Verifiable history in Buenos Aires dates back to 2006. All official records, passports, and financial logs were createdfiveyears ago. No records, no traceable addresses, nor familial ties outside of Argentina. Adoption records are missing.
I freeze. This doesn't make any sense at all.
“Care to tell me why you have a ghost in your house?” Andreas' voice breaks the silence.
My jaw tightens. Why are the records fabricated?
These records are fake, sloppily done, with details that don’t match. They’ve both insisted they’ve spent the last twenty years in Argentina, but this paperwork tells a different story. If there were real birth certificates in Spain, Andreas would have foundthem by now. Instead, all we’re left with are these forgeries and a knot of questions that keeps tightening.
As I read, their voices blur into background noise, the opulent room fading until I’m left alone with doubts about her.
What have you done, Mateo?
Lucian goes instantly still, his grin dropping to reveal genuine, dangerous interest as he reads the file himself.
“They have lived in Argentina for years, but their documented identities were fabricated five years ago. None of it looks real. Completely clean slate, top to bottom. Someone is trying to hide something.” Andreas expounds.
I finish the whiskey in my hand, the dark liquid doing nothing to cool the sudden chaos in my mind.
“This isn’t a coincidence. Either her brother is protecting something, or he’s deliberately derailing trails.” Lorenzo says, stating the obvious.
“Does your girl know about this?” Lucian starts pacing the room, his excitement starting to take over, already amped up for violence.
"She's completely innocent in this," I confessed, flopping back onto the sofa and rubbing my eyes with my palm heel before staring at the ceiling. "She didn't even know my true identity until a few days ago."
“So you kidnapped her?” Andreas bursts out laughing, and I glare at him.
With a flicker of genuine, chaotic excitement in his eyes, he says, "Don’t worry, I'll dig deeper. Every hidden thread, I'll unravel it. This is precisely the kind of excitement I needed."
Lucian plops beside me and puts his arms around my shoulder before saying, "And when we figure out why Nicolo wants her, we go to war! This placid existence was starting to make me soft. I've been itching for this." He rubs his palmstogether before standing up to fetch himself a bottle of rum from the bar cart.
Lorenzo shakes his head before saying, “You will do no such thing. You cannot simply wage a war with Gudicelli without any evidence that he has done anything to break the rules. If anything, if he paid those men for Katarina, you have meddled in his business and broken the rules.”
My eyes are fixed on him as he continues, “She is a loose end in a war Nicolo hasn't declared yet.” I clench my teeth, trying to control my anger.
“She’s going to stay under my care. If Nicolo wants something I have, I cannot wait for him to dare take it.” I seethe, shooting a death stare in his direction.
“I guess the game is officially on.” Andreas raises his tumbler once more for a toast. Lorenzo looks at me stoically, and Lucian punches the air with excitement.
“Start with this one. Get me this man. He ordered the kidnapping of Katarina, which led to Mateo’s death. Try to see if you can get information from him.” I said before sending Alfonso Cruz’s file to Lucian’s phone.
“Give me two days.” Lucian winks at me as he taps the screen of his phone.
“And Nicolo?” Andreas asks after a beat.
“I’ll deal with him for now,” I say, and he nods, the dangerous look in his eyes tells me he knows I’m already planning Nicolo’s demise.
Chapter 16
Katarina
I linger in the tub for a long while, soaking in the much-needed silence. I can still feel Damiano’s hands on my skin and smell his perfume in the air.
Suddenly, memories of the night I confessed I was in love with him come back to me. That night, he told me I couldn’t possibly love him because I didn’t know he was. I guess it all makes sense now. I, in fact, had no idea who he really was.
But now that I do, why do I still want him?
I sigh.
