Aria didn't speak for hours.
She sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the photograph in her hands. Her face calm, vulnerable, asleep and captured in the quiet of night. A moment that should've been private. Safe.
But someone had been there. Someone had stood in her room, inches from her, watching her as she slept. Breathing the same air.
The words written on the back of the photo were burned into her brain:
"You think the docks were the end?
Darling… I've just begun."
The paper shook between her fingers.
Luciano paced behind her, his anger quiet but boiling. The room felt like it could crack open from the weight of everything they didn't say.
"He got in here," she said finally, her voice soft.
"I know."
"He was in my room, Luca."
Luciano didn't answer. He didn't have to. His silence was louder than anything else.
Matteo entered a moment later, phone in hand. "No cameras picked up anything. Either he's using tech we don't know about… or we've got someone inside helping him."
Luciano's jaw tightened. "Run background checks again. On everyone. I don't care how long they've worked here. I want full loyalty reports on my desk by sunrise."
Matteo nodded and left.
Aria stood slowly. "He's not going to stop."
Luciano moved toward her. "Neither am I."
She turned to him. "Do you think this is about revenge? About me leaving him?"
Luciano hesitated.
"I used to think that," she said. "But now… now I think he wants something more. Something darker."
"He wants control," Luciano said. "Over you. Over the boys. And if he can't control you, he'll destroy everything around you."
"He already has," she whispered.
Luciano stepped closer. "Not everything."
She met his eyes, and for a moment, the space between them disappeared. The cold, the fear, the chaos, it all slipped away. But just as quickly as it came, she pulled back.
"I can't think about us right now."
"I know."
"I need to focus. I need to keep them safe."
Luciano nodded.
"I'm not going to lose them," she said.
"You won't."
But even as he said it, his eyes drifted back to the photo in her hand.
They both knew better than to believe in promises.
That night, the estate was put on full lockdown. Armed guards patrolled the halls. Motion sensors were placed near every window and door. The boys were moved to a panic room hidden behind the master library, a room built during the Cold War, lined with steel and hidden cameras.
Luciano insisted Aria sleep in his suite.
She didn't argue.
But sleep never came.
She lay awake in the bed beside him, staring at the ceiling, her body tense under the covers. Every sound felt like a threat. Every creak of wood, every gust of wind outside... it all set her on edge.
Luciano slept lightly, one arm stretched across her waist. His body was warm, steady. But even he couldn't chase away the storm inside her.
Just after 3 a.m., her phone buzzed again.
She jumped.
A message. No number.
"One of your sons likes to talk in his sleep.
He said your favorite color is blue."
Her blood ran cold.
She turned to Luciano. "He's still watching them."
Luciano's eyes flew open. "What?"
She showed him the text.
He was out of bed in seconds.
"We checked the room three times," he said. "It's locked, sealed, guarded...."
"But if David was already inside… what if he never left?"
They didn't waste time.
Luciano stormed down the hall, pushing open the secret entrance to the panic room. Aria ran behind him, heart pounding, vision blurring.
The boys were inside.
Sleeping.
Safe.
She rushed in and touched their faces, brushing their hair back, checking for marks or bruises or… anything.
Nothing.
But that didn't ease the fear.
Luciano walked the room in a full circle, inspecting vents, walls, floorboards. He stopped at the back corner, near the bookshelf that hid the panic room's escape tunnel.
"What is it?" Aria asked.
He crouched and ran his hand along the baseboard.
A tiny crack.
Invisible to most.
But he saw it.
He pressed his thumb against the panel and it shifted.
A small compartment opened.
Inside was a miniature camera. Wireless. With a blinking red light.
Aria's stomach twisted.
Luciano crushed it with his boot.
Matteo arrived seconds later, already dialing his phone. "Sweep the entire house again. Every floor. Every room. We've got a mole or a ghost."
Luciano turned to Aria. "From now on, they don't leave my side. Not for anything."
The next day, chaos fell like rain.
Half of Luciano's staff was pulled out and replaced. Matteo brought in two of his most trusted men from Rome. Surveillance equipment was upgraded. Backup power generators were installed. And an entire section of the estate was converted into a war room.
But David still had the upper hand.
He knew things no one else did. Aria's childhood. Her college dorm. Her favorite lullaby.
Luciano wasn't just fighting a criminal.
He was fighting a man obsessed.
By sunset, Aria was exhausted. She sat in the nursery with Nico and Nino, reading their favorite story over and over again just to calm them down. They hadn't asked many questions, but they knew something was wrong.
Nico climbed into her lap. "Mommy, is the bad guy gone?"
She held him tightly. "Not yet, baby."
"Are you scared?"
She looked down at his tiny face.
"Yes. But being scared just means you have something to protect. And I'm never going to stop protecting you."
He smiled and fell asleep in her arms.
Luciano entered quietly an hour later. "The house is clear."
"For now."
He nodded.
Then sat beside her.
For a long time, they just sat in silence, watching the boys sleep. Two tiny miracles caught in the middle of a war they never asked for.
Luciano finally spoke. "There's something I didn't tell you."
She looked at him, tired. "Now's not the time for secrets, Luca."
"I know."
He paused.
"Six months ago, I got a call from someone in Mexico. They said David was alive. Said he'd been trading intel for freedom. That he was feeding the cartels names and addresses of anyone who crossed him."
Aria's stomach dropped. "And you didn't tell me?"
"I couldn't confirm it. It could've been a trap. I was still trying to find you back then."
She stood, furious. "So you waited until he was breathing over my shoulder before you told me?"
Luciano grabbed her hand. "I made a mistake. I thought I had more time."
She pulled away.
"There's something else," he said. "The photo from your bedroom the one he sent?"
She turned back.
"It was printed on military grade surveillance film. The kind only one supplier uses."
"And?"
"That supplier's in Prague."
"So?"
"So David was never working alone. He's part of something bigger. A network. And if he's gone that deep… it means he's not just trying to hurt us."
Aria frowned. "Then what does he want?"
Luciano's voice was hollow.
"He wants to take over."
The room spun.
Luciano continued. "He wants the empire, Aria. He's not just coming after me. He's coming after my entire legacy. And using you and our sons to do it."
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed down the hallway.
Aria spun around, heart leaping.
Luciano pulled his gun.
More shouting. Then silence.
Matteo ran in, face pale. "We've got a problem."
"What now?" Luciano asked.
"There's a body at the front gate. Taped to the iron fence."
"Whose?"
Matteo looked at Aria.
"It's James."
Aria's breath caught.
James had been her bodyguard. The one Luciano assigned to her when she first arrived. Kind. Quiet. Always two steps behind her.
"What....what happened to him?"
Matteo swallowed. "You should see for yourself."
Luciano didn't want her to go.
But Aria insisted.
They stepped outside into the night air, torches lining the path toward the estate gates.
And there he was.
James.
Hung like a warning sign. Blood dripping down his chest. Eyes open.
And carved across his torso were four chilling words:
"She belongs to me."
Aria turned away and vomited.
Luciano caught her as she fell to her knees.
David wasn't hiding anymore.
He was declaring war.
And Aria finally understood the truth.
This wasn't just about the past.
This was about ownership.
David didn't want her back.
He wanted to erase every man who had ever touched her heart.
And he was starting with the father of her children.