Page 71 of Vows of Silence

Another page sat beneath it.

Argument with Vittorio. Cried for forty-seven minutes afterwards. Did not eat dinner. Locked bedroom door. Asleep at 03:12.

My chest ached unexpectedly.

I didn’t even remember that argument specifically. There had been too many over the years. Too many nights spent crying quietly in my room whilst my parents carried on downstairs pretending we were a perfect family.

And yet Silas remembered.

Another file slipped loose as I shuffled through the stack.

Camera removed from dressing room. Distress response too severe.

I froze.

My eyes darted instinctively toward the monitors surrounding the room again.

The dressing room.

I remembered that panic attack.

I had found the hidden camera accidentally whilst getting changed and completely spiralled. I’d smashed perfume bottles everywhere, convinced Luca had crossed a boundary we had never discussed. He’d spent hours calming me down afterwards.

A horrible shiver rolled through me. Because now I realised the camera had disappeared immediately afterwards.

Because Silas removed it.

Slowly, my eyes lifted from the papers and drifted around the room one final time, taking everything in properly now. The photographs. The notes. The conversations. The years and years of obsession built brick by brick into this hidden space beneath the manor.

This was devotion twisted into something dangerous.

A cold shiver rolled through me, and for the first time since entering the room, I suddenly became aware of how quiet it had become. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to turn around.

Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet. And when I did, I stumbled backwards as I saw Silas silently standing in the doorway.

He didn’t move closer. Didn’t try to stop me.

The silver mask tilted slightly to the side, almost curious, as though he had known all along that eventually I would find my way here.

Chapter 24

The Flame

My first instinct was to shrink back. To fear the mask. And instinct won. The terror slithered down my spine, my legs began to shake, and my lip trembled.

But then he cocked his head, and in a flash, all fear vanished and instead was replaced by a furious rage.

A rage that had me forgetting logic and sanity, and had me marching towards Silas, brandishing scraps of paper in his face.

“What is this?” I demanded, slapping the sheets against his chest. “What the actual fuck is this, Silas? How long has this been going on?”

He huffed under his breath—a huff that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle—and looked around the room.

Yeah. Okay. Fair point, buddy.

It was plainly obvious that this had been going on for years.

“Why?” I asked. “Why me? What were you hoping to gain here, Silas?”