Maybe this is wrong.
Maybe I should listen to Cesare and stay away from that basement.
Then again, I’ve been listening to men all my life, and all it seems to be getting me is an unwanted marriage contract. I’m tired of being in the dark about everything, tired of letting others decide the trajectory of my existence like I’m nothing…
“Well,” I say, offering a small shrug, “if you help me out with something tonight, maybe I can help you back.”
“How?” Enzo’s question is hesitant, careful, but it’s also curious. And it’s enough to tell me if I press the right buttons, he’ll cave.
He’ll help me get what I want.
4
Cecilia
Down in the basement, the air is humid and salty, dripping with rust and old water. With every step, my lungs ache for fresh air, my mind clinging to the same image that drags me deeper into the unknown—the eyes, the hand that silenced me in a room full of people. It’s madness, wanting to be anywhere near the man who tormented me, but I can’t stop.
Who are you?
The lower I descend, the more pressing the silence becomes, and the more attuned I am to every small sound. To the dripping water. To the wind and the slight rattling of chains.
Does he hear me coming? Does he know it’s me from the way I walk?
I halt midway, pressing my hand to my chest, trying to calm myself. Behind me, Enzo’s silhouette is out of sight. He even closed the door at the top of the staircase like I asked. For a second, I wish he hadn’t listened.
The shaky light from my phone illuminates the path. I try to keep it angled so I can see where to place my foot, but it’s an effort not to wave it around. The darkness is suffocating. I can’t imagine anyone being caged down here and not losing their mind.
Ahead, the stairs end. The path splinters into a winding track disappearing into shadow and a cobbled tunnel bathed in a faint, unsettling glow. One side is used as an escape route, stretching a few kilometers away from thepalazzo, while the other has cages built into the walls.
For prisoners.
I’ve never been down here by myself, but I’ve been told the escape route exists. It’s easy to get lost; only my father and Cesare know their way through, leaving me to depend on them for survival. More than one part of me rages at the thought.
Ceciiii-liuhhh.
My head whips all the way to the left, the sound of my name traveling on the wind like faraway thunder. It shouldn’t sound like that—charged with electricity that sears my nerve endings. The way it’s enunciated makes it feel like the name is no longer just mine.
The phone slips past my fingers and falls to my feet with an echoing thud. The light flickers before going out, surrounding me with darkness.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, cursing under my breath. I crouch to pick it up, feeling cracks on the screen with my fingertips.
That’s when the whistle comes back—the same one I’ve been hearing for weeks.
Sick. Amused. Familiar.
A challenge to come closer.
Terror and recognition tangle into one, hitting me the same way it did the night of the recital. I swallow hard, hugging the phone to my chest as I urge my feet to move toward the sound.
Rationally, I know this person is locked up and chained. Enzo would’ve never let me come down by myself if he wasn’t absolutely sure, no matter what I’d offered in exchange.
It took half an hour to convince him, but in the end, he caved. There’s nothing this prisoner can do to me as long as I stay far enough away from his cell.
Even so, I’m terrified. My survival instincts kick in, telling me to abandon this whole thing, but I can’t. I won’t. I need answers, or I’m going to go mad.
I’ve thought about this moment a lot, exhausting all the different ways my stalker and I would meet for the first time. Most scenarios involved terrible things, like him cornering me in dark alleys and taking my life.
But there were others, too—shameful thoughts that lulled me to sleep sometimes, making the slick heat between my legs impossible to ignore. I’d hate myself for it, knowing it was wrong. My morbid fascination made no sense, yet my body didn’t seem to care. Thank God my curiosity will die in this basement when I meet him once and for all.
