UPSIDE DOWN

~ 42 ~

Aurelio 

The room felt like it had swallowed all the air the moment Andrea ended the call. No one spoke for several seconds. The sound of the ocean outside was the only thing that reminded me we were still breathing.

Andrea's hand was still clenched around the phone, knuckles bone-white, his eyes fixed on some invisible point across the room. 

Francesco's mouth hung open slightly, like he couldn't form words. Matteo was pacing again, fast, the way he always did when panic crept in. And Luca was just staring between us, wide-eyed and tense.

"Say something," I muttered finally, my voice scraping against the silence.

Andrea blinked, like coming back to himself. "Nico said it was clean," he said, too calmly. "No sign of a breach. No trace of struggle. Viktor's just... gone."

Francesco cursed under his breath, rubbing a hand down his face. "Gone? What the hell does that even mean, gone? You don't just misplace a Russian mafia don!"

"We all heard it, Frankie," Matteo said. "He's gone. Someone helped him out. And that means-"

"It means Sylvie needs to know," Andrea interrupted.

We all turned to him.

He wasn't angry this time. Just steady, too steady. The kind of calm that comes from knowing panic will only make things worse.

"She deserves to know the truth right away," he continued. "No more secrets. Not after everything she's already been through."

Luca nodded slowly. "I agree. But we need to think about how we tell her. We can't just walk in there and drop this on her. Not after... not after how much she's been through already."

Andrea ran a hand through his hair, exhaling hard. "You're right. We have to be careful. She's been healing, physically, mentally. I don't want to throw her back into that spiral."

"She's stronger than we think," Matteo muttered.

"She is," Andrea said, "but that doesn't mean she isn't human. I want her to hear it in a way that doesn't feel like we're hiding it again. I don't ever want her to think we've kept another secret from her."

Silence settled again, heavy, but understanding.

Francesco leaned forward on the table. "We all agree she needs to know. So who's telling her?"

Luca's voice came, soft but sure. "I'll do it."

Everyone looked at him. He didn't waver.

"She listens to me," Luca said quietly. "Always has. And she deserves to hear it from someone who won't sugarcoat it but also won't break her heart doing it."

Andrea gave a slow nod. "Then you tell her. Be honest. But gentle."

Luca exhaled deeply and stood, straightening his shirt as though steadying himself for what came next. He glanced at Andrea once more before turning toward the hallway.

"I will," he said.

The rest of us watched him disappear through the doorway, his footsteps fading down the corridor toward Sylvie's room.

Francesco was the first to speak. "She's not going to take this well."

Andrea's gaze hardened. "No," he said quietly, "but at least this time, she'll know she's not facing it alone."

And that was the truth of it.

For the first time in years, we weren't shielding her. We were trusting her with the darkness, with the danger, with everything we'd always tried to keep her safe from.