Bound by fate

Chapter seven: The Enemy in the Shadows

The Moretti estate had survived the night.

Barely.

By dawn, the gunfire had stopped. The smoke had cleared. The traitor had been captured, and the intruder who had appeared in the corridor had vanished without a trace.

Yet somehow, the silence that followed felt far more dangerous.

Because nobody knew what would happen next.

Ariana stood near one of the kitchen windows, staring at the gray morning sky. Sleep had been impossible.

Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered the intruder's words.

The engagement.

The alliance.

The marriage.

And worst of all—

Damien's reaction.

He hadn't looked angry.

He had looked trapped.

The thought shouldn't have mattered to her.

Yet it did.

Far more than she wanted to admit.

"Ariana."

She turned quickly.

The head maid stood behind her.

"The east wing requested breakfast."

Ariana blinked.

"The east wing?"

"The boss's floor."

A nervous flutter filled her stomach.

Damien's floor.

"Why me?"

The older woman shrugged.

"Orders."

Ariana's pulse immediately quickened.

Orders from who?

Marco?

Elena?

Or Damien himself?

A few minutes later, Ariana found herself standing outside Damien Moretti's private suite.

Two guards stood outside the door.

Neither looked particularly welcoming.

One opened the door without speaking.

Ariana stepped inside.

The room was enormous.

Dark wood.

Floor-to-ceiling windows.

Elegant furniture.

And enough security equipment to remind anyone exactly who owned the space.

The atmosphere felt cold.

Controlled.

Dangerous.

Just like its owner.

Damien stood near one of the windows.

He wasn't in bed anymore.

Despite the gunshot wound.

Despite the doctor's orders.

He was dressed in black and staring out at the estate grounds below.

Ariana immediately noticed one thing.

He looked exhausted.

Not physically.

Mentally.

Like he hadn't slept at all.

The door closed behind her.

The sound made him turn.

Those piercing gray eyes landed on her.

For a second, neither spoke.

Then—

"You were in the corridor."

Ariana froze.

"What?"

"The night of the attack."

Her heart nearly stopped.

He knew.

Of course he knew.

Damien studied her expression.

"You hide badly."

Ariana swallowed.

"I wasn't spying."

A faint shadow of amusement crossed his face.

"That's exactly what a spy would say."

Despite herself, she felt heat rush to her cheeks.

Damien noticed.

And for the briefest second—

His expression softened.

Then it disappeared.

Gone as quickly as it came.

As though it had never existed.

Before either could say anything else, the suite door opened.

Elena Romano entered.

Without knocking.

Without hesitation.

Without permission.

Like she belonged there.

Ariana immediately stepped back.

Elena's gaze landed on her.

Then on the breakfast tray.

Then back on Ariana.

Something cold flashed in her eyes.

A tiny reaction.

Gone almost instantly.

But Ariana saw it.

And somehow that made everything worse.

Elena smiled.

"Breakfast?"

Ariana nodded.

"Yes."

"I'll take it."

Before Ariana could respond, Elena removed the tray from her hands and placed it on the table beside Damien.

The gesture seemed harmless.

But it didn't feel harmless.

It felt territorial.

Like a message.

Ariana suddenly felt very out of place.

Damien noticed that too.

His gaze flickered briefly toward Elena.

Then back to Ariana.

Something unreadable passed through his eyes.

"A meeting starts in twenty minutes," Elena informed him.

Damien's jaw tightened.

"I'm aware."

"You should attend."

"I said I'm aware."

The sharpness in his voice made the room colder.

But Elena didn't back down.

She never seemed afraid of him.

"The Romano representatives arrived this morning."

Silence.

Ariana felt her stomach drop.

The marriage alliance.

It was moving forward.

Already.

Too fast.

Damien slowly turned toward Elena.

"I haven't agreed."

Elena crossed her arms.

"Neither family cares."

Those words lingered heavily in the room.

Because everyone knew they were true.

For the first time, Ariana saw something dangerous flicker behind Damien's calm exterior.

Not anger.

Something darker.

Loss of control.

And Damien Moretti clearly hated losing control.

After Ariana left the suite, she tried to focus on work.

It didn't help.

The mansion felt different today.

Whispers followed every corridor.

Staff members stopped talking when others approached.

Guards doubled patrol routes.

Even the atmosphere felt wrong.

Like everyone was waiting for something.

Or someone.

Then she overheard something that made her stop walking entirely.

"...still missing."

"...impossible."

"...checked every camera."

"...nothing."

Ariana glanced toward the voices.

Two security officers stood near a side hallway.

One looked frustrated.

The other looked nervous.

"What happened?" Ariana asked before she could stop herself.

The men exchanged a look.

Then one sighed.

"The prisoner."

"The traitor?" Ariana asked.

The guard nodded.

"He disappeared."

Her stomach dropped.

"What do you mean disappeared?"

"We mean his cell was locked."

A pause.

"From the inside."

Ariana stared.

That wasn't possible.

The guard looked equally unsettled.

"Exactly."

That evening, another emergency meeting was called.

The entire security team gathered.

Marco looked furious.

Rafael looked ready to punch a wall.

And Damien looked colder than either of them.

The missing traitor wasn't the only problem.

The intruder still hadn't been identified.

No fingerprints.

No records.

No confirmed identity.

Nothing.

It was like he had appeared from nowhere.

Then vanished again.

Marco placed a file on the table.

"We have one lead."

Everyone looked up.

"What lead?" Rafael asked.

Marco opened the folder.

Inside was a photograph.

Damien's eyes narrowed immediately.

Elena, standing beside him, suddenly lost all color.

Ariana couldn't see the picture clearly from her position outside the conference room doorway.

But she could see everyone's reactions.

And they were bad.

Very bad.

"What is it?" Rafael demanded.

Marco's voice became unusually quiet.

The kind of quiet that meant trouble.

"This photograph was taken three days before the ambush."

Silence.

Then—

"It shows someone meeting the attackers."

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

Marco slid the photograph across the table.

"It also shows someone from inside this estate helping them."

The room went completely silent.

Ariana's heart pounded.

A traitor.

Another one.

Someone still inside.

Someone trusted.

Someone close.

Very close.

Damien stared at the photograph for several seconds.

Then his eyes slowly lifted.

Toward Elena.

The room froze.

Elena's face went pale.

For the first time since Ariana had met her—

Elena Romano looked afraid.

Very afraid.

And suddenly Ariana understood why.

Because whoever was standing beside the attackers in that photograph...

Looked exactly like Elena.