Chapter 51: The Underground House
**** Isabelle’s POV ****
The wind howled outside the van, carrying with it the bitter chill of early dawn. Isabelle sat in the backseat, bundled in a thick wool coat that did little to thaw the ice curling in her veins. Her fingers were cold despite the gloves, clenched tightly around the small iron key she’d found tucked inside the false bottom of Matteo's box. A key with no label, no instructions—just a note scrawled in Matteo’s handwriting: "When the lies catch fire, find the place beneath the rose."
Now, they were heading there.
Dante sat beside her, silent and brooding, his jaw clenched as he stared out the window. His recovery had been swift but incomplete. The fire inside him had done more to heal his body than any medicine. But Isabelle could s
