Chapter 13 - The Phantom Caller
The grand dining room felt like a gilded cage. I pushed an expensive piece of salmon around my porcelain plate, completely unable to stomach a single bite.
Luca sat at the head of the long table, conducting a hushed, intense phone call in rapid Italian. He looked up, his dark eyes locking onto mine with a sudden intensity that made my breath catch. He ended the call abruptly and tossed the phone onto the table.
“You are a million miles away today, Avery,” he noted, his voice carrying that dangerous, perceptive edge that made him such a lethal leader.
“Just tired,” I deflected smoothly, offering a soft smile that didn't reach my eyes. “The pain medication makes my head feel cloudy.”
Before Luca could push the issue further, the head of security, Marco, walked briskly into the dining room.
“Boss, the perimeter is secure, but one of the maids found this in the garden near the western wall,” Marco said, placing a cheap, disposable burner phone onto the table. “It doesn't belong to any of our staff.”
Luca’s expression instantly turned to stone. He picked up the device with a gloved hand. “Has it been active?”
“It received one encrypted text message ten minutes ago,” Marco replied grimly.
Luca opened the message, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle feathered in his cheek. He stared at the screen for a long, suffocating moment, and then his cold, calculating gaze shifted slowly to me.
“Who is Dante?” Luca asked, his voice deathly quiet.
My stomach completely plummeted into the floor. Dante was the name mentioned in the police reports—my father’s ruthless younger brother. The only high-ranking Romano who had mysteriously vanished before Luca’s men burned their compound to the ground.
“I have absolutely no idea,” I lied flawlessly, forcing my heart rate to remain steady under his interrogating stare.
Luca slid the burner phone across the smooth mahogany table until it stopped right in front of my plate.
The screen was still illuminated. The text message read: “I survived the fire, Isabella. I know you are inside the monster's house. Pick up when I call at midnight. Blood calls for blood.”
The room plunged into an agonizing silence. Luca leaned forward, bracing his heavily tattooed forearms on the table.
“Someone breached my impenetrable security to leave a phone for a ghost,” Luca said methodically, watching my face for the slightest flinch. “Someone who thinks my innocent waitress is a woman named Isabella.”
“It has to be a sick joke,” I stammered, my acting skills pushed to their absolute breaking point. “Or a trap. They want you to suspect me, Luca. They want you to turn on the only person who saved your life in that forest.”
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That struck a chord. The suspicion in his eyes softened just a fraction, replaced by the fierce loyalty that bound us together.
“No one will ever make me turn on you,” Luca promised darkly. “But when this phone rings at midnight, you are going to answer it. And you are going to help me hunt this rat down.”
