No one moved.
Not Luca.
Not Alessandro.
Not even the guards positioned beyond the hall.
Because Titus Morelli had not entered like a hunted man.
He had entered like a guest.
Calm.
Dry despite the rain.
Eyes bright with unsettling intelligence.
As though every possible outcome had already been calculated.
Alessandro was the first to speak.
"You should be ashes."
Morelli smiled faintly.
"Disappointing, I know. Death and I have always maintained a flexible relationship."
Luca stepped slightly forward.
Not aggressive.
But unmistakably ready.
"You walked into a house surrounded by armed men," he said.
"Either you are suicidal… or very confident."
"Confidence is simply preparation revealed," Morelli replied smoothly.
His gaze returned to Elena.
"And you must be the reason I am still alive long enough to enjoy this conversation."
Alessandro shifted closer to her.
The movement was subtle.
Instinctive.
Possessive.
Morelli noticed immediately.
His smile deepened.
"Fascinating," he murmured.
"You divorced her… and yet your body still remembers she belongs behind you."
Elena felt Alessandro's hand hover near the small of her back.
Not touching.
Never careless.
But there.
A silent barrier.
"She belongs to no one," Luca said calmly.
Morelli glanced between them.
"Oh, this is better than I expected."
His attention settled fully on Elena now.
"You hid the drive."
Not a question.
She met his gaze without flinching.
"Yes."
For the first time, real interest sharpened his expression.
"Do you know how rare that makes you?"
"I imagine you are about to tell me."
"I built contingencies for nearly every scenario," he said.
"But not for you."
The words should have frightened her.
Instead, they clarified something deep inside her.
He had underestimated her.
Just like Alessandro once had.
"Why are you here?" she asked.
Morelli tilted his head slightly.
"Curiosity."
Luca's voice cooled.
"You risked your life for curiosity?"
"My life is rarely at risk."
The arrogance in the statement was chilling.
"You are surrounded," Alessandro said quietly.
"Am I?"
Morelli's gaze flicked toward the ceiling.
Almost lazily.
"Tell me, Alessandro… how confident are you that every man guarding this property is loyal?"
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Luca did not turn.
Did not signal.
But Elena felt the house shift into deeper alertness.
"You are bluffing," Alessandro said.
Morelli smiled.
"You always struggled to recognize games played above brute force."
A faint sound echoed somewhere deep inside the house.
A door closing.
Or opening.
No one could tell.
Elena felt Luca's attention sharpen beside her.
Still controlled.
Still lethal.
But sharpened.
"Relax," Morelli said pleasantly.
"If I wished you dead, this conversation would not be happening."
"State your purpose," Luca said.
"Very well."
Morelli looked directly at Elena.
"Give me the drive."
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Without hesitation.
Something like admiration flickered across his face.
"Do you even know what you are holding?"
"Enough to understand you should never have it."
He studied her more carefully now.
Not as prey.
As a problem.
"You are not frightened," he observed.
"I am deciding whether you are as intelligent as your reputation suggests."
For the first time…
Morelli laughed.
Soft.
Genuine.
"Oh, Alessandro," he said lightly, without looking away from her.
"You hid a weapon inside your own home and never realized it."
Alessandro did not respond.
Because the statement was dangerously close to the truth.
"You engineered my divorce," Elena said.
"Yes."
The calm admission sent a ripple through the room.
"Why not kill me then?"
"Because dead leverage is useless."
His eyes gleamed.
"You were always meant to lead me to the drive."
A chill slid down her spine.
"You marked me years ago."
"Yes."
"You framed me."
"Yes."
"You tried to abduct me."
A faint shrug.
"Efficiency."
Luca's voice lowered to something lethal.
"You are speaking very freely for a man inside my walls."
Morelli glanced toward him.
"You of all people should appreciate strategic boldness."
"You mistake this for boldness."
"No," Morelli replied calmly.
"I mistake it for inevitability."
The word lingered.
Dangerous.
Predictive.
Elena felt Alessandro shift slightly closer again.
Then he spoke in a voice so quiet it barely disturbed the air.
"You are leaving empty handed."
Morelli smiled.
"Am I?"
His gaze dropped briefly.
To Elena's hand.
Still holding the drive.
"Tell me," he said softly.
"Do you trust them?"
The question struck unexpectedly.
"Because if you give that to either man," he continued, "your life will no longer belong to you."
Alessandro's voice turned glacial.
"Careful."
"No, listen to him," Elena said quietly.
Both men looked at her.
"Yes," she told Morelli.
"I trust them far more than I will ever trust you."
Something shifted in Alessandro then.
Subtle.
But profound.
Morelli sighed almost wistfully.
"Loyalty is such a beautiful weakness."
"Leave," Luca said.
"Before I decide this conversation has gone on too long."
Morelli studied him.
Then smiled again.
"I did not come for the drive today."
Silence tightened instantly.
"Then why come at all?" Alessandro asked.
Morelli's gaze returned to Elena.
"To see her."
A pause.
"To measure the woman who ruined three years of planning simply by being more intelligent than expected."
The compliment felt colder than an insult.
"And now that you have measured me?" she asked.
His smile thinned.
"Now I adjust."
Lightning flashed again beyond the windows.
For a split second, his eyes reflected it like polished steel.
"This is the last moment you will experience calm," he continued softly.
"From this point forward… everyone you care about becomes vulnerable."
The threat settled into the bones of the house.
Alessandro stepped forward.
Enough.
The single word carried absolute command.
Morelli did not retreat.
Instead, he leaned slightly closer to Elena.
Not touching.
Never foolish.
But near enough that the air shifted.
"When you finally understand what is on that drive," he murmured…
"…you will come looking for me."
Then he straightened.
And smiled at Alessandro.
"You always were too powerful for your own good."
His gaze slid to Luca.
"And you… too patient."
Then he looked back at Elena.
"But her?"
A slow pause.
"She is the future."
Before anyone could move…
The lights died.
Total darkness swallowed the room.
A single shot rang somewhere deep inside the house.
Then another.
Luca's voice cut through the black.
"Down!"
Strong hands pulled Elena toward the floor as chaos erupted beyond the walls.
And in the suffocating dark, one terrifying realization settled over her:
Morelli had never walked in alone.