Chapter 13

ISABELLA’S POV.

As soon as I got to my room, I carefully closed the door behind me.

Now that I had escaped from the guards I wouldn’t slam the door loudly and attract them to me.

I rested on the door with my back while panting loudly. I tried to be as quiet as possible so I put my hand over my mouth as I breathed a warm breath on my palm.

I was still feeling uneasy.

My head was clouded with thoughts of everything that had just happened.

I was confused, I didn’t know who to believe.

Who to trust or even what to do.

My life was just a total mess at that point.

The lights were still off, the only light entering my room was from outside. Although, it wasn’t still enough.

The tall, huge, and bright lights which were probably powered by solar or some backup sources found their way into my room.

The darkness in the room felt suffocating.

I just managed to sit on my bed.

“I need to sleep. Maybe when I wake up I will have a clear head.” I said to myself.

My head was heavy and I began to feel dizzy.

I lay on the bed and shut my eyes.

I rolled on the bed numerous times, trying to get myself to sleep but all I tried was to no avail.

Matteo’s voice kept ringing in my head. It was as if he were speaking in my head.

All that I had seen in the archives and files was visible in my head.

I couldn’t fall asleep.

I stood up from the bed even more restless and I began to walk through and fro in the room.

I paced around in the room, trying my best not to go crazy.

“What if I was the child?”

“What if Matteo and I are siblings?”

A part of me thought.

No no no!

I refused to believe it. There had to be more to all of this.

I walked towards the mirror. The light from outside reached it.

I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself, observing all my features closely.

“Was I looking like the Romano’s?”

“Did I have any resemblance to them?”

I didn’t know what to do anymore.

Out of desperation, I rushed towards where I hid the burner phone that Carla gave me.

I wasn’t supposed to say anything to her anymore because I was losing trust in her but there was absolutely nobody else I could talk to.

It was a small black phone that had a strange design, nobody could ever think it was a phone if they didn’t have a close look.

My fingers began to tremble as I typed, “Carla, what did you mean when you told me that the truth is closer than I think?”

The message was sent. I waited for a while to get a response from her but it was to no avail.

Maybe she actually betrayed me and abandoned me here.

I was already turning off the phone when I saw a message pop up.

It had to be from her.

I quickly clicked on it.

“Stay away from Matteo, the file you saw wasn’t complete.”

When she saw that I had read the text, she deleted it.

“How did she know?” I muttered.

“How did she know that I had just seen the files?”

“My mind immediately went back to the maid who had given me the keys to the first place.”

“Or was I being watched?”

I looked up immediately to see if I could find any hidden cameras but there was absolutely nothing.

Or maybe it was just hidden perfectly.

I just needed to check even more carefully.

I was unable to stay still in my room so I decided to leave.

What was the worst that could happen?

If I could sneak without being caught the first time then I should be able to do it again.

Before I left my room, I wore socks so that my footsteps wouldn’t be heard.

As I walked I observed every single picture and every single thing I saw.

Anything could be valuable to me.

I soon heard some guards whisper.

I was drawn to them, I wanted to know what they were saying so secretly.

“The boss said that nobody outside should ever find out about the second child.”

“Who was this second child? Or is it even the first child?”

My mind went back to why I thought of it earlier. Were Matteo and I siblings?

The guards’ voices soon faded away, I guess they had strolled off.

I continued to walk carefully and I reached Matteo’s study.

I wanted to just pass by but something I couldn’t explain or even comprehend drew my attention to it.

The door was slightly open so I could easily access it.

I hesitated to open it but I did it anyway.

The entire environment smelt of old books and cigarettes.

As soon as I walked in, I saw Matteo.

He was standing outside on the balcony.

I was about to turn back and pretend that I was never here, not until he spoke up.

“You shouldn’t be here you know.”

“Wait, how?”

I had not turn back so how did he know I was in here?

He was a Romano afterwards, he was trained to know when people sneaked up on him.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“At least, not after what I saw, heard and was told.”

I moved closer to him and added, “You are hiding something Matteo. Who’s the child?”

He turned and faced me.

“You really want to know?”

I nodded at him.

“If I tell you everything about yourself, everything you want to know. You’d be shattered.”

“I’m already shattered by all these. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“This isn’t child’s play.”

“Just tell me.”

“You won’t be able to handle it.”

“Try me.”

“Get down.” Matteo screamed before he pulled me by the waist and dragged me to the floor.”