Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO NEVER LEFTWe searched the west wing twice.
Nothing.
No footsteps.
No hidden person.
No open windows.
No second exit.
Yet the warning was fresh.
Luca stood beneath Vivian's portrait, staring at the carved words.
Daniel ordered the security team to lock down every entrance.
“Boss, nobody leaves.”
“Nobody enters either,” Luca said.
I walked toward the desk.
The cassette recorder was old, but surprisingly clean.
“Do you want me to play it?”
Luca nodded.
I pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's voice.
Vivian.
My skin prickled.
“If you're hearing this, Luca, I failed to stop her.”
Luca's face changed.
His mother continued.
“Vanessa Bellini is not marrying you because she loves you.”
Static.
“She wants access.”
Another pause.
“To something your father left.”
Luca frowned.
“My father?”
Vivian's voice came again.
“He trusted the wrong people.”
Then the recording cracked.
A man's voice suddenly appeared.
“Vivian, you need to leave.”
Luca stepped backward.
He recognized it.
“My father.”
I looked at him.
“Your father is on the recording?”
“He died sixteen years ago.”
The tape continued.
“Take Bruno,” his father said.
“Why Bruno?” Vivian asked.
“He saw where I hid it.”
The tape went silent.
Luca stared at the recorder.
Bruno.
Again.
The dog wasn't simply being targeted because Vanessa disliked him.
He had been connected to whatever Luca's father had hidden.
“What did your father hide?” I asked.
“I don't know.”
The cassette continued.
Vivian's voice returned.
“Then I hope you never find out.”
The tape clicked off.
Luca remained motionless.
Daniel suddenly spoke.
“Boss.”
He held up his phone.
“Come look.”
Security footage showed the mansion's rear garden.
At 2:13 a.m., someone was walking beside the hedge.
A woman.
Gray hair.
Scar beside the left eyebrow.
Maria.
Luca turned to me.
“She came back.”
They ran outside.
By the time we reached the garden, she was gone.
But she had left something behind.
A small envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
This time it showed Vivian, Maria, and Bruno standing beside the kennel.
On the back was a date.
September 14, 2012.
That date meant nothing to me.
It meant everything to Luca.
“My father died on September 13.”
The room seemed to tilt.
The next photograph showed Vanessa Bellini.
She was younger.
Maybe twenty.
Standing beside Luca's father.
I looked closer.
She was holding something.
A black leather case.
I turned to Luca.
“Did you know Vanessa knew your father?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
“You're sure?”
“I thought they met after his death.”
Daniel took the photograph.
“There is a hotel logo in the background.”
He zoomed in.
“Palmer House.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“That hotel has archived guest records.”
Daniel nodded.
“Then we find out what happened the night before your father died.”
My gaze fell on the photograph.
There was another detail.
On Vanessa's wrist was the same silver bracelet she had worn tonight.
Beside her stood a man.
His face was turned away.
But his sleeve was rolled up.
Three black vertical lines.
The tattoo.
The stranger from the kennel.
He had been part of this for years.
Luca suddenly received a message.
One sentence.
From an unknown number.
Come alone to the old train station. Bring Emma.
I read it over his shoulder.
“Why me?”
Luca stared at the screen.
“I don't know.”
Another message arrived.
A photograph.
Bruno.
Alive.
He was lying on a blanket in a dark room.
His eyes were open.
A man's hand rested against his neck.
Below the photograph were five words.
Your mother was telling the truth.
Luca grabbed his coat.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Boss, you aren't going without backup.”
The phone buzzed again.
A final message appeared.
Bring the maid. Or the dog dies.
Luca looked at me.
For the first time since I had met him, his expression showed something close to fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
“Emma,” he said quietly, “from this moment on, you do exactly what I tell you.”
The words should have frightened me.
Instead, they made something painfully clear.
May you like
Whatever had started before I ever entered the Moretti mansion...
had finally decided to come after me too.
Related Stories
