Valentina.
The sharp scent of gasoline and damp concrete filled my nose as we walked through the narrow corridor of the abandoned warehouse.
The walls loomed close, painted with age and grime, while faint echoes of dripping water amplified the unease curling in my stomach.
I had felt it the entire drive here… that tightening in my chest, the nausea rolling under my ribs. It wasn’t just nerves.
It was dread.
A tangible warning that something terrible was waiting for us.
And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to turn back.
Matteo stalked ahead, his shoulders tense, his gun held low but ready. Alessia flanked the rear, her eyes scanning the shadows, every muscle in her body coiled for action. The rest of the men were intertwined with us, close enough to know they were around yet far enough that I couldn’t see them.
We moved in silence, connected only by the whispers of Lorenzo’s voice in our earpieces, feeding us directions and updates.
“Five guards on the north side, Matteo,” Lorenzo said smoothly, his voice too calm for the chaos unfolding. “They’ve been neutralized. The path to the first room is clear.”
Matteo touched his earpiece. “Understood. We’re moving in.”
I heard Lorenzo’s voice again, softer now, directed at me. “Valentina, remember what I said… focus. Don’t let emotions distract you.”
“Easier said than done,” I muttered under my breath, my pulse hammering in my ears.
Lorenzo chuckled faintly. “You’ll thank me later.”
The man was infuriating, even when he was trying to be helpful.
His words from earlier came back to me, an unwelcome echo.
“There’s a surprise waiting for you. Something you’ll want to see for yourself.”
He’d said it with a smile, his eyes glinting with a secret he wasn’t ready to share. I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, brushing it off as another one of his cryptic games.
But now, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the “surprise” was more than I’d bargained for.
“What’s wrong?” Matteo asked, his voice low enough that only I could hear.
I shook my head, forcing a tight smile. “Nothing.”
I didn’t say anything after that. I could feel Matteo’s gaze flick toward me, but I refused to meet it.
Lorenzo kept talking, laying out the plan in meticulous detail, but his words blurred in my mind, replaced by an overwhelming sense of unease.
“This way,” Alessia whispered, motioning for us to follow. She moved with practised ease, her gun drawn, and her eyes scanning every corner.
There was another entrance, hidden exactly where Lorenzo had said it would be, behind a set of overflowing dumpsters. Alessia worked quickly, disabling the lock with nimble fingers while the rest of us stood guard.
My heart pounded as the door creaked open, revealing a narrow hallway bathed in faint, flickering light.
“We’re in,” Alessia murmured into her earpiece.
“Good,” Lorenzo replied. “Head straight down the hall and take the first door on your right. That’s where you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
“What exactly are we looking for?” Matteo asked, his tone sharp.
“You’ll know when you see it,” Lorenzo said, his voice infuriatingly calm.
Matteo swore under his breath, but he waved us forward, taking point as we slipped inside.
The hallway felt endless, each step echoing louder than the last. My fingers hovered over the gun at my hip, my palms slick with sweat.
Something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my bones.
We reached the door Lorenzo had mentioned, and Matteo hesitated, his hand hovering over the handle. He glanced back at me, his expression unreadable.
“Stay close,” he said.
“I know,” I whispered.
The door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit room. At first, I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing.
And then I saw her.
My breath hitched, the room spinning around me as my eyes locked on the figure tied up on the floor.
“Mom?”
Her head snapped up at the sound of my voice, her eyes wide and filled with a mix of fear and relief.
“Valentina!” she cried, her voice muffled by the gag around her mouth.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
This was Lorenzo’s surprise.
My mother, alive but battered, bound like a prisoner.
“What the hell?” Matteo muttered, his gun raised as he scanned the room for any sign of danger.
But I couldn’t focus on anything else.
My mother was here. After all this time, after all the lies and secrets… she was here.
And I had no idea what it meant.
***
“Valentina.”
“Valentina.”
“Valentina!!”
I heard him the third time, buzzing in my ear, and snapping me out of my stupor. “I had nothing to do with her being here.”
My hand hovered over the gun at my hip, my fingers trembling as anger surged through me. I didn’t believe him… not entirely.
“My mother being here was your fucking surprise.” I hissed into the earpiece.
He sighed. “I didn’t know until the moment she was brought in. I thought you would be happy to see your mother.”
Just another way for me to know Lorenzo knew we were coming while making it seem like he wasn’t interested. The man had planned everything out.
But I couldn’t process the rest of his words, or even Matteo’s hand on my shoulder.
My mind raced.
How long had she been here? Was she some sort of bait? Or was this just another layer of Luca’s…
No.
That wasn’t it.
The realization struck me like a punch to the gut.
Isabella.
This was my sister’s doing. Her way of dragging our mother back into the chaos she made for us after all these months.
I didn’t care about the reason behind it. How dare she?
I crossed the room in a daze, dropping to my knees in front of my mother. Her wrists were bound tightly behind her back, her face bruised, and her clothes torn. But it was her eyes that wrecked me the most… hardened and cold, not unlike the woman I remembered.
“Mom,” I whispered, reaching for her restraints. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
Her head jerked back, her expression twisting into something fierce and unrecognizable. “Don’t touch me.”
I froze. “What?”
“You shouldn’t have come,” she spat, her voice low and venomous. “Stay away from me.”
“What?… don’t you need help?”
Her lip curled, and the contempt in her eyes cut deeper than any blade. “I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask for you to show up, playing hero. You’re going to get us all killed.”
I recoiled like she’d struck me.
“She’s ungrateful and unhelpful,” Matteo interjected, his voice clipped as he stepped closer. “We don’t have time for this, Valentina. Leave her.”
I whipped my head around, glaring at him. “We’re not leaving her!”
“She doesn’t want our help,” Matteo snapped, his gaze locked on my mother with a mix of irritation and suspicion. “You heard her.”
“She’s just scared,” I insisted, turning back to my mother. “Mom, please…”
“No!” she barked, her voice sharp and filled with panic. “You need to leave. Now! Luca will be here any minute, and if he finds you…”
“Enough!” Matteo’s voice was like a whip, silencing the room. “We don’t have time to argue. Either she comes with us, or we leave her here. Decide now.”
I stared at my mother, my chest heaving with a mix of anger and desperation. She was trembling, her gaze darting to the door as if expecting Luca to burst through at any moment.
She was terrified.
But she wasn’t wrong. Staying here any longer was suicide.
“Let me go,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “Just… leave me. Save yourselves.”
“No,” I said firmly, tears stinging my eyes. “I’m not leaving you.”
Matteo’s hand clamped around my arm, his grip firm but not unkind. “Valentina. We have to go. Now.”
A sharp crack echoed through the air, silencing the words I was about to say.
Gunfire.
And it was close.