Chapter 3: The Secret in the Study
The elevator doors slid open.
Dante stepped into the sunroom and locked the door behind him.
Serena spun around.
“Dante?”
He dropped the crumpled envelope onto the table.
“I heard everything.”
Her face went pale.
“The divorce papers…”
“Don’t matter now.”
Footsteps moved slowly down the hallway.
Patricia backed away.
“You have to hide.”
Dante looked at her.
“Who is coming?”
Before she could answer, a man called from outside.
“Patricia?
Did she agree to leave?”
Serena gripped Dante’s arm.
“Carlo.”
Dante pulled Serena behind him and reached beneath his jacket.
Then he noticed a red light blinking beneath Patricia’s collar.
“What are you wearing?”
Patricia covered the brooch with her hand.
Serena stared at her mother.
“That’s a transmitter.”
“I had no choice,” Patricia whispered.
“Your father said he would—”
The door handle moved.
Carlo’s voice hardened.
“Open the door, Patricia.
We know Dante is in there.”
Serena recoiled.
“You led them to us.”
“I was trying to save you!”
“No,” Dante said coldly.
“You were helping them find her.”
A second voice came through the door—one Dante recognized immediately.
“Enough waiting.
Bring my daughter out.”
Serena’s knees nearly gave way.
“Dad?”
Dante stared at Patricia as the lock began turning from the outside.
But Patricia’s next whispered words frightened him more than Vincent’s arrival.
“Dante, they didn’t come here for you.
They came for what Serena has hidden in your study.”
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What did Serena hide—and why does Vincent want it so badly?
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