Chapter 6

Silence hung thick in the office broken only by the distant noise of traffic and the occasional horn from the street below. The air inside felt heavier than usual as if the walls themselves were holding secrets. Rose walked in without waiting for permission and pulled out a chair for herself, her movements sharp with forced control. She sat down with her spine straight trying to look composed even though her pulse was already uneven.

“Let’s get this deal over with”

Victor watched her with a slow knowing look that made the air feel even heavier. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he studied her face taking his time.

“I thought you’d never come back… especially after spending the night at his place”

The words hit her like a physical blow, her body went still for a moment she couldn’t speak she stared at him, mind scrambling for a response that wouldn’t give her away while a cold weight settled in her stomach.

“Are you stalking me?” Victor gave a cold amused smile leaning back in his chair as if the question entertained him more than it should have.

“Stalking you? Darling you’re not worth it” Rose’s eyes narrowed. Heat rose in her chest a mix of anger and unease that she couldn’t fully hide.

“If you’re not stalking me… then you’re definitely stalking him” Victor didn’t deny it. His eyes carried something darker, heavier the kind of secrets that never stayed buried for long. He let the silence stretch between them before his voice dropped low and deliberate.

“He’s the man”

Rose’s heart stuttered. The room suddenly felt smaller and the walls closer than before.

“No… no...”

“You’ve already had sex with him haven’t you? Are you in love with him now?”

Anxiety tightened around her chest like a fist. 

The man from the bar

The man who saved her in the alley

The man whose voice still lived under her skin Everything she had tried to keep separate was colliding in front of her and she had no defense left.

Victor leaned forward with his elbows on the desk, his gaze locked on hers with quiet intensity. “You signed those papers Rose, we have a deal, make him fall in love with you, deliver him to us and we give you everything. A deal is a deal!!”

A single tear slipped down her cheek before she could stop it. She wiped it away quickly but the damage was already done and victor saw it.

“Vincenzo Lombardi” he said coldly “Heir to the Eagle Mafia Clan”

The truth settled over her like a weight she couldn’t lift. The man she had been drawn to few hours ago, the one who had carried her through the rain, whose shirt she had worn whose presence still haunted her belonged to the same bloodline that had destroyed her family.

Victor’s voice hardened. He stood and threw a thick stack of photographs onto the floor, they scattered across the tiles with a soft, ugly sound surveillance shots, street photos, images taken from a distance. Proofs that he had been watching Vincenzo for a long time.

“Stop acting up princess. His clan killed your parents” He looked down at her without sympathy.

“I’m warning you he’s dangerous. Bring him to us and we’ll handle it” His voice followed her even after she left the office echoing in her ears long after the door closed behind her.

---

Rose walked without direction at first. The afternoon light felt too bright almost aggressive against her eyes. Cars moved through the busy intersections while people hurried along the crowded sidewalks their voices blending into a low constant noise she barely registered. Her steps eventually slowed as her gaze locked onto the tall glass structure of Lombardi Enterprise — the biggest company in the city with Vincenzo listed as acting president and CEO.

Tears blurred her vision as flashes of that night mixed with the memory of his voice, his hands, the way he had looked at her like she already belonged to him. She stood there longer than she should have staring up at the building until the weight of it became too much.

Later, in the small back room before her shift she sat hunched over her laptop. The glow from the screen lit the tension in her face as she typed his name into the search bar with shaking fingers.

VINCENZO LOMBARDI

Results flooded the screen almost immediately. Articles

Business profiles

 Public appearances

“ Wow Rich and popular” Almost no personal information beyond what the company allowed the world to see. She scrolled slowly absorbing every detail she could find, the silence in the room pressing in around her.

The same family that murdered her parents in cold blood.

---

Across the city, Vincenzo stepped into the underground meeting room. The air was cooler there heavier with the smell of old wood and faint smoke. The low lighting cast long shadows across the walls, Stefano was already waiting, expression tight with a folder resting on the table in front of him.

“Another death confirmed” Stefano said 

“May 29th” Vincenzo’s jaw tightened. The date alone was enough to pull something dark and familiar to the surface. “I’m sure it’s not a coincidence”

“The others are yet to be confirmed" Stefano placed several photographs on the table one by one. Each crime scene showed the same detail — a black feather covered in blood carefully left behind like a signature.

“Just like the one from the night she was murdered” Vincenzo stared at the images. The date burned in his mind like a brand. His fingers curled slightly against the edge of the table “May 29th… what’s so special about you?” he muttered under his breath, the question meant for a killer who still hadn’t been found.

“I’ll find you” he said quietly with his voice low and lethal “and end you”

“Did you gather the CCTV footage?”

“We did. But there’s a glitch, whoever it was planned it carefully” Vincenzo’s expression didn’t change. Only the slight flex of his fingers betrayed the tension underneath.

“The warehouse?”

“Everything is running smooth. We hired a reliable woman to handle the remaining issues”

“Keep me posted. And send Steven for more footage”

When Stefano left, Vincenzo stayed seated. The silence that followed felt heavier than before. He dragged his fingers through his hair with his elbows resting on his knees as the weight of the day pressed down on him. His phone lit up with a notification from an anonymous account he had created weeks ago. 

Rose had posted

‘Love me like you do’

And another which says ‘It’s May 29th again’

The words hit him harder than he expected. The date dragged the past forward without mercy.

He saw it again, Sofia screaming for help while he stood frozen in the corner too young and too scared to move. The men holding her down with her er voice breaking as she told him to run. 

The blood on the floor

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" the nanny’s scream when they found her body, His mother’s arms around her as she wept in agony next was the silence that followed.

But now, years later the tears came anyway, hot and unwanted slipping down his face before he could stop them not that he was weak but because even the strongest hearts get tired on holding on. Stefano returned quietly and placed a hand on his shoulder. His voice was steady and familiar, the only one that had ever been allowed this close.

“I’ve got you brother. Breathe ok you’re strong and you’ve come so far” The whispers grounded him slowly pulling him back from the memory until the room came into focus again and the shaking in his hands began to ease.

---

At the bar, Rose closed the laptop the moment she heard footsteps approaching the back room. She straightened quickly wiping any trace of emotion from her face.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing”

“Your shift just started”

“I’ll be there in three”

She grabbed her apron with slightly unsteady hands and stepped in front of the small mirror near the door. The girl staring back looked fragile and worn down with her eyes carrying too much for one night. The pain from that night still felt fresh every time it returned so instead she forced herself to breathe before she straightened her shoulders and walked out to the counter.

The bar was already filling with the usual evening noise … the low music and clinking glasses with overlapping conversations.

“Two shots of liquor” The heavy voice stopped her cold sounding so familiar that she took her time slowly to glance at the customer.

Those same eyes.  

The same controlled presence 

The same man she now knew was the heir to the Eagle Mafia Clan.

“You” she whispered