Chapter 1 - The Package That Should Never Have Arrived
# THE MAFIA BOSS FOUND HIS MAID HOLDING A GIFT BOX ADDRESSED TO HIS DEAD WIFE—THEN HIS FIANCÉE TURNED WHITE WHEN HE READ THE POSTMARK
“DON'T OPEN THAT PACKAGE!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE SCREAMED WHEN HE FOUND HIS MAID HOLDING A GIFT BOX ADDRESSED TO HIS WIFE, WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR FOUR YEARS. BUT WHEN HE READ THE POSTMARK, HIS BLOOD RAN COLD. THE PACKAGE HAD BEEN MAILED JUST THREE DAYS AGO—AND INSIDE WAS A BROKEN WATCH WITH A REPAIR RECEIPT BEARING HIS FIANCÉE'S NAME.
The package arrived at the Moretti mansion at 8:17 p.m.
Lily Bennett almost dropped it when she read the name.
MRS. ISABELLA MORETTI.
She stared at the elegant handwriting.
Isabella had been dead for four years.
Lily knew because she had helped pack the woman's belongings after the funeral.
And because she still remembered her employer sitting alone in the dark for weeks afterward.
“Is something wrong?”
The delivery driver glanced at her.
Lily shook her head.
“No. Thank you.”
She closed the front door.
The package was small, wrapped in cream-colored paper and tied with a black ribbon.
There was no return address.
Only a postal stamp.
OCTOBER 24, 2026.
Three days earlier.
Lily was still examining it when footsteps sounded behind her.
“Lily?”
Dominic Moretti stood at the bottom of the grand staircase.
Thirty-eight years old, dressed in a charcoal suit, he had just returned from a business meeting.
His expression softened.
“What's that?”
Lily quickly lowered the box.
“A delivery, sir.”
“For whom?”
She hesitated.
Dominic noticed.
“Lily?”
The maid swallowed.
“It's addressed to Mrs. Moretti.”
Dominic stopped moving.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he slowly approached.
“Let me see it.”
Lily handed him the package.
Dominic stared at his dead wife's name.
His fingers tightened around the box.
“Who sent this?”
“There's no return address, sir.”
He turned it over.
Then saw the postmark.
His face changed.
“This was mailed three days ago.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dominic looked toward the dark hallway.
“That's impossible.”
Before Lily could answer, a woman's voice interrupted.
“Dominic, darling! There you are!”
Vanessa Sterling appeared at the top of the staircase.
She wore a fitted crimson evening gown and diamond earrings.
They were supposed to attend a charity dinner together.
But the moment she saw the package, her smile disappeared.
She descended quickly.
“What's that?”
Dominic didn't answer.
Vanessa came closer.
Her eyes fell on the name.
ISABELLA MORETTI.
She went completely white.
“Where did you get that?”
Lily stepped back.
“It arrived just now, ma'am.”
Vanessa reached for it.
“Give it to me.”
Dominic pulled the package away.
“Why?”
“Because it's obviously some sick joke!”
He looked at her.
“Then why are you shaking?”
Vanessa forced a laugh.
“I'm upset for you, darling. Someone is trying to hurt you.”
Dominic examined the postmark again.
“Whoever sent this knew Isabella's name.”
“Everyone knew her name!”
“And they knew this address.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Dominic, please. Throw it away.”
He slowly looked up.
“WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF A PACKAGE ADDRESSED TO A DEAD WOMAN?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Dominic untied the black ribbon.
“Don't!”
Her scream echoed through the entrance hall.
Lily flinched.
Dominic froze.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“Please,” she whispered. “Don't open it.”
He stared at her.
Then carefully removed the wrapping paper.
Inside was a dark-blue velvet gift box.
He recognized it immediately.
Isabella had loved that shade of blue.
It was the color of the jewelry box he'd given her on their first anniversary.
Dominic slowly lifted the lid.
Inside lay a woman's gold wristwatch.
Its glass was cracked.
Its hands had stopped at exactly 2:17.
Dominic stopped breathing.
“No…”
Lily stepped closer.
“Sir?”
He lifted the watch.
His hands began trembling.
“I gave Isabella this watch on our wedding day.”
He turned it over.
Engraved on the back were five words.
UNTIL OUR LAST SECOND. — D
Dominic closed his eyes.
He remembered fastening it around Isabella's wrist.
She had laughed and kissed him.
“Then I hope our last second never comes.”
Four years later, he still remembered every word.
But something was wrong.
He had seen this watch before.
On Isabella's wrist.
Inside her coffin.
Dominic opened his eyes.
“THIS WATCH WAS BURIED WITH MY WIFE.”
Lily gasped.
Vanessa stepped backward.
Dominic looked at her.
“Explain that.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Someone must have made a copy.”
Dominic examined the damaged clasp.
A tiny scratch ran across the gold.
Isabella had made it while helping him repair an old motorcycle.
He remembered teasing her about ruining an expensive gift.
She had smiled.
“Now it's ours. Nobody else has one like it.”
Dominic looked at Vanessa.
“This isn't a copy.”
He reached deeper into the velvet box.
Beneath the watch was a folded receipt.
The paper was crisp.
Recent.
Dominic unfolded it.
HARRISON & SONS WATCH REPAIR
October 21, 2026
Customer: Vanessa Sterling
Item: Antique gold wristwatch
Requested service: Restore movement and replace damaged crystal
Status: Repair declined by customer
Dominic read the name twice.
Then slowly raised his eyes.
“Vanessa.”
She looked toward the front door.
He held up the receipt.
“WHY DID YOU TAKE MY DEAD WIFE'S WATCH TO A REPAIR SHOP SIX DAYS AGO?”
Vanessa began crying.
“Dominic, please. There's an explanation.”
“Then give me one.”
“I found it!”
“Where?”
“In an old box!”
“Which box?”
She hesitated.
“Isabella's belongings.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Her belongings were sealed after the funeral.”
Vanessa nodded quickly.
“Yes! That's where I found it.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“THEN HOW DID YOU GET A WATCH I PERSONALLY PLACED INSIDE HER COFFIN?”
Vanessa stopped crying.
For one terrible moment, she simply stared at him.
Lily noticed something else inside the gift box.
“Sir… there's a note.”
Dominic looked down.
A small white card lay beneath the velvet lining.
He removed it.
Only one sentence was written across the front.
ASK VANESSA WHY THE WATCH STOPPED AT 2:17.
Dominic felt his stomach tighten.
He remembered the night Isabella died.
The police had told him her car went off a mountain road shortly after midnight.
The official accident report listed the estimated time of death as 12:40 a.m.
But the watch had stopped at 2:17.
More than ninety minutes later.
Dominic looked at Vanessa.
“What happened at 2:17?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
He held up the card.
“Someone thinks you do.”
Vanessa suddenly grabbed Lily's arm.
“You brought this here! Who paid you?”
Lily cried out.
“Ma'am, please!”
Dominic immediately stepped between them.
“DON'T TOUCH HER.”
Vanessa released the maid.
“She's trying to destroy us!”
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
“I only accepted the delivery, sir.”
Dominic turned back toward the box.
The repair receipt had another line printed near the bottom.
He hadn't noticed it before.
Technician's observation: Internal mechanism deliberately stopped. No impact damage to movement.
Dominic froze.
The watch hadn't stopped because of the car accident.
Someone had stopped it.
Deliberately.
He read the next line.
Customer instructed technician not to document the engraved message beneath rear cover.
Dominic looked up.
“What engraved message?”
Vanessa's face drained of color.
“Dominic, don't.”
He examined the back of the watch.
A narrow seam ran around the rear cover.
He remembered Isabella telling him the watchmaker had designed a hidden compartment for a photograph.
But he'd never seen it opened.
Dominic took a small letter opener from the entrance table.
Vanessa rushed forward.
“PLEASE! DON'T OPEN THE BACK!”
He ignored her.
With a careful movement, he lifted the cover.
A tiny folded photograph slipped into his palm.
It showed Isabella sitting in a hospital bed.
Her hair was shorter.
Her face was thinner.
But she was unmistakably alive.
Dominic stared at the date printed along the bottom.
JUNE 14, 2025.
Three years after her funeral.
His knees nearly buckled.
Lily covered her mouth.
“Oh my God…”
Dominic turned the photograph over.
On the back was Isabella's handwriting.
I kept the watch because it was the only thing they let me take.
If Dominic ever sees this, tell him I never stopped waiting.
Dominic's eyes filled with tears.
He looked at Vanessa.
“MY WIFE WAS ALIVE LAST YEAR?”
Vanessa backed toward the staircase.
“Dominic, I swear, I didn't know they took that photograph.”
He froze.
“They?”
Vanessa realized her mistake.
She covered her mouth.
Dominic stepped closer.
“WHO ARE THEY, VANESSA?”
Before she could answer, Lily noticed a second piece of paper tucked beneath the photograph.
“Sir, there's something else.”
Dominic unfolded it.
A hospital discharge slip.
No patient name.
No hospital address.
Only a date.
OCTOBER 24, 2026.
The same day the package had been mailed.
And beneath it, a handwritten message:
SHE'S BEEN MOVED. THE WOMAN WHO PAID FOR HER ROOM HAS THREE DAYS TO RETURN THE WATCH.
Dominic slowly looked toward Vanessa.
Three days.
The package had arrived on the final day.
Vanessa began trembling uncontrollably.
Then she whispered:
“Dominic… whoever sent that package wasn't trying to tell you Isabella is alive.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
Vanessa's voice broke.
“THEY WERE WARNING ME THAT YOU WERE ABOUT TO FIND OUT.”
Dominic looked down at the stopped watch.
2:17.
A time that meant nothing four years ago.
A time someone had desperately tried to hide.
May you like
And somewhere beyond the walls of his mansion, a woman he had buried was waiting for him to discover why.
Read Chapter 2 in the first comment to discover what happened to Isabella at 2:17—and why Vanessa's name appeared on the repair receipt for a watch that should have been buried four years ago. Thank you for reading!
