“She is.”
The words settled into the air with unsettling calm, as though they had always been there—waiting to be acknowledged.
Giulia didn’t move. The night seemed to fold inward around her, pressing the truth closer, heavier. For a moment, everything slowed—the men, the tension, even Matteo’s steady presence beside her. It all blurred into one single question that refused to stay silent.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
Her voice was quiet, but it carried.
No one answered immediately. The man with the earpiece glanced at his superior, as if the truth wasn’t his to give. Matteo stepped forward before anyone else could speak.
“It doesn’t change anything,” he said.
But Giulia turned to him, her gaze searching, steady. “You don’t believe that.”
Matteo held her eyes, and in that brie
