Chapter 1: The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
For eleven months, the city had watched Alejandro Moretti like a predator waiting for its prey to make one mistake.
Every morning, when the sun rose over the towering glass buildings of the city, Alejandro knew someone was watching him.
A black sedan parked across from his mansion.
A stranger standing too long outside his restaurant.
A man pretending to read a newspaper while following his movements.
They thought he didn’t notice.
They were wrong.
Alejandro Moretti had survived twenty years in a world where trust was a luxury and weakness was a death sentence. He had built an empire from nothing, turned enemies into allies, and forced powerful men to lower their voices whenever they spoke his name.
But there was one thing he couldn’t control.
A missing woman.
His wife.
Isabella Moretti.
The woman who disappeared without leaving a single trace.
The last morning anyone saw Isabella alive, everything appeared normal.
The servants remembered her walking through the marble halls of the Moretti mansion wearing a white dress and carrying a small leather bag.
She had looked calm.
Too calm.
One servant claimed Isabella avoided everyone’s eyes.
Another said she heard shouting between the couple the night before.
And one housekeeper gave police the information that changed everything.
“She said she couldn’t live with him anymore.”
Those words became a weapon.
A weapon pointed directly at Alejandro.
The police never accused him publicly. They had no body. No murder weapon. No evidence.
But everyone knew what they believed.
The powerful mafia boss had made his wife disappear.
And because Alejandro was exactly the kind of man people expected to commit such a crime, suspicion followed him everywhere.
His companies were investigated.
His financial records were examined.
His closest employees were questioned.
The police didn’t need proof.
They only needed him to make a mistake.
For months, Alejandro remained silent.
He let them search.
He let them watch.
He let them believe they were winning.
But every man has a limit.
And Alejandro had reached his.
One rainy morning, Alejandro left his mansion without his usual security team.
His driver noticed immediately.
“Boss, are you sure this is a good idea?”
Alejandro stared out the window.
“I need air.”
The driver said nothing.
Everyone around Alejandro knew one rule.
When he spoke in that tone, questions were dangerous.
The car moved through the older parts of the city, away from the luxury towers and expensive restaurants.
This was a place Alejandro rarely visited.
A place where people disappeared and nobody cared enough to search.
The old market district.
Broken buildings.
Empty streets.
Forgotten lives.
Then something caught his attention.
A woman sitting beside a destroyed brick wall.
At first, Alejandro ignored her.
There were thousands of homeless people in the city.
Thousands of people forgotten by everyone.
But then she lifted her head.
And Alejandro felt the world stop.
For one impossible second, he thought he was seeing a ghost.
The same eyes.
The same face shape.
The same expression Isabella used to have when she was hiding her emotions.
It wasn’t identical.
Not yet.
The woman was thinner.
Her skin was dirty.
Her hair was tangled and covered most of her face.
But underneath everything...
There was something.
Something dangerously familiar.
Alejandro stepped out of the car.
His driver immediately became alert.
“Boss?”
Alejandro ignored him.
He walked toward the woman.
She looked nervous.
Most people looked at Alejandro and saw fear.
She looked at him and saw danger.
That interested him.
“What’s your name?”
The woman hesitated.
“Emma.”
Her voice was quiet.
Almost broken.
“Where do you live?”
She looked away.
“Nowhere.”
Alejandro studied her.
The way she held herself.
The way she avoided eye contact.
The small scar near her eyebrow.
There was a story hidden behind this woman.
A very complicated one.
“How long have you been on the streets?”
Emma laughed softly.
Not because it was funny.
Because she had forgotten what a normal life felt like.
“I don’t know anymore.”
Alejandro remained silent.
Then he asked the question that would change both their lives forever.
“Do you want to disappear?”
Emma looked confused.
“What?”
“Do you want to become someone else?”
She immediately became suspicious.
“I don’t understand.”
Alejandro looked directly into her eyes.
“I can give you money. A home. Protection. A completely new identity.”
Emma slowly stood up.
“And what do you want?”
The rain fell harder.
Alejandro answered without hesitation.
“I want you to become my wife.”
Silence.
Even the sound of the city seemed to disappear.
Emma stared at him.
“You’re crazy.”
“Maybe.”
“You want me to pretend to be someone?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Alejandro’s expression didn’t change.
“Because my wife is dead.”
Emma froze.
“But you said become your wife.”
“She disappeared.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Alejandro looked toward the street.
“That is exactly why this will work.”
Emma took a step back.
“You’re asking me to lie to everyone.”
“I’m offering you a new life.”
“A fake one.”
“Sometimes fake lives are better than real ones.”
Emma looked at him like he was a monster.
Maybe he was.
But monsters could still make offers people couldn’t refuse.
That night, Emma sat inside a luxury apartment she had never imagined entering.
A warm bed.
Clean clothes.
Food.
A shower.
Things most people considered normal.
Things Emma considered impossible.
She stared at herself in the mirror.
For years, she had seen a woman nobody wanted.
A woman the world ignored.
But tomorrow...
Tomorrow she would become Isabella Moretti.
The missing wife of the most dangerous man in the city.
A woman who was supposed to be dead.
The transformation began the next morning.
Alejandro hired the best specialists money could buy.
The entire beauty salon was closed for one person.
Her.
When Emma entered wearing old clothes and damaged shoes, everyone stared.
Then Alejandro placed Isabella’s photograph on the table.
“Make her identical.”
The professionals studied the picture.
The eyes.
The hairstyle.
The posture.
Everything.
Hours passed.
Emma’s dirty clothes disappeared.
Her damaged appearance vanished.
Her hair was washed, styled, and carefully prepared.
Her voice was trained.
Her movements were corrected.
Even the way she held a glass was practiced.
“You need to stop looking afraid,” Alejandro told her.
Emma looked at him.
“I am afraid.”
“Good.”
She frowned.
“Good?”
“Fear keeps people alive.”
Then the final step arrived.
Her hair.
Emma touched it nervously.
“Why does it matter?”
Alejandro looked at the photograph of Isabella.
“Because my wife had a scar on her neck.”
Emma’s expression changed.
“What?”
Alejandro walked closer.
“The only person who knew about that scar was Isabella.”
He looked at Emma’s long hair.
“If someone sees your neck, they will know immediately.”
Emma slowly sat down.
The scissors moved closer.
Cut.
A piece of hair fell.
Then another.
Nobody noticed anything strange.
Nobody realized that hidden beneath Emma’s hair...
Was something that had been waiting for eleven months to be discovered.
A small mark.
A symbol.
A symbol Alejandro had seen before.
A symbol connected to the night Isabella disappeared.
The stylist suddenly stopped.
Her face turned pale.
“Sir…”
Alejandro looked up.
“What?”
The woman pointed at Emma’s neck.
“I think you need to see this.”
Alejandro stepped closer.
And the moment he saw the mark...
The color disappeared from his face.
Because that symbol was impossible.
Impossible unless...
Isabella had never been missing.
She had been hiding.
And Emma wasn’t a stranger.
She was a message.
May you like
A warning sent from someone who wanted Alejandro dead.
To be continued...
