#Chapter 142: The Threat of Matteo

Aurora POV I find him in the study, sitting so still the shadows seem to lean in and listen. Dominic isn’t a quiet man by nature. He moves with purpose, fills every room he enters, commands space without trying, but right now he looks carved from stone. I know the moment he senses me. His shoulders tense, then drop, and he turns his head just enough to meet my eyes. “Aurora.” I step forward slowly. “You vanished after dinner. I was worried.” He gives a humorless huff. “Didn’t mean to disappear. Just needed to think some things through.” “What about?” I expect him to shrug and wave it off. To my surprise, he pats the seat of the couch beside him. An invitation. That alone feels like a shift in the earth. I sit, and after a long breath, he begins spreading the pages from a folder across the table. Photos. Surveillance reports. All the ways Matteo’s been digging into him—into us. “He’s been following every lead he can,”