The villa was quiet.
The kind of quiet that only came after death.
I sat at the foot of Eva’s bed, elbows on my knees, eyes burning holes into the floor.
Alonzo paced the doorway like a panther. Alessia stood near the monitors, her fingers dancing over keys, scanning for threats we couldn’t see yet.
Eva slept. For now.
And all I could think was—this wasn’t over. Not even close.
“She’s stable,” Alonzo said quietly, glancing at the IV drip. “But she needs a real surgeon to pull that implant safely.”
“She doesn’t just need a surgeon,” I muttered. “She needs a ghost.”
They both looked at me.
I stood, pulling the pendant from around my neck—the one Sebastian had given me years ago. A tiny lion, forged in gold. Not just a symbol.
A cipher key.
Sebastian’s voice echoed in my mind—If yo
