Chapter 2
"Aarohi, you'll be able to find your way back to the hotel alone, right? We're going to get some gelato."
Srishti asked, and Aarohi laughed.
"Of course, I can. I have Google Maps, don't I? Go and enjoy yourself."
The truth was that Aarohi wanted to spend some time alone. The stranger's gaze from the Trevi Fountain was still on her mind. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her.
"It's just the tiredness," she told herself before taking out her phone.
But the screen was black. Her battery had died.
"No, not now!"
She tried turning it on several times, but nothing worked.
It was already ten at night. The streets that had looked beautiful during the day now seemed empty and unfamiliar.
Aarohi couldn't remember the way back to the hotel. Every time she turned into a street, she walked a little farther before realizing that she had taken the wrong way.
She quickened her pace and held her yellow bag tightly. Inside were her passport, some money, and a bracelet with just one name engraved on it—Aarohi.
It was the only thing she had from her past. She always kept it with her because she had no other memories of her parents.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind her.
"Are you alone, beautiful?"
Aarohi stopped in her tracks.
The two men behind her laughed as they spoke in Italian. She couldn't understand their words, but their tone made her uneasy.
She turned around. Two men were standing at the corner of the street.
One of them was holding a bottle of alcohol, while the other was looking at her in a way that made her uncomfortable.
"Please, let me go," Aarohi said nervously in English.
Both men laughed and started walking towards her.
Aarohi kept stepping back until her back touched the wall. There was nowhere left for her to go.
"Give me your bag," one of them said in broken English.
The next moment, he tried to snatch it from her.
"No! Leave it!"
Aarohi held on to her bag tightly.
"Let go, or you'll regret it," the man threatened.
He pulled the bag towards himself, making Aarohi lose her balance. She fell to her knees on the ground.
Her palm was scraped, but she refused to let go of the bag.
Tears filled her eyes as fear took over.
"Dad..." she whispered without thinking.
She had never called anyone Dad in her life, but at that moment, all she wanted was someone who could protect her.
"Someone, please help me..."
Suddenly, a sharp voice echoed through the alley.
"Basta!"
It meant "Enough!" in Italian.
Both men turned around immediately.
A man was walking towards them from the darkness. His steps were slow, but he moved with confidence.
Black shoes, a long coat, and the same serious face Aarohi had seen near the Trevi Fountain earlier.
Dante Valenti.
He looked at the two men and slowly rolled up his coat sleeves.
Before the first man could even react, Dante knocked him to the ground. The second man tried to run, but Dante grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall. The bottle slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground.
Aarohi closed her eyes in fear.
When she opened them a few moments later, both men had run away. Broken pieces of glass lay scattered across the alley, and the same stranger stood in front of her.
Dante knelt beside her.
"Are you hurt?"
Aarohi looked at him in surprise.
He was speaking Hindi. Clear, natural Hindi, even though he was an Italian man standing with her in an unfamiliar alley in Italy.
"How... how do you speak Hindi?" she asked.
Dante glanced at her scraped palm and gently took her hand.
His fingers were warm. He looked at the injury on her palm before asking, "What's your name?"
Aarohi suddenly realized that she was sitting in front of a complete stranger.
There was something in his eyes that she couldn't understand. It didn't feel like simple sympathy, but she didn't have time to think about it.
She quickly pulled her hand away and tried to stand up.
"Thank you for helping me. I should go now."
She picked up her bag and held it close to her chest.
Just then, she heard Srishti's voice from a distance.
"Aarohi!"
She was probably looking for her and heading towards the same alley.
Aarohi glanced at Dante.
"Thank you," she said once again before walking away without looking back.
Dante stood there, watching her leave. He made no attempt to stop her.
Then he noticed a bracelet lying on the ground. It must have fallen out of Aarohi's bag when the men tried to snatch it.
He picked it up and examined it.
There was only one name engraved on it.
Aarohi.
But Dante's attention wasn't on the name. His eyes were fixed on a small seal engraved on the bracelet.
He knew that seal.
It belonged to the Valenti family.
Dante's expression changed. He looked at the bracelet closely, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
He took out his phone and called Enzo.
"Enzo, I need the complete file on Asha Kiran Orphanage. The one from sixteen years ago.Tonight."
Enzo sounded surprised on the other end.
"Boss, what happened?"
Dante closed his fist around the bracelet. His eyes remained fixed on the alley where Aarohi had disappeared.
"This girl didn't cross my path by accident, Enzo. Someone sent her to me on purpose."
