Chapter 1 - THE VOICE OF A DEAD MAN
“GET AWAY FROM HER!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE SCREAMED, DRAGGING A YOUNG MAID FROM BENEATH THE DINING TABLE. BUT WHEN LUCA SAW HIS BLIND MOTHER TREMBLING UNDERNEATH, HE DEMANDED AN EXPLANATION. WHAT HIS MOTHER WHISPERED NEXT MADE HIM QUESTION THE FUNERAL HE'D ATTENDED FIVE YEARS AGO.
“Please, Mrs. Sterling. You're hurting her!”
Sophie Bennett, twenty-four, was kneeling beneath the mansion's enormous dining table, shielding an elderly woman with her arms.
Eleanor Moretti, seventy-six, was blind.
Her fingers clutched Sophie's uniform as she trembled uncontrollably.
Vanessa Sterling seized Sophie's wrist.
“Get out from under there! You're frightening her!”
Sophie refused to move.
“She's scared. Please leave her alone!”
Vanessa pulled harder.
Sophie cried out.
Suddenly, a deep voice interrupted.
“TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF HER!”
Luca Moretti stood in the doorway.
Thirty-eight years old. Black suit. His expression turned cold.
He rushed toward the table.
“Mom?”
Eleanor reached toward his voice.
“Luca?”
He dropped to his knees and took her hand.
“I'm here.”
Her fingers tightened around his.
Luca looked at Sophie.
“What happened?”
Sophie swallowed.
“She heard a man talking in your office.”
Vanessa suddenly went pale.
“SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HEAR THAT!”
The entire room fell silent.
Luca slowly turned toward his fiancée.
“What did you just say?”
Vanessa stepped backward.
“I meant… your mother shouldn't have been wandering around upstairs.”
Luca ignored her.
“Mom, who did you hear?”
Eleanor's lips trembled.
Then she whispered:
“Luca… I heard your brother.”
Luca stopped breathing.
His older brother, Gabriel Moretti, had died five years earlier.
A yacht explosion.
No body recovered.
Only a gold watch and a bloodstained jacket had been found floating near the wreckage.
Luca had spent years trying to accept that Gabriel was gone.
“Mom,” he whispered, “Gabriel is dead.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“A mother knows her son's voice.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“He called me Mama when he thought I was asleep.”
Luca stared.
Sophie quietly spoke.
“Sir, your mother was sitting near the study when she heard two people arguing.”
“Who?”
Sophie looked toward Vanessa.
“One was Mrs. Sterling.”
Vanessa snapped, “She's lying!”
But Eleanor suddenly tightened her grip on Luca's hand.
“He said your name.”
Luca leaned closer.
“What did he say?”
Eleanor swallowed.
“He said, ‘Luca can never find out what happened on the yacht.’”
The room went silent.
Luca slowly stood.
“Vanessa. Who was in my office?”
“Nobody.”
“Then why did you say my mother wasn't supposed to hear him?”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Luca turned toward Sophie.
“Why were you hiding under the table?”
Sophie's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Mrs. Sterling ordered security to take your mother downstairs.”
Luca froze.
“Downstairs where?”
“The old basement.”
Eleanor began shaking again.
Sophie continued.
“Your mother was crying. She kept saying she recognized the voice. I knew she was frightened, so I hid with her.”
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“Were you trying to keep my mother quiet?”
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“Luca, please. You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
She shook her head.
“I can't.”
Suddenly, Eleanor reached into her cardigan.
She pulled out a small silver cufflink.
A black onyx stone was set into its center.
Luca stared.
Gabriel had worn matching cufflinks on the night of the yacht explosion.
“Where did you get that?”
Eleanor whispered:
“He dropped it when he came close to me.”
Luca took the cufflink.
His hands trembled.
Then he noticed something engraved on the back.
Two letters.
G.M.
Gabriel Moretti.
Luca slowly looked toward the hallway leading to his office.
For five years, he'd believed his brother had died in an explosion.
Now his blind mother had heard Gabriel's voice.
And Vanessa had accidentally admitted knowing about the meeting.
Luca pulled out his phone and called the head of security.
“Lock the gates. Nobody leaves.”
Vanessa suddenly grabbed his arm.
“Luca, don't!”
He pulled away.
“Why?”
Her voice broke.
“Because if Gabriel finds out your mother recognized him, he'll come back for her.”
Luca froze.
Eleanor began crying.
Then she whispered something that made the entire room go silent.
“He already did.”
Luca turned toward her.
“What?”
His mother squeezed his hand.
“He came into my bedroom last night.”
Luca stared.
“And what did he want?”
Eleanor's voice trembled.
“He asked me where I'd hidden the letter your father wrote before he died.”
Luca felt his blood turn cold.
His father had died ten years earlier.
Five years before Gabriel's supposed death.
And Luca had never heard of any letter.
Then Eleanor whispered:
“I told him I'd already given it to you.”
Luca shook his head.
“But you never gave me a letter.”
His mother slowly turned her face toward Sophie.
“No,” she whispered.
“I gave it to the girl who promised to protect me.”
Sophie went completely still.
And Vanessa looked at the young maid with sudden, unmistakable terror.
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Read Chapter 2 in the first comment to discover what Gabriel was searching for—and why Luca's blind mother trusted Sophie with the letter that could destroy the Moretti family. Thank you for reading!
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