Chapter 4 - THE FIRST WARNING
The estate entered lockdown before sunrise.
Nobody left.
Nobody entered.
Phones were collected from temporary staff.
Vehicles were searched.
Marco doubled the guards around the employee cottages and placed two men on the roof of the west wing.
Sophia hated every second of it.
She sat at her kitchen table staring at the photograph of Daniel.
Emma was asleep in the bedroom under the watch of a housekeeper Sophia trusted.
Bruno lay across the hallway.
Alessandro stood near the window.
“Tell me everything.”
Sophia did not look up.
“About Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“I already told police everything after the accident.”
“I’m not the police.”
“That much is obvious.”
He ignored it.
“Anything unusual before his death.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“He stopped sleeping.”
“How long?”
“Maybe a month.”
“Did he say why?”
“Work.”
“What else?”
“He checked the locks constantly.”
Alessandro glanced at Marco.
“He bought Emma a necklace.”
“What kind?”
Sophia frowned.
“A little silver moon. She was six months old. He said every daughter should have something from her father.”
“Where is it?”
“In my jewelry box.”
“Get it.”
Her head snapped up.
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“I am not handing you my daughter’s things.”
“If Daniel was afraid, he may have hidden something.”
“In a baby necklace?”
“I have seen men hide information in stranger places.”
Sophia studied him.
Then walked into her bedroom.
She returned carrying a small wooden box.
Inside lay her wedding ring, Daniel’s watch, two photographs, and the silver moon.
Alessandro picked up the pendant.
It was heavier than expected.
He examined the edge.
“Marco.”
Marco handed him a pocket tool.
Sophia stood instantly.
“If you break that—”
The pendant opened.
Sophia stopped.
Inside was a micro memory card.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Sophia sat down.
“Oh my God.”
Alessandro placed the card on the table.
Daniel had hidden evidence inside their daughter’s necklace.
Evidence someone might still be searching for.
“Do not plug that into any computer connected to the estate network,” Marco said.
“I know.”
Sophia laughed bitterly.
“Of course you know. Everyone knows things except me.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“You know now.”
“Three years late.”
They moved to a security room beneath the main house.
Sophia had never been there.
Most employees probably did not know it existed.
The room contained no windows.
Six monitors covered one wall.
A separate laptop sat disconnected from everything.
Marco inserted the card.
One folder appeared.
COLUMBUS.
Inside were spreadsheets.
Bank accounts.
Photographs.
Scanned invoices.
Names.
Sophia understood almost none of it.
Alessandro understood immediately.
His face went still.
“What?” she asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Alessandro.”
It was the first time she had used his first name.
His gaze lifted.
“My father kept a private reserve.”
“Money?”
“Money, properties, leverage, payments.”
“To who?”
“People he owned.”
Sophia felt cold.
“Daniel found it?”
“Yes.”
Marco opened another file.
A video.
Daniel appeared on screen.
Sophia grabbed the edge of the desk.
He looked younger.
Alive.
Tired.
He was sitting in a parked car.
“If you’re watching this,” Daniel said, “something happened to me.”
Sophia made a sound.
Alessandro looked at her.
She pressed her fist against her mouth.
Daniel continued.
“I worked for Vittorio Moretti for five years. I told my wife I sold insurance. I lied because I thought keeping her ignorant kept her safe.”
Sophia began crying silently.
“I was wrong.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“I found accounts tied to people inside the organization who are stealing from Vittorio. Not thousands. Hundreds of millions.”
Alessandro leaned closer.
Daniel looked directly at the camera.
“One name appears everywhere.”
A pause.
“Matteo Moretti.”
Marco cursed softly.
Daniel continued.
“But Matteo isn’t the top.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“There’s someone above him. Someone close enough to Vittorio that nobody questions the transfers.”
The video glitched.
Sophia whispered, “No.”
Daniel returned.
“If I die, Sophia, I need you to know I loved you. Everything I did wrong began with the stupid belief that I could build a safe life using dangerous money.”
His voice broke.
Sophia covered her face.
“And Emma…”
Daniel smiled.
“I’m sorry, peanut.”
Sophia sobbed.
Alessandro looked away.
“I put everything I know on this card. But there’s one document missing. The ledger. Vittorio keeps it somewhere only family can access.”
The video ended.
Sophia stared at the blank screen.
“Play it again.”
Alessandro didn’t move.
“Please.”
Marco replayed it.
She watched Daniel die all over again.
Then again.
By the third time, her tears stopped.
Something else replaced them.
Anger.
“My husband was murdered.”
Alessandro spoke carefully.
“Most likely.”
“By Matteo?”
“Possibly.”
“You know where he is?”
“No.”
“Find him.”
The room became silent.
Marco looked at Alessandro.
Sophia realized what she had just said.
Three days ago she cleaned bedrooms.
Now she was telling Alessandro Moretti to hunt the man who might have killed her husband.
Alessandro did not seem offended.
“I intend to.”
A knock came at the steel door.
One of Marco’s men entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We have a problem.”
He held up a phone.
“Mrs. Carter’s mother received a call this morning.”
Sophia stood.
“My mother?”
The guard nodded.
“Someone told her Sophia and Emma had been involved in an accident and asked her to identify their bodies.”
Sophia went white.
“What?”
“It was fake. Your mother called the local police. They contacted us.”
Alessandro’s expression turned lethal.
It was intimidation.
A warning.
Someone wanted Sophia afraid.
Someone wanted her to know they could reach beyond the estate.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Every person in the room looked at it.
Marco said, “Don’t answer.”
Sophia answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man’s voice.
“Daniel should have destroyed the card.”
Sophia stopped breathing.
Alessandro reached for the phone.
The caller continued.
“You have twenty-four hours.”
“For what?”
“Give us what your husband stole.”
“I don’t know what—”
“Your daughter has his eyes.”
Sophia’s face collapsed.
Alessandro took the phone.
“If you go near them, I will—”
The line disconnected.
Sophia turned on him.
“You will what?”
He said nothing.
“Kill them?”
“Sophia.”
“This is your world. Tell me.”
His eyes held hers.
“Yes.”
She flinched.
Not because she doubted him.
Because she believed him.
“I don’t want Emma growing up around this.”
“She won’t.”
“You cannot promise that.”
“No.”
For perhaps the first time in his life, Alessandro Moretti admitted there was something he could not guarantee.
That frightened Sophia more than any threat.
Suddenly Bruno barked upstairs.
Once.
Loud.
Then again.
Alessandro turned.
The third bark became a roar.
Marco grabbed his weapon.
They ran.
By the time they reached the employee courtyard, Bruno was throwing himself against Sophia’s cottage door.
“Emma!”
Sophia ran faster.
The door was locked.
One guard lay unconscious beside the porch.
Marco broke the window.
Alessandro kicked the door twice.
Wood split.
They entered.
The trusted housekeeper was on the kitchen floor.
Breathing.
Unconscious.
The bedroom window stood open.
Emma’s blanket lay in the snow outside.
Sophia screamed her daughter’s name.
Bruno forced past them.
He jumped through the open window despite his injured hip.
Blood streaked his hind leg when he landed.
He lowered his nose to Emma’s blanket.
Then he ran toward the forest.
Alessandro looked at Marco.
“Close every road.”
Sophia grabbed Alessandro’s coat.
Her face was wet with tears.
“They took my baby.”
His entire body became terrifyingly calm.
“I know.”
“Bring her back.”
He looked toward Bruno disappearing between the trees.
Then at the blood on the snow.
“I will.”
And across the estate, phones began ringing.
Vehicles moved.
Doors slammed.
May you like
Men who had spent years fearing Alessandro Moretti suddenly discovered there was something more dangerous than his anger.
He had been given someone to lose.
