knew your family?"

"Very well."

"And no one thought to tell me?"

"They couldn't."

"They wouldn't."

"There is a difference."

She shook her head.

"Not anymore."

Adrian walked to one of the windows overlooking the rain-soaked gardens.

"When I was seventeen, my father took me to meet a woman who had lost almost everything."

His reflection blurred against the glass.

"She wasn't afraid for herself."

He turned to face Elena.

"She was afraid for her daughter."

"My mother..."

He nodded.

"She knew she wouldn't survive."

Elena's chest tightened.

"No."

"She already knew."

"My father told me she became sick."

"Your father told you what he believed would keep you alive."

Elena wrapped her arms around herself.

She wanted to reject every word.

But too many pieces had already begun falling into place.

The attack.

The photograph.

The tracker.

The lies.

"If she knew she was going to die..." Elena whispered, "why didn't she run?"

"She did."

"And?"

"They found her."

Silence settled over the room.

Adrian crossed to an antique desk and unlocked a small drawer.

He removed a weathered envelope.

The paper had yellowed with age.

The edges were worn.

"This belongs to you."

Elena hesitated before accepting it.

Her name wasn't written on the front.

Instead, elegant handwriting read:

For the day she learns the truth.

Her hands trembled.

"This is my mother's handwriting."

"It is."

"You've had this all these years?"

"I promised I wouldn't give it to you until the right time."

"And this is the right time?"

"No."

His answer stunned her.

"It isn't."

"Then why?"

"Because someone has already started hunting you."

He looked toward the rain again.

"Which means they've decided the truth is finally worth killing for."

Elena carefully opened the envelope.

Inside rested a single folded letter.

Before she could unfold it, a loud knock interrupted the moment.

Three sharp knocks.

Then another.

Sophia entered without waiting.

Her face had lost all color.

"Mr. Moretti."

"What happened?"

"We've intercepted a transmission."

Adrian's expression sharpened.

"From whom?"

"The Serpent Circle."

Elena looked between them.

"The people behind the ring?"

Sophia nodded.

"They've issued a contract."

Adrian didn't blink.

"For whom?"

Sophia swallowed.

"For Mrs. Moretti."

The words landed like ice.

Elena felt the room tilt.

"A contract?"

Sophia looked directly at her.

"They're offering ten million euros."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

"For information?" Elena asked weakly.

Sophia shook her head.

"No."

Her voice became almost a whisper.

"For your body."

Adrian's jaw tightened.

His calm exterior finally cracked.

Only for a second.

But it was enough.

He turned toward the head of security waiting outside the library.

"Seal every entrance."

"Already done."

"No one leaves."

"Understood."

"I want every camera monitored twenty-four hours a day."

"Yes, sir."

Adrian looked back at Elena.

"For the next few days, you don't go anywhere without me."

She almost laughed.

"You think that's going to stop them?"

"No."

His voice was quiet.

"I think it's the only thing keeping you alive."

At that exact moment, lightning flashed across the sky.

The lights inside the villa flickered once.

Twice.

Then the entire estate went dark.

For one heartbeat, complete silence filled the house.

Then every security alarm began screaming at once.

Someone had cut the power.

Darkness swallowed the villa.

For a fraction of a second, no one moved.

Then the emergency lights flickered to life, bathing the corridors in a dim crimson glow.

The shrill cry of security alarms echoed through the estate.

Every instinct in Adrian sharpened.

He stepped in front of Elena before she even realized she had moved.

"Stay behind me."

"I can walk on my own."

"I know."

His eyes never left the library door.

"But I need to know exactly where you are."

Sophia pressed a finger against the earpiece hidden beneath her hair.

"Report."

Static answered.

Then a strained voice crackled through.

"East wing secure."

Another voice followed.

"North entrance secure."

A third interrupted.

"Camera feeds are down."

Sophia's expression darkened.

"All of them?"

"Every single one."

Adrian's jaw tightened.

"They're inside."

Elena's heart skipped.

"What?"

"The cameras were cut from within the estate."

A cold silence settled over the room.

Someone hadn't broken into the villa.

Someone had already been inside.

A loud crash echoed from the floor above.

Glass shattered.

One of the guards immediately reached for his weapon.

"Sir."

Adrian nodded once.

"Take two men."

The guard disappeared into the hallway.

Elena turned toward Adrian.

"You think they came for me?"

"I know they did."

Another crash.

Closer this time.

Max burst into the library.

The golden retriever barked furiously, his ears pinned back.

His normally gentle eyes were fixed on the open doorway.

Adrian crouched beside him.

"What is it?"

Max growled.

Low.

Deep.

The kind of growl that came from instinct rather than fear.

Adrian stood.

"He smells someone."

Sophia looked toward the hallway.

"But security cleared this floor."

"They missed something."

The emergency lights flickered again.

Then steadied.

Adrian drew a compact pistol from the holster concealed beneath his jacket.

It was the first time Elena had seen him with a weapon.

Oddly enough...

He didn't look dangerous.

He looked prepared.

He handed another pistol to Sophia.

"You know what to do."

She checked the magazine with practiced efficiency.

"Always."

Elena stared at them.

"You actually expect a gunfight inside your own house?"

"No."

Adrian opened the library door just enough to study the corridor.

"I expect someone wants me to believe that's the plan."

"What does that mean?"

"If they wanted to kill you immediately, they would've attacked before cutting the power."

"So why cut it?"

"To create confusion."

His gaze swept across the dim hallway.

"They're looking for something."

Elena instinctively clutched the envelope still resting in her hand.

Adrian noticed.

"So am I."

Before she could ask what he meant, Max bolted from the library.

"Max!"

The dog ignored the command.

He raced toward the western corridor.

Adrian cursed under his breath.

"Stay here."

He hurried after the dog.

Elena hesitated only a second before following him.

"Elena."

She refused to stop.

"I'm not hiding while everyone risks their lives because of me."

Sophia sighed.

"She's stubborn."

Adrian almost smiled despite the circumstances.

"I noticed."

The corridor stretched ahead beneath crimson emergency lights.

Portraits of Adrian's ancestors lined the walls.

Their painted eyes seemed to watch every movement.

Max stopped outside an old wooden door.

He barked repeatedly.

Then scratched furiously at the base of the door.

Adrian frowned.

"This room is always locked."

Sophia stepped closer.

"The lock's been forced."

Fresh scratches marked the brass handle.

Someone had entered recently.

Adrian slowly pushed the door open.

The smell hit them first.

Dust.

Old paper.

And something metallic.

Blood.

Elena covered her mouth.

One of the household guards lay unconscious on the floor.

A deep cut marked his forehead.

He was breathing.

Barely.

Sophia immediately knelt beside him.

"He's alive."

Adrian scanned the room.

Bookshelves.

Cabinets.

Maps.

Everything had been overturned.

Drawers hung open.

Papers littered the floor.

Whoever had searched the room hadn't cared about making a mess.

They had cared about finding something quickly.

"What room is this?" Elena asked.

"My father's archive."

She looked around.

"Archive?"

"My family keeps records here."

"Business?"

"Everything."

Family histories.

Private correspondence.

Birth records.

Photographs.

Documents dating back hundreds of years.

Adrian walked toward a massive oak cabinet.

One drawer remained open.

Empty.

His expression changed instantly.

"What is it?" Sophia asked.

"They found it."

"What?"

"A ledger."

Elena frowned.

"What kind of ledger?"

Adrian answered without taking his eyes off the empty drawer.

"A list."

"A list of what?"

He finally looked at her.

"Every family the Serpent Circle destroyed over the last thirty years."

Silence.

"They wanted to erase it."

"No."

He slowly closed the empty drawer.

"They wanted to make sure I couldn't use it."

Sophia stood.

"If they have that ledger..."

"They'll know we're close."

A weak groan interrupted them.

The injured guard stirred.

Adrian knelt beside him.

"Easy."

The guard blinked several times before recognizing him.

"S...sir..."

"Who did this?"

The guard struggled to speak.

"There...were...two..."

"Were they masked?"

He shook his head.

"I recognized...one..."

Adrian leaned closer.

"Who?"

The guard swallowed painfully.

"Someone...from...inside..."

His eyes rolled back.

He lost consciousness again.

Sophia froze.

"No."

Adrian rose slowly.

"There has to be a mistake."

"He knew the person."

The implication settled over all of them.

The Moretti estate had not been breached by strangers.

Someone within Adrian's trusted circle had betrayed him.

Somewhere in the mansion...

The traitor was still walking freely.