Chapter 4 - The Forbidden Hallway
A week passed in a blur of sleepless nights and silent meals.
Leo refused to let me out of his sight, throwing violent tantrums if I so much as stepped into the bathroom without him.
Slowly, I learned the rhythm of his breathing, the specific pitch of his hungry cries, and the way he liked his back rubbed.
Dante was a ghost in his own house, leaving before sunrise and returning long after midnight.
Sometimes, I would wake in the dark to find him standing in the doorway of the nursery, just watching us.
He never spoke during those late-night visits, but the heavy sorrow radiating from him filled the room.
One rainy Tuesday afternoon, Leo finally fell into a deep, exhausted nap.
The estate was eerily quiet, the storm outside masking the footsteps of the guards.
I decided to leave the nursery suite to find the kitchen and get a glass of warm milk.
The hallways were a maze of identical doors and endless, shadowed corridors.
I turned down a wing of the house I had never explored before.
The air here felt colder, undisturbed, thick with the scent of dried roses and dust.
At the very end of the hall stood a set of double doors painted deep, imposing black.
Unlike every other door in the house, this one had a heavy iron padlock securing it shut.
I stepped closer, my fingers brushing against the cold metal of the lock.
Suddenly, I heard heavy boots approaching from the adjoining staircase.
I ducked behind a velvet curtain just as two armed guards walked past.
"The boss is losing his mind," the first guard muttered, lighting a cigarette indoors.
"Bringing that girl here, giving her Elena's rooms."
"It's dangerous," the second guard agreed.
"If the Volkov cartel finds out he replaced his dead wife with a lookalike, they will use her to break him."
"They still think they killed all of Elena's bloodline in that fire."
My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it bruised.
Bloodline.
I waited until they turned the corner before slipping out from behind the curtain.
May you like
I stared at the locked black doors, realizing this must have been Elena's private sanctuary.
I needed to know who she really was.
