Chapter Three — The Secret Passage
1333 Words
The passage door closed behind Isabella with a soft click.
She spun around.
“Hello?”
No answer.
Her heart began pounding.
She tried the wall, searching for the switch, but her fingers found nothing.
“Great,” she whispered. “Just great.”
The passage was narrow and dark. Cold air brushed against her skin as she raised her phone and turned on the flashlight.
She should have gone back.
Dante had warned her.
Never investigate anything strange.
But the more he tried to hide from her, the more Isabella needed to know.
She walked forward.
Her footsteps echoed against the stone walls.
The passage seemed much older than the mansion itself. Dust covered the floor, but there were fresh footprints ahead.
Isabella stopped.
Someone had been here recently.
She followed them.
After several minutes, the passage opened into a small room.
There was a wooden desk, several locked cabinets, and a collection of old photographs.
Isabella slowly approached.
The first photograph showed a beautiful young woman.
Isabella’s breath caught.
She knew that face.
Her mother.
For years, Isabella had only possessed a few vague memories of her.
A warm smile.
A gentle voice.
A pair of arms holding her.
But there she was.
Real.
Alive.
Isabella picked up the photograph with trembling fingers.
Her eyes moved to the man standing beside her mother.
She didn’t recognize him.
Yet something about him made her chest tighten.
She picked up another photograph.
This time, the man was holding a little girl.
The child was smiling.
Isabella stared.
She knew that child.
It was her.
Her hands began to shake.
“Who are you?”
She turned the photograph over.
Nothing.
She searched the desk.
A second photograph caught her attention.
It showed the same man standing outside a large estate.
Across the bottom was written:
Alessandro Romano.
Isabella’s breath stopped.
Romano.
Her surname.
She had always been told she was an orphan.
No family.
No inheritance.
No past.
Then why were photographs of her family hidden inside Dante Moretti’s mansion?
She opened a drawer.
Inside was an old newspaper clipping.
The headline read:
POWERFUL ROMANO HEIR DISAPPEARS AFTER FAMILY TRAGEDY.
Isabella’s eyes widened.
“Romano heir?”
She read further.
The article was old and damaged, but one sentence remained clear:
The young daughter of Alessandro Romano is believed to have died in the incident.
Isabella stared at the words.
The young daughter.
Her.
A strange pressure suddenly formed behind her eyes.
Then a memory flashed.
A woman kneeling in front of her.
Her mother.
Crying.
“Whatever happens, Isabella, never tell them your name.”
The memory disappeared.
Isabella grabbed the desk.
“What was that?”
Another flash.
A man’s voice.
“Take the girl and go!”
Her mother’s terrified face.
A gunshot.
Then darkness.
Isabella gasped.
She stumbled backward.
The door suddenly opened.
Dante stood there.
His face went pale when he saw the photographs.
“What are you doing here?”
Isabella looked at him.
“You knew.”
Dante said nothing.
“You knew all along.”
“Isabella, give me the photograph.”
“No.”
She held it tighter.
“Who is Alessandro Romano?”
Dante walked toward her.
“Come with me.”
“Answer me!”
“He’s your father.”
The words struck harder than any gunshot.
Isabella stared at him.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head.
“No. My father died.”
“You were told that.”
“By whom?”
Dante’s silence answered her.
Isabella’s eyes filled with tears.
“You lied to me.”
“I never told you he was dead.”
“But you let me believe it.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From the people who destroyed your family.”
She stepped closer.
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“Stop saying that!”
Her voice cracked.
“You know everything about me. You knew my name. You knew someone was hunting me. You knew about my family. And you brought me here pretending I was just a maid!”
Dante’s expression tightened.
“I never pretended you were unimportant.”
“Then what am I?”
He looked at her.
“The reason I haven’t slept properly in months.”
Isabella froze.
Dante seemed surprised by his own words.
He looked away.
“I made a promise.”
“To my mother?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
Isabella wiped her tears.
“What happened to her?”
Dante’s expression became guarded.
“She came to my family for help.”
“And?”
“She disappeared.”
“Is she dead?”
“I don’t know.”
Isabella stared at him.
For the first time, hope appeared beneath her fear.
“My mother could still be alive?”
“Yes.”
Her knees weakened.
Dante reached for her.
She stepped back.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“You’ve kept too many secrets.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know whether I can trust you.”
“You shouldn’t trust me completely.”
“Then why should I stay?”
“Because they’re already looking for you.”
“Who?”
Dante’s expression darkened.
“The people who believed you died twenty years ago.”
Isabella’s blood ran cold.
“Why would they care if I’m alive?”
“Because your family left something behind.”
“What?”
Dante looked at the desk.
“I don’t know.”
She gave him a bitter laugh.
“Of course.”
He ignored the sarcasm.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
Dante suddenly looked toward the passage.
His entire body became tense.
“What?”
“Someone else has been here.”
Isabella glanced at the floor.
The footprints.
They weren’t Dante’s.
“Who?”
Dante pulled out his gun.
“I don’t know.”
A noise came from the other side of the passage.
A faint scrape.
Then footsteps.
Dante immediately moved Isabella behind him.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Isabella.”
“You’re not leaving me.”
His eyes met hers.
For a moment, something softened in his expression.
Then he raised his gun.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence.
Dante waited.
Nothing.
He slowly moved toward the passage entrance.
Isabella noticed something on the desk.
A small black envelope.
She picked it up.
“Dante.”
He turned.
“What?”
“This wasn’t here before.”
He took the envelope from her.
There was no name on it.
Only a symbol stamped in black wax.
A serpent wrapped around a crown.
Dante’s face changed.
“You know this symbol.”
He didn’t answer.
“Dante.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“The Serpents.”
“Who are they?”
“People you never want to meet.”
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
Isabella’s hands trembled when she saw it.
It showed her.
Not as a child.
As she was now.
Standing outside her workplace.
Someone had been watching her long before the attack.
On the back of the photograph were five words:
We know where you are.
Dante’s expression turned murderous.
“Stay behind me.”
Suddenly, a gunshot exploded somewhere inside the mansion.
Isabella screamed.
Dante grabbed her hand.
“Run!”
They raced through the passage.
Behind them, another shot echoed.
Someone had entered the mansion.
And whoever it was hadn’t come for Dante.
They had come for Isabella.
As Dante pulled her toward the hidden exit, Isabella looked back at the photograph still clutched in her hand.
For the first time, she understood something terrifying.
Someone had spent years making sure the world believed Isabella Romano was dead.
And now that the world knew she was alive…
they were coming to finish what they had started.
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