Chapter 164

The Prey

It had been a week since I arrived in Italy, and somehow, life felt oddly serene—like I was on vacation of some kind I didn’t sign up for. I missed my family fiercely, but I hadn’t yet summoned the courage to ask Judas to let me contact them. He wasn’t easy to approach, and even though he hadn’t explicitly forbidden it, something about his presence made me hesitate.

But today, I would ask.

I busied myself in the kitchen, helping Rara prepare lunch. She’d insisted I didn’t need to, but I couldn’t sit idle while she worked. Besides, I liked being near her. There was something comforting about her energy—gentle, kind, and warm, like a soothing balm to the cold atmosphere of the house.

“Stir that for me, darling,” Rara said, handing me a wooden spoon and gesturing toward a pot of simmering tomato sauce.

“Of course,” I replied with a smile, earning a laugh from her.

As we worked, we talked about little things—the weather, the