“What is in that safe, Luca?” Sofia asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. “What are you so desperate to find?”

“The future of this family,” Luca said.

“Or the proof of what you did,” Sofia said.

Luca stiffened.

The polite mask he always wore seemed to shatter completely.

“Be very careful, cousin,” he said.

“Or what?” Sofia asked, stepping closer to him. “You will poison me too?”

The silence that followed was absolute.

Even the wind outside seemed to die down for a single, breathless second.

Luca’s eyes narrowed into slits.

“You are hysterical,” Luca said, his voice flat.

“I am observant,” Sofia said. “You arrived thirty minutes after Alexander collapsed, yet you already had your men stationed at the gate.”

“I was protecting the estate,” Luca said.

“You were waiting,” Sofia said.

Marcus watched them, his face a mask of stone.

He did not interfere, but his gaze drifted toward me for a fraction of a second.

My breath caught in my throat.

I did not know if Marcus was an ally or an enemy.

In this house, silence was the only safe currency.