(Aria)
The laughter reached me before I even entered the east wing.
High-pitched. Sharp. The kind of laughter that scratched at my nerves and made every instinct in me recoil. It didn’t belong in the Moretti mansion — not with its heavy walls, its quiet danger, its constant hum of tension.
And definitely not after the morning I’d had.
I slowed my steps, my hand brushing over the polished wall. Chiara had mentioned that Alice wanted to “set up something” today. That usually meant trouble. Alice never did anything quietly, and certainly never without an audience.
Unfortunately, I walked straight into it.
Alice’s voice rang out from the sitting room, bright and sugary like a poisoned dessert.
“Oh my God, this place is huge. Luca didn’t tell me he had this much space! We could host the
