Chapter 229: The First Clue
They started with the ruins.
The place where Bella had left her sister to burn.
It had been abandoned for years, nothing but rubble and ash.
But when Bella stepped into the clearing—
She felt it.
The echo of that night.
The whisper of something unfinished.
Dante moved beside her, his presence solid, unshaken.
"Where was her body?"
Bella exhaled, stepping forward.
"Here."
She knelt, pressing her fingers into the dirt.
It was cold.
Undisturbed.
Like no body had ever been buried there.
Bella's stomach turned.
"No."
She dug faster.
Harder.
But there was nothing.
No bones.
No remains.
No proof that Lilia had ever been here.
Dante knelt beside her, his hands wrapping around her wrists, stilling her movements.
"She was never here, Bella."
Bella's breath shook.
"Then where the hell did she go?"
Dante's expression darkened.
"That's what we're going to find out."