Chapter 97

Giovanni

The moment the door shut behind Lysandra, I exhaled slowly, setting my glass of scotch back on the table. My hand lingered on the rim for a second, letting the weight of the silence stretch around me. She was upset, confused, and more than anything, threatened.

Good.

She should be.

She might have been my daughter, but she’s been living in a safe zone for far too long. She’s been taking things for granted for far too long, and I knew that it was time for her to learn that there would be a limit to things, that things are not easily granted, and they can just be taken away from her.

I stood, straightening my cuffs as I walked toward the far end of the study. The wall was just that to the untrained eye, a wall. But behind it, behind the lacquered wood and the frame of an old portrait, was something else entirely. With a flick of my wrist and the turn of a hidden mechanism, the panel slid open with a soft click.

And there she was.