Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 20

Ears on the Walls There was a simmering undercurrent of power struggles and unspoken threats beneath the Romano estate's oppressive silence, which was a thin veil. The walls themselves appeared to hold their breath, taking in the whispered exchanges and secret business that took place inside their dense stone envelopment. As Violet was reduced to the position of a silent servant, these walls had taken on the role of reluctant confidantes, their icy surfaces attesting to her increasing desperation and fear. Given the tedious assignment of cleaning Don Romano's private study, which seemed to be an endless space, Violet moved slowly and purposefully so that her movements would seem obedient and unobtrusive. The room was enveloped in a perpetual twilight as the heavy drapes were drawn, and the air was heavy with the musty, faint smell of old documents and the lingering scent of expensive cigar smoke. Wearing thin, grey gloves, her hands moved mechanically over the polished surfaces

The False HopeLita's whispered instructions, which Violet remembered as if they were a desperate plea, ledher down a winding staircase into the depths of the Romano villa. With each step down, theair became heavier and more humid. The smell of lye was replaced by the earthy, mustysmell of old stone and still water.As the darkness grew, it swallowed up the weak light coming from the upper floors. Violet had to feel her way around, with her fingers trailing along the cold, rough walls. The basement was a maze of long-forgotten rooms and dark corners, home to the quiet spirits ofpeople who had lived there before.The faint beams of moonlight that came through the dirty, high-set windows made the cobweb-covered furniture and piles of old crates look brighter.Dust motes danced in the light. Violet finally found the tunnel entrance after following Lita'svague directions, which included a crumbling brick pillar and a rusted iron door hanging dangerously on its hinges.It was hid

The Cost of DisobedienceThe path of escape, her flimsy ray of hope, had become a confining prison, and she wasimprisoned inside its suffocating embrace, waiting for an unknowable and certainly crueloutcome. Violet was briefly blinded by a ray of light that burst through the darkness at the tunnel entrance just as the grinding sound was reaching its crescendo.Vlad stood silhouetted against the intense glare, his tall frame filling the small space, his face hard, cold, and completely unforgiving.A cold disinterest had taken the place of the possessive rage she had seen in the corridor, a disappointment that went beyond any physical danger. Like glacial ice chips, his eyes swept across the tunnel's darkness before focusing on Violet.His silence was more damning than any yelled accusation. The unspoken weight of her disobedience, the flagrant disrespect for the unwritten rules of her captivity, crackled in theair.Her answer had come from the booby trapped tunnel, a cruel test m

Recognition.As it filtered into the depths of the Romano dungeons, the morning light, thin and watery,provided little warmth and made the familiar shadows stand out more sharply. Violet was dragged from her cell for a work detail, a routine task that typically provided no relief from her suffering, even though her body was still hurting and a sliver of hope had been ignited inside her.But today, it was a chance, a brief window into the wider world outside her cell walls, an opportunity to watch, to look for answers. She was tasked with cleaning the dirty flagstones of a long, winding service corridor that was rarely used and led to the kitchen and several storage rooms.Her senses were assaulted by the oppressive mixture of cleaning products and stale cooking oil that pervaded the air here. Raw and chapped, her hands worked mechanically, scrubbing away at the tenacious stains, but her true attention was on the edges, her senses keenly tuned to any movement or conversation that m

Conflicting AllegiancesBut then there was a slight change, a subtle change in her father's manner that only a keen observer could notice. He looked away from Don Romano, briefly locking eyes with another man who stood quietly in the room's shadows, a man whose presence always made the airshiver.It was the same person Violet had seen in the previous flashback, the one with the colder,more predatory air, a silent onlooker whose very silence seemed to be burdened withunspoken secrets. Her father's words changed, quietly but unmistakably, when he spoke to this second, dark figure.The words grew increasingly elliptical and ambiguous, with multiple meanings that danced just below the surface. He discussed protecting "investments" and "diversifying portfolios,"which were concepts that were very different from simple financial transactions in this covert world.He pledged collaboration, but there was a subtle, nearly undetectable sparkle in his eyesthat suggested a more complex gam