The gates of Vincenzo's villa closed behind me with a gentle swish that grated against the tension that still wound through my muscles. I slid back into the mask that was second nature to me: the detached, clinical professional. But under the surface, adrenaline still thudded through me like a second heart, too loudly, too quickly.
Each step I walked down the marble corridor rang in my ears. I trained my face into impassivity, forced my shoulders to relax, and my fists to unclench. A servant walked by with a tray, eyes averted, and I nodded vaguely, already walking by. I needed to conceal that I'd just shaken a tail and lied to my uncle's face about everything being fine.
The house was quiet, wrapped in that eerie silence of money and power. But as I rounded the corner along the east win
