The next morning felt wrong.
Not visibly.
Nothing in the De Luca estate had changed.
Servants still moved through the halls with practiced silence.
Business meetings still echoed behind closed office doors.
The family still carried on like royalty hidden beneath criminal empires.
But inside Seraphina—
something refused to settle.
She stood near her bedroom mirror quietly.
Still dressed in dark silk sleepwear.
Hair falling loosely over her shoulders.
Yet her eyes looked sharp.
Restless.
Because her father's answers from the previous night had only deepened the mystery.
Selene.
The missing necklace.
The erased files.
The missing day.
And Adrian somehow standing at the center of all of it.
None of it felt accidental anymore.
Which meant—
omeone had spent years burying truths carefully.
And Seraphina intended to dig them back out.
An hour later—
she entered the De Luca Grand Library.
Unlike the underground archive chambers—
this library held historical family records.
Bloodline documents.
Alliance histories.
Old war treaties.
Ancient mafia genealogies dating back centuries.
Towering shelves stretched endlessly upward beneath dim golden chandeliers.
Dust-covered ladders lined the walls.
Massive windows allowed pale morning light to spill softly across dark marble floors.
It smelled of age.
And secrets.
Seraphina moved carefully through the shelves.
Searching specific sections.
Cross-referencing names.
Old alliance records.
Hidden family registries.
She started with Selene.
Nothing.
No birth record.
No alliance mention.
No death certificate.
Not even a rumor.
Which made no sense.
Someone important enough to emotionally affect Lord De Luca himself should have left traces everywhere.
Especially inside a family obsessed with documenting bloodlines and power structures.
Yet—
there was nothing.
Her expression darkened slightly.
So she changed approach.
Instead of searching the woman—
she searched the necklace.
Religious artifacts.
Sacred bloodline relics.
Church recovery records.
Again—
nothing.
Too clean.
Far too clean.
Then a horrifying realization slowly settled into her chest.
It wasn't that records were missing.
It was that they had been erased.
Professionally.
Systematically.
Someone had removed every trace of Selene from De Luca history itself.
Seraphina leaned slowly against the shelf behind her.
Pulse uneven now.
Because erasing a person entirely from mafia history required terrifying influence.
Not even ordinary family heads possessed that level of control.
Unless…
the person erased was connected to something far more dangerous than the public underworld.
Her thoughts abruptly stopped when she noticed another detail.
A missing section inside an older bloodline registry.
Several pages removed entirely.
Torn carefully.
And beneath the damaged pages—
a single faded symbol remained partially visible.
A wolf.
Seraphina's stomach tightened instantly.
Then—
footsteps echoed softly behind her.
She closed the registry immediately.
Calm returning to her face before she turned.
Luca and Dante stood near the library entrance.
Luca crossed his arms with a grin.
"…Knew we'd find you buried in books again."
Dante tilted his head slightly, with an innocent expression on his face.
"…You disappeared after breakfast."
Seraphina relaxed her expression carefully.
"…I wanted quiet."
Luca walked further inside casually.
"…Quiet usually means trouble when it comes to you."
Despite his teasing tone—
Seraphina watched both of them carefully.
Every movement.
Every reaction.
Because one question still haunted her.
Did they truly forget?
Or were they pretending?
The library remained quiet around them.
Dust drifting lazily through beams of sunlight.
Massive shelves standing like silent witnesses around the siblings.
Luca wandered toward another shelf absentmindedly.
Running fingers across old book spines.
Dante remained closer to Seraphina.
Watching her with slight suspicion now.
"…You're hiding something."
She smiled faintly.
"…Since when are you observant?"
Luca laughed from nearby.
"…Since he started losing arguments to me."
Normal.
Entirely normal.
And somehow—
that bothered Seraphina more with every passing second.
Because the branch estate memories remained too vivid.
The masks.
The formal voices.
The obedience toward Adrian.
The complete absence of familial recognition.
She needed certainty.
Not comfort.
Her fingers moved slowly toward the sleeve of her dress.
Careful.
Unnoticed.
A thin silver needle rested hidden beneath the fabric.
Tiny.
Nearly invisible.
One of countless concealed weapons she carried instinctively.
Seraphina's expression remained calm.
Conversational.
But internally—
she focused entirely.
Watching Luca.
Then—
without warning—
she flicked the needle.
Fast.
Silent.
Deadly accurate.
The silver object cut through the air instantly toward Luca's neck.
Too fast for ordinary reflexes.
And without even turning fully
Perfectly.
The movement happened instinctively.
Automatic.
Professional.
Silence.
Luca froze immediately afterward.
Realization flashing across his face too late.
For a split second—
fear appeared in his eyes.
Raw.
Unfiltered.
Not fear of the needle.
Fear of what he had just revealed.
Then—
just as quickly—
he laughed awkwardly.
Childishly.
"…Seriously?!"
He held up the needle dramatically.
"You could've killed me!"
But Seraphina saw through it instantly.
Because Luca was not truly playful right now.
He was covering.
Badly.
Dante's expression sharpened faintly too.
Almost imperceptibly.
But Seraphina noticed that as well.
Her pulse slowed carefully.
Because now—
she knew.
That reaction was trained.
Not remembered consciously perhaps—
but buried deep enough to survive whatever had been done to them.
Their bodies remembered things their minds did not.
Which meant Adrian hadn't restored them completely.
Only enough to function.
Enough to protect them.
Enough to hide something bigger.
Luca casually placed the needle onto the nearby table.
Still forcing a grin.
"…You're getting weird lately, Sera."
Seraphina stepped closer slowly.
Watching him carefully.
And for the first time—
Luca looked away first.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"…Am I?"
Her voice remained soft.
Dangerously soft.
Neither brother answered immediately.
Because suddenly—
the atmosphere inside the library had changed.
Subtly.
But irreversibly.
And deep inside—
Seraphina realized something terrifying.
Her brothers were not lying to her intentionally.
But somewhere beneath their restored memories—
something else still existed.
Watching.
Sleeping.
Waiting.
And whatever Adrian had done to them—
was far more complicated than simple memory manipulation.
Far away—
inside a hidden chamber lit only by dim screens and falling rain—
a man watched silent surveillance footage calmly.
On the screen—
Luca catching the needle replayed repeatedly.
Frame by frame.
And Adrian's expression darkened slightly.
Because Seraphina was beginning to notice things sooner than expected.