Chapter 78 – The Lost Son
**** Isabelle’s POV ****
The rain had been falling for hours, turning the narrow streets into a slick ribbon of stone and shadow. I watched from the passenger seat as the city slid past in streaks of grey, the windshield wipers smearing water back and forth like a pendulum counting down to something inevitable.
Dante hadn’t spoken much since we’d left the compound, and I didn’t push him. There was a tension in the car that wasn’t just about the weather or the mission—it was about what we might find.
Matteo’s name hung between us like a ghost. I didn’t need to say it aloud to feel the weight of it pressing into my chest. Matteo, Dante’s blood and my complicated ally, had been dead for years now. His death was one of those events that split time into before and
