The Devil's Vow

Chapter 13 - The Night She Disappeared

The drive back from the mausoleum was silent.

Sofia sat beside Alessandro in the back seat, staring at the silver ring resting in her palm.

Her father's ring.

She had spent years believing it had disappeared with him.

Now it was sitting in her hand.

Nothing about her life seemed real anymore.

Her mother was alive.

Her uncle was alive.

The man who had supposedly died alongside her father had appeared at the theatre.

And now she knew that her father and Alessandro's father had shared a secret powerful enough to frighten both families.

But one thing bothered her more than everything else.

Alessandro knew something about the night her life changed.

She could see it in his face.

"You know what happened."

He didn't look at her.

"I know part of it."

"Then tell me."

"Sofia—"

"No."

Her voice was quiet, but firm.

"I've spent eleven years being told half-truths. I'm done accepting them."

Alessandro finally turned toward her.

His eyes were tired.

"You deserve the truth."

"Then give it to me."

He was silent for several seconds.

"When you were fourteen, your father discovered that someone inside his organization was planning to betray him."

Sofia frowned.

"Who?"

"We didn't know."

"But my father did?"

"He suspected someone."

"Who?"

"That's what he was trying to find out."

She looked down at the ring.

"What happened that night?"

Alessandro took a breath.

"Your father received a warning."

"What kind?"

"Someone had discovered where you were staying."

Sofia's stomach tightened.

"I was at home."

"Yes."

"And my father?"

"He was trying to get you out."

"From whom?"

"We still don't know."

Sofia stared at him.

"You said we."

Alessandro's expression changed slightly.

"I was there."

Her heart stopped.

"You were there?"

"Yes."

"At my house?"

He nodded.

"Why?"

"Your father called my father."

"And your father sent you?"

"I went with him."

Sofia searched his face.

"How old were you?"

"Sixteen."

She stared.

He had been sixteen.

A teenager.

Yet somehow he had been involved in the night that destroyed her family.

"What happened?"

Alessandro looked through the window.

"Your father told me to take you upstairs."

"Why?"

"Because there were men outside."

Sofia's breathing became shallow.

"I remember hearing shouting."

"I know."

"You were there."

"Yes."

She closed her eyes.

Fragments began returning.

A hallway.

Her mother's voice.

Her father's footsteps.

Someone shouting downstairs.

A door slamming.

Then Alessandro's voice.

Quiet.

Calm.

Telling her not to be afraid.

She opened her eyes.

"You carried me."

He looked at her.

"You remember?"

"Not clearly."

"You were terrified."

"So were you."

He looked away.

"I didn't have time to be."

Sofia's heart tightened.

"What happened next?"

"Your father told me to take you through the servants' passage."

"The hidden passage?"

"Yes."

"Where did we go?"

"The old harbour."

She stared at him.

"Why?"

"Because your father had arranged a boat."

"Was he coming with us?"

Alessandro's expression darkened.

"He was supposed to."

"But he didn't."

"No."

"Why?"

"We heard gunshots."

Sofia's fingers tightened around the ring.

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I was sixteen, Sofia."

His voice cracked slightly.

"For the first time, she heard something beneath all that control.

Pain.

"I was sixteen," he repeated. "I had a terrified fourteen-year-old girl with me, men were searching the estate, and your father told me one thing."

"What?"

"Get her somewhere safe."

Sofia swallowed.

"And you did."

"I tried."

"What does that mean?"

Alessandro looked at her.

"Someone found us at the harbour."

Her blood went cold.

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"Then what happened?"

"I hid you."

"Where?"

"Inside an old storage building."

Sofia closed her eyes.

Something flickered in her memory.

Darkness.

Wooden crates.

A man's voice.

A hand covering her mouth.

She opened her eyes.

"I remember."

Alessandro leaned forward.

"What?"

"Someone came into the room."

His expression tightened.

"What did you see?"

"A ring."

"What kind?"

She looked down at her father's ring.

"Not this one."

Alessandro waited.

"It had a serpent."

His face changed.

Sofia noticed immediately.

"You know it."

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"The symbol of the organization your father was investigating."

"What organization?"

He hesitated.

"The Covenant."

Sofia sighed.

"We're back to that."

Alessandro shook his head.

"Forget everything Vittorio told us."

She frowned.

"Why?"

"Because he gave us information without telling us why."

"And you think he lied?"

"I think he told us exactly enough to make us look in the wrong direction."

Sofia stared at him.

"Then what is the Covenant?"

"A network."

"Of criminals?"

"Of powerful men."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I can give you until I know who's still involved."

She looked away.

"And that night?"

Alessandro's voice softened.

"Someone found you."

"What happened?"

"I stopped him."

Sofia looked at him.

"How?"

"I don't remember everything."

"You were sixteen."

"Yes."

"Did you hurt him?"

A long silence.

"Yes."

She studied him.

"Did you kill him?"

"No."

The answer came quickly.

"Then what happened?"

"I got you out."

"Where?"

"To a safe house."

"And then?"

"I stayed with you until morning."

Sofia's heart squeezed.

"You stayed?"

"Your father told me never to leave you alone."

She stared at him.

"How long?"

"Until someone came for you."

"Who?"

"Your mother."

Sofia's breath caught.

"My mother came?"

"Yes."

"She was alive?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't she stay?"

Alessandro looked at her.

"Because she told me something."

"What?"

"She said if she stayed, you'd never be safe."

Sofia shook her head.

"That's what she always says."

"I know."

"Do you believe her?"

He didn't answer immediately.

"Not anymore."

Sofia turned toward him.

"Why?"

"Because if your mother truly wanted to disappear, she wouldn't have contacted you now."

Sofia's mind raced.

"Then why did she?"

"Because something has changed."

"What?"

Alessandro looked at the ring in her hand.

"The person who was hunting your family has returned."

A silence settled between them.

Sofia stared at him.

"And you think it's Gabriel?"

"I think Gabriel knows who it is."

She looked down.

"Then we find him."

Alessandro nodded.

"Yes."

"And we find my father."

His expression became cautious.

"If he's alive."

Sofia looked up sharply.

"You think he might be?"

"I think we have too many people pretending to be dead."

She almost smiled.

"That's the first sensible thing you've said tonight."

A small smile appeared on his lips.

Then his hand moved across the seat.

His fingers brushed hers.

Neither moved away.

Sofia looked down at their hands.

"Alessandro."

"Yes?"

"If you knew all of this..."

She swallowed.

"Why did you come back into my life now?"

His eyes met hers.

"Because someone came looking for you."

"And if they hadn't?"

His thumb moved slowly across the back of her hand.

"I would have stayed away."

"Why?"

"Because your father asked me to protect you."

She waited.

"And because..."

He stopped.

"Because what?"

His gaze dropped briefly to her lips.

"Because I knew that if I saw you again, staying away wouldn't be possible."

Her heart skipped.

Neither spoke.

Their hands remained joined.

Sofia whispered, "That's a dangerous thing to admit."

"I know."

"Especially to me."

"I know that too."

She smiled faintly.

Then she leaned closer.

Their lips met.

A brief kiss.

Soft.

Almost innocent.

But when they separated, neither looked away.

Alessandro's forehead rested lightly against hers.

"This is becoming a problem."

Sofia smiled.

"Maybe."

His eyes softened.

"Definitely."

The car slowed.

Luca glanced at them through the mirror.

Sofia immediately sat back.

Alessandro looked toward the window.

Luca smirked.

"I didn't see anything."

Alessandro's voice was cold.

"Good."

They arrived at the safe house.

But before Sofia could step out, Alessandro caught her wrist.

She turned.

"What?"

He looked serious.

"Whatever happens next, don't trust anyone who tells you the truth too easily."

"Not even you?"

His eyes held hers.

"Especially not me."

She frowned.

"Why?"

"Because there are still things I haven't told you."

Her smile disappeared.

"What things?"

He released her.

"Things I'm trying to protect you from."

Sofia stepped out of the car.

She didn't know whether to be angry or intrigued.

Probably both.

Then she noticed something.

The front door of the safe house was open.

Alessandro immediately reached for his weapon.

"Luca."

"I see it."

They approached carefully.

Inside, everything looked untouched.

No broken furniture.

No overturned drawers.

No signs of forced entry.

Then Sofia saw the table.

A single photograph sat in the centre.

She picked it up.

Her blood ran cold.

It showed her.

Fourteen years old.

Standing beside Alessandro at the harbour.

Taken on the night she disappeared.

On the back, someone had written:

You were never supposed to remember him.

Sofia slowly turned toward Alessandro.

He was staring at the photograph.

And for the first time since she'd met him, she saw genuine fear in his eyes.

Because beneath the photograph was another message.

Ask him what happened after he left you.