I struggled, my body thrashing, my lungs burning for air.
Behind her, the children giggled and continued dripping hot wax onto my skin.
Darkness crept into my vision.
Then a voice called out.
"Is anyone here?"
Enzo.
The children stepped back immediately.
Valentina let go of me and shoved me aside.
I collapsed against the wall, gasping desperately, my chest heaving as I fought for air. My body trembled, covered in hardened wax and pain.
She had almost killed me.
"Enzo," Valentina called sweetly, wrapping her arms around him. "I was just comforting Seraphina. She has been overwhelmed."
Enzo frowned at me. "Seraphina, what is going on now?"
"She yelled at us," Matteo said quickly.
"She said she hated us," Rocco added.
"She scared Alessia," Gianna said softly.
"That is not true," I said, my voice shaking.
"She is just upset about the dog," Valentina said gently. "We should be patient."
Enzo's expression hardened. The way a man's face hardens when he has already chosen a side and resents being asked to justify it. "Seraphina, this is getting out of hand."
Something inside me shattered again.
I turned away.
They would never listen.
Never understand.
I went back to my room. The room they had given me at the far end of the east wing, where the walls were thin enough to hear the soldiers changing shifts outside and thick enough that no one heard what happened inside.
My suitcase was still there.
Waiting.
I checked my phone.
My flight confirmation had arrived.
The documents I requested would be ready in the morning.
I only needed to survive until then.
My fingers pressed hard against the inside of my left wrist, against the bare skin where my mother's bracelet once sat. I held them there until the shaking stopped.
The next morning, my phone buzzed urgently.
A message.
"Aunty Seraphina, help us. We have been kidnapped."
My heart stopped.
Another message followed.
"They took us to the forest behind the estate. Do not tell Nonno or Daddy. They will kill us if you do."
My hands trembled.
After everything they had done to me, after all the pain they caused, they were still children.
Six lives. Six heirs to the Montecarlo bloodline.
I could not ignore it.
I grabbed my keys and ran.
The forest beyond the estate's perimeter wall was dense and quiet. The path was unclear, the trees towering above me. The security cameras didn't reach this far. No one patrolled past the old stone boundary.