Above, Matteo watched silently, noting every subtle reaction, every shift in posture, every barely perceptible tremor in her hands. "She's learning," he whispered to himself, the word tasting bitter on his tongue. Faster than I anticipated. And she doesn't even know the half of it.
He leaned back against the railing, heart tight with a mix of admiration and tension. Knowledge was power in their world, and Liana had begun to gather her own. Every careful observation, every small step she took into hidden corners of the mansion, was a challenge to the order he had maintained for years.
Yet, fascination mingled with his caution. She was not naive. She was dangerous, but not in the reckless way of others who had tried to defy him. Liana's danger was quiet, strategic, and deliberate. An
