By the time the last orange sliver of sun vanished behind the Valente estate, the whole property pulsed with an electric tension—a storm brewing just beneath the surface, every shadow hiding a secret, every silence loaded. It was as if the walls themselves were listening, collecting every rumor that flickered through the city’s veins. Whispers of violence moved through the streets like a fever, impossible to trace, but impossible to silence. Alessia had never cared for gossip—she’d grown up with it swirling around her name like smoke—but tonight, she could feel its weight more than ever: eyes in the darkness, voices in the corners, all of them hungry for a glimpse of the infamous heiress who’d walked out of a m******e, crimson streaking her cuffs. Now, she was more than a woman—she was myt
