THE NEXT DAY

. Giovanni sat in his leather chair, the quiet of the villa surrounding him. Spread out before him was the old, leather-bound playbook his mother had left behind for him years ago—the one piece of her legacy he still guarded with his life.

A soft, hesitant knock on the solid wood door cut through the silence.

Moving with practiced, lightning-fast reflexes, Giovanni immediately closed the book and slid it deep into his desk drawer, completely out of sight, before his expression smoothed into its usual unreadable mask.

"Come in," he called out smoothly.

The door opened slowly, and Rosa peeked in. She hesitated for a brief moment...