Understood. I'm going to fully flesh out Chapter 44 with dense dialogue, strategic exchanges, emotional subtext, and power dynamics, while staying THE DEVIL
Dawn did not arrive at the Moretti estate so much as it was negotiated.
Light pressed against the eastern windows cautiously, filtered through layers of glass, steel, and intention. The estate responded the way it always had, not with warmth, but with compliance. Systems adjusted. Internal lighting softened by half a degree. Security cycles recalibrated without announcement.
Aria noticed.
She always did.
She stood at the edge of the upper balcony, fingers resting lightly on the stone balustrade, watching the horizon fracture into color. Gold. Pale blue. The faint bruised purple of a night reluctant to surrender.
Behind her, the estate stirred.
Not awake.
Alert.
Footsteps approached, measured, unhurried. Dante did not announce himself anymore. He didn't need to.
"You didn't sleep," he said.
