Chapter 4 - THE PROFESSOR WHO LOST EVERYTHING
Selene hadn't slept properly in two years.
She'd learned to rest in fragments: on subway rides, between restaurant shifts, during the rare quiet hours when she could convince herself nobody was looking for her.
Now she sat in a guest suite worth more than her annual salary, unable to stop imagining strangers inside her apartment.
Dante had arranged for the locks to be changed and for her belongings to be collected only with her permission.
He hadn't asked her to surrender her phone.
He hadn't demanded to know where her sister lived.
Those small restraints unsettled her more than his reputation.
At two in the morning, someone knocked.
"Come in," she said.
Dante entered carrying a leather folder.
"I found something."
She sat upright.
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed a Cambridge conference held three years earlier.
Selene recognized herself immediately.
She stood beside Professor Julian Harrow, smiling at an academic reception.
Behind them was an older man in a dark suit.
Dante pointed to him.
"My uncle Massimo."
Selene stared.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because Harrow told me the man was a private collector from Switzerland."
"Massimo owns several companies registered there."
Selene looked closer.
Then her stomach turned.
She remembered the conference.
The private dinner afterward.
Harrow introducing her to a wealthy patron who wanted access to the unpublished manuscript collection.
She'd refused.
Two weeks later, the forged pages appeared.
A month after that, her career was destroyed.
"You think your uncle arranged it?" she whispered.
"I think he wanted your research."
"Why?"
Dante opened another folder.
Inside was a copy of a bank transfer.
A substantial payment had moved from a Valerio-linked holding company to an academic foundation associated with Harrow.
The date matched the week Selene had been accused of misconduct.
She covered her mouth.
For two years, she'd believed her professional ruin was the result of academic jealousy.
Now she was looking at evidence that suggested something far more calculated.
"Your uncle destroyed my life."
Dante's expression tightened.
"If the records are genuine, he may have helped do it."
Selene stood abruptly.
"I need to leave."
"Where?"
"Anywhere that doesn't belong to your family."
Dante stepped aside from the doorway.
"You're free to go."
She stopped.
He continued, "But I can arrange independent security and legal counsel if you want them. You don't have to trust me to accept help."
Selene looked at him.
"Why would you do that?"
For a long moment, he didn't answer.
Then he said, "Because if my family harmed you, I have a responsibility to uncover it."
Her eyes filled unexpectedly.
She turned away before he could see.
Dante placed the folder on the table.
"There's something else."
Selene looked back.
"My father kept a handwritten journal during his final illness. One entry mentions a woman who could read what others couldn't."
Her pulse quickened.
"What woman?"
May you like
Dante looked directly at her.
"Selene Rostova."
