**The Girl Who Came Back**
**The Girl Who Came Back**
001
The first thing Valeria Bellucci noticed when she stepped out of the car was the rain.
The second was that Vittorio’s house looked exactly as miserable as she remembered it.
She tilted her head toward the enormous estate beyond the iron gates.
“Still ugly.”
The man beside her glanced over.
“Excuse me?”
Valeria looked at him.
“Nothing.”
She adjusted the black jacket hanging loosely over her shoulders and shut the car door with her foot.
She had been gone for eleven days.
Eleven days on a mission.
Eleven days of sleeping in unfamiliar places, eating whatever was available, climbing through places no eighteen-year-old with common sense would willingly enter, and dealing with people who had considerably less patience than she did.
She was exhausted.
She was also starving.
And she absolutely did not want to give Vittorio a report.
Unfortunately, that was where she was going.
Valeria walked toward the entrance.
The guards straightened immediately.
“Miss Bellucci.”
She raised two fingers without looking at them.
“Still alive.”
They exchanged a glance.
Valeria smiled sweetly.
“For now.”
Neither man laughed.
She continued inside.
The enormous halls were warm, polished, and expensive.
She hated them.
Too many walls.
Too many doors.
Too little sky.
Her eyes drifted toward the staircase.
Then toward the ceiling.
Then toward the nearest window.
A tree stood outside.
Perfect.
Valeria stopped walking.
One of the guards nearly walked into her.
“Miss?”
She pointed toward the window.
“I’ll go that way.”
“That’s a window.”
“I noticed.”
“You need to see Mr. Bellucci.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you—”
She opened the window.
“Taking the scenic route.”
And before he could say another word, she stepped onto the outer ledge.
“Miss Bellucci!”
Valeria grinned.
Then she disappeared upward.
Three minutes later, she landed lightly on the thick branch of an old oak tree.
Much better.
The rain had left the leaves shining.
Valeria sat down and stretched her legs.
This was better than any room.
Trees never asked questions.
Trees never watched her.
Trees never reminded her of the basement.
She reached into her jacket and pulled out a small metal device attached to a long, reinforced cord.
Her favorite toy.
She spun it once around her finger.
“Missed me?”
The device clicked softly.
Valeria smiled.
“Me too.”
She hooked it onto the next branch and swung across.
For anyone watching from below, it would have looked reckless.
For Valeria, it was simply walking.
She moved through the trees until she reached the highest point overlooking the estate.
Then she stopped.
Her smile disappeared.
A black vehicle had just entered through the gates.
Not one of Vittorio’s.
Valeria narrowed her eyes.
Another vehicle followed.
Then another.
Three cars.
She crouched on the branch.
Something was wrong.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.
One message.
NOX — STATUS?
The reply came almost immediately.
ALL CLEAR. WAITING FOR YOUR INSTRUCTION.
Valeria stared at the screen.
Then she looked back at the unfamiliar vehicles.
Her instincts had always been unusually good.
People had called it talent.
Vittorio had called it instinct.
She had never known where it came from.
She only knew one thing.
Whenever that feeling crawled up her spine—
something was about to happen.
Valeria slipped the phone back into her pocket.
“Well,” she murmured.
“Guess I’m not giving my report today.”
She swung down from the tree.
Inside the estate, Vittorio Bellucci was waiting.
He stood in his study with his back toward the door.
His eldest son stood nearby.
His wife sat across the room.
Neither looked pleased to see Valeria.
Vittorio didn’t turn around when she entered.
“You’re late.”
Valeria dropped into the nearest chair.
“I’ve been gone eleven days.”
“I said you’re late.”
“And I said I’ve been gone eleven days.”
Silence.
His wife sighed.
“Must you always speak to him like that?”
Valeria looked at her.
“Yes.”
The woman frowned.
Valeria smiled.
“Would you prefer I lie?”
Vittorio finally turned.
His eyes settled on her.
There was no affection there.
There never had been.
Valeria had stopped expecting it years ago.
“Did you complete the mission?”
“Yes.”
“The target?”
“Handled.”
“Details.”
“Later.”
His expression hardened.
“Now.”
Valeria leaned back.
“Fine.”
She began explaining the mission.
Calmly.
Precisely.
Every detail was there.
The route.
The security.
The betrayal.
The escape.
The conclusion.
She never mentioned the part where she’d discovered someone had deliberately sent her into a trap.
She never mentioned that she’d found evidence connecting the trap to someone inside Vittorio’s organization.
And she definitely didn’t mention NOX.
That was hers.
Her secret.
The only thing in her life that belonged entirely to her.
When she finished, Vittorio stared at her for several seconds.
“You’re becoming careless.”
Valeria raised an eyebrow.
“I survived.”
“That doesn’t mean you succeeded.”
She smiled.
“Sounds like success to me.”
His jaw tightened.
“You are a product of your mother.”
Valeria’s smile vanished.
There it was.
That sentence.
The one he had used her entire life.
A product.
Not a daughter.
Not a person.
A product.
Valeria stood.
“You’re right.”
She turned toward the door.
“I am.”
She walked out before he could answer.
But once the door closed behind her, her expression changed.
Her hand slipped into her jacket.
Her fingers touched the small leather diary hidden inside.
Her mother’s diary.
The one thing Vittorio had never managed to take from her.
Valeria pulled it out.
She opened it to a page she’d read hundreds of times.
A name appeared again in Lucia’s handwriting.
Matteo.
Valeria traced the letters with her fingertip.
She had never met the man.
She didn’t know where he was.
She didn’t know what he looked like.
But she knew one thing.
Her mother had loved him.
And Vittorio had stolen her from him.
Valeria closed the diary.
Her eyes hardened.
“Soon.”
She slipped it back beneath her jacket.
She had no idea that somewhere across the city, a man named Matteo D’Amato was about to make the biggest mistake of his life.
He was about to take Vittorio Bellucci’s daughter.
And he had absolutely no idea whose daughter she really was.
