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Sand and Smoke (chapt.23)

Author: Stone
last update Last Updated: 2025-07-11 19:04:10

Alessia’s POV

Marinella was super quiet in the morning. Too quiet, actually. You could hear kids laughing from a school up on the hill, but down by the beach, it was just the sound of the waves and wind. It felt nice and peaceful, but I’d learned that peace can be a bit sketchy, usually meaning someone’s hiding something.

So, we decided to split up. Nikolai went to the police station to dig up some records, while I headed to the fisherman’s village. It was a small place with families running little shops by the water—old guys smoking pipes, women drying tomatoes under the sun. Everyone was giving me these sideways glances, like I didn’t fit in.

They weren’t wrong. But I wasn’t there to fit in. I was there to find Luca.

At a small bar near the pier, I ran into a woman named Rosa. She looked to be in her mid-forties, pretty heavy-set, with salt-and-pepper hair tied back in a bright red bandana. She was pouring coffee without even glancing at me—until I pulled out the photo.

It was an ol
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  • Twisted vows    The Girl Who Didn’t Speak ( chapt.58)

    Alessia’s POV We decided to name her Sofia. It was the name Luca murmured when we asked. Because she didn’t say a word. But her silence spoke volumes. Her eyes were wide, yet empty, almost like they had witnessed things no child should ever have to see. She held on to Luca as if he were the first safe thing she’d ever encountered. And honestly, he probably was. Even when I bathed her, fed her, or held her close, her grip only relaxed when Luca was close by. “She’s not just a product of trauma,” Ambrose observed, watching her intently. “She’s evidence.” I glanced up from wrapping Sofia in a towel. “Evidence of what?” “Evidence that Salvage is still in business.” Nikolai chimed in, “There’s no way she made it through that tunnel on her own. Someone was operating it.” Which meant… Viktor wasn’t the end of it. He was just the last face we’d seen. And now, someone else was stepping into his shoes. Luca’s POV I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I felt such a connection

  • Twisted vows    The Hollow Below (chapt. 57)

    Alessia’s POV We made our way into the tunnels just before dawn. Ambrose took the lead, lantern lit, maps tucked away, and a heavy burden of guilt trailing behind him. Nikolai followed closely, silent and tense. Matteo and I lagged a bit further back, both pretending the thick air around us didn’t exist. And Luca? He walked right next to me, humming a tune I didn’t recognize, seemingly unaffected by the gravity of the situation. This entrance had been sealed off long ago—according to the Vatican records, it collapsed in 1983. But Ambrose knew better. “It was sealed with stone. Not by accident, but on purpose,” he said, tracing the carvings with his fingers. “Arturo helped fund the cover-up. Viktor did too.” With a powerful kick, Nikolai broke the cement seal. And there it was—the past waiting for us like an open grave. It was colder in the tunnel than I had anticipated. Narrow, twisting, filled with inscriptions and Latin prayers half-erased by moss. But as we ventured

  • Twisted vows    What We Bury (chapt. 56)

    Alessia’s Perspective The wind hit me hard when I got back to the monastery. I didn’t say anything to Matteo. I just couldn’t. The silence that hung between us wasn’t angry, but it was heavy. It felt like two people on opposite sides of a memory neither of us could repair. Ambrose was at the broken altar, spreading out a scroll covered in old papers. Drawings. Diagrams. Maps with fading ink. “What’s this?” I asked. He glanced up, looking worn out. “It’s the original plan. The route Viktor took to smuggle the children from Eastern Europe to Rome. There are tunnels, hidden checkpoints—places no one would dare dig.” Nikolai leaned in closer. “Where does it lead?” Ambrose pointed to the paper. A faded red X marked right in the Vatican district. “No way,” Matteo said under his breath. “They wouldn’t dare touch the Church.” “They didn’t have to,” Ambrose replied. “The Church came to them.” I felt nauseous. But I wasn’t surprised. Every layer we peeled back on this opera

  • Twisted vows    Where Ghosts Wait (chapt. 55)

    Alessia’s POV The monastery loomed at the edge of Umbria’s hidden hills, covered in vines and wrapped in silence. Stone arches, long swallowed by time. A bell tower split right down the middle. Birds circled overhead, as if they remembered the screams. Rafael had confirmed it. A transfer of funds from the church—masked as “restoration aid”—led us here. The signature? Ambrose Salvi. “It feels like a graveyard,” Matteo murmured as we neared the entrance. “It is,” Nikolai replied. “For faith. For names.” I couldn’t argue with that. Every footstep felt like we were walking through memories. Inside, the chapel was frigid. The pews lay shattered. The altar was empty and hollow. And on the far wall, a mural that was only half-finished: a woman’s face — Elena’s. I froze. “She was here,” I whispered. Matteo traced the cracked paint. “Or someone wanted us to believe she was.” That’s when the voice came. “I didn’t expect you to find me so soon.” I whipped around. And ther

  • Twisted vows    Ashes Don’t Lie (chapt.54)

    Alessia’s POVViktor Volkov was officially dead. Again. But this time, there was a body.A bullet. Witnesses. And the blood still fresh on Nikolai’s gloves.It made headlines across Europe:"Criminal Kingpin Shot in Private Depot.""Interpol Confirms Viktor Volkov’s Death.""Leaked Files Reveal Vetra Child Trafficking Ring."But with every headline, a question lingered: Who leaked it?And now? The world was starting to provide some answers."Do you think we did the right thing?" I asked Nikolai as we sat in the warehouse-turned-safehouse in Rome.He didn’t look up, focused on his hands."They were going to keep taking children," he replied. "So yes."Silence stretched between us. But in his eyes, I could see the burden.It’s never easy to kill your maker, even when they deserve it.We went quiet for days.Luca barely spoke, but he stayed close, sketching faces and flames in his little notebook.Matteo tended to his wound like it was nothing, but I caught the wince whenever he moved hi

  • Twisted vows    The Disappearing Act (chapt.53)

    Alessia’s POVI stepped out of the cathedral, expecting chaos. Instead, there was nothing but silence. No snipers, no suits, no hint of death—just the heaviness of Viktor's words reverberating in my mind."One piece walks out. One piece burns."I kicked the chessboard over, but I could feel the game still coursing through me. With Viktor, the game never really ends.I got back to the safehouse before sunrise. Matteo was waiting at the door, his eyes dark, his voice tight.“He's gone.”I froze. “Who?”“Luca.”Panic hit me like a bullet. It wasn’t a scream or a sob; it was just a stillness that sucked the air out of my lungs and left it icy in its place.“Show me the cameras,” I said, already on the move. Rafael was there too, tense, fingers flying over the keyboard.The footage was too clean—no forced entry, no sounds, no movement, just a time jump. One second Luca was sketching by the fireplace, and the next, the screen glitched. When it came back, he was gone.“He was extracted,” Raf

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