Chapter 1 - The Ghost's Name
Damiano held his breath as the little girl shifted against his chest. Her small, warm hand reached up, her tiny fingers lightly tracing the jagged scar along his jawline. Her amber eyes fluttered open, locking onto his with an unsettling, ancient familiarity.
"Vincenzo," she whispered.
The name hit Damiano like a hollow-point bullet. His father’s name. The name of a man dead for twenty years.
"Who told you that name?" Damiano’s voice was a ragged exhale, careful not to scare her, but desperate for the truth.
The little girl blinked sleepily. "The walking man. He said Vincenzo is sleeping under the floor. He said you will sleep there soon, too."
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Cold dread, sharp and absolute, flooded Damiano’s veins. The walking man. Renato. The man whose folders held the estate's security details. The man who had just dismissed the morning’s threats as "nothing of consequence."
Damiano didn't hesitate. He scooped the child into his left arm, drawing his Sig Sauer with his right. He bypassed the main house entirely, slipping through the shadows of the orchard toward the gatehouse. If Renato had brought this child here as a sick warning, it meant the perimeter was already compromised. And if this girl had Clara's eyes, he knew exactly who was bleeding in his security room.
