Chapter 1 - THE WEDDING DRESS THAT HID A DEATH
# THE MAFIA BOSS FOUND HIS PREGNANT MAID DRAGGING HIS MOTHER'S WEDDING DRESS THROUGH THE MUD—THEN HIS FIANCÉE BEGGED HIM NOT TO WASH IT
“DRAG IT THROUGH THE MUD! IT'S GOING IN THE TRASH ANYWAY!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE ORDERED A PREGNANT MAID TO DESTROY HIS LATE MOTHER'S WEDDING DRESS. BUT WHEN DOMINIC RUSHED TO HELP THE GIRL, HIS FIANCÉE PANICKED AT THE THOUGHT OF HIM WASHING IT. SECONDS LATER, A HIDDEN MESSAGE BEGAN APPEARING INSIDE THE WET FABRIC—AND IT ACCUSED SOMEONE IN HIS FAMILY OF HIDING A DEATH.
“Please, Mrs. Sterling. This belonged to his mother.”
Lily Bennett, seven months pregnant, struggled to pull a heavy garment bag across the mansion's muddy backyard.
Inside was an antique ivory wedding dress, its long lace train trailing through the dirt.
Vanessa Sterling stood beneath the covered terrace.
“I told you to throw it away.”
“But the dress is still beautiful.”
Vanessa's expression hardened.
“Then you can admire it in the garbage.”
Lily bent to lift the soaked fabric.
A sharp pain crossed her stomach.
She gasped and grabbed the stone railing.
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“Stop pretending you're hurt.”
Suddenly, a man's voice cut through the rain.
“LILY! LET GO OF THAT!”
Dominic Moretti hurried across the terrace.
He caught Lily before she lost her balance.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded weakly.
“I'm sorry, sir. Mrs. Sterling told me to move it.”
Dominic looked down.
His mother's wedding dress lay in the mud.
The same dress he'd seen in the photograph beside her hospital bed before she died.
His expression darkened.
“Vanessa. Why is my mother's dress outside?”
She forced a smile.
“Darling, it's ruined. I was clearing out the attic.”
Dominic carefully lifted the lace.
“It's not ruined. I'll have it cleaned.”
Vanessa suddenly stepped forward.
“DON'T WASH IT!”
Dominic froze.
“Why?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“The fabric is too old. Water will destroy it.”
But Dominic had already noticed something strange.
Rainwater had soaked through the inner lining.
Faded blue letters were emerging beneath the embroidery.
He turned the dress inside out.
There, stitched beneath the bodice, was a narrow strip of fabric bearing a handwritten message.
“ASK YOUR FATHER WHO DIED ON OUR WEDDING NIGHT.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
His mother, Catherine Moretti, had married his father forty years earlier.
She'd died when Dominic was seventeen.
And she'd never once mentioned anyone dying at her wedding.
He looked at Vanessa.
“How did you know there was something written here?”
Vanessa's face went pale.
“I didn't.”
“Then why were you so afraid of water touching it?”
She stepped backward.
“Dominic, please. You're misunderstanding everything.”
Lily quietly spoke.
“Sir… there's something else.”
Dominic turned.
“When I took the dress from the attic, Mrs. Sterling was on the phone.”
Vanessa snapped, “Lily, shut your mouth!”
Dominic's voice hardened.
“Let her finish.”
Lily swallowed.
“She said, ‘I found Catherine's dress. The old man was right. The writing is still there.’”
Dominic felt cold.
“What old man?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Dominic looked back at the message.
Then he noticed a date written beneath it.
SEPTEMBER 18, 1986.
His parents' wedding anniversary.
And below the date, almost hidden in the lace, were two initials.
E.M.
Dominic stared.
His father's younger brother, Edward Moretti, had supposedly disappeared in 1986 after stealing money from the family.
Dominic had grown up hearing that Edward abandoned everyone.
But now his mother's wedding dress was suggesting something far worse.
Dominic took out his phone.
He called his father.
“Dad, I need to ask you something.”
His father answered sleepily.
“Dominic?”
“Who died on your wedding night?”
Silence.
Then Dominic heard something fall on the other end.
His father's voice returned, trembling.
“Where did you hear those words?”
Dominic stared at the dress.
“Mom wrote them.”
Another long silence.
Then his father whispered:
“Son… don't let Vanessa take that dress.”
Dominic froze.
“Why would Vanessa want it?”
His father's breathing grew uneven.
“Because her father was there that night.”
Dominic slowly turned toward his fiancée.
Vanessa was already backing toward the house.
“Dad, what happened?”
His father's voice broke.
“The man we buried wasn't Edward.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
“What?”
But before his father could explain, the call disconnected.
Lily looked toward the soaked dress.
“Sir…”
Dominic turned.
She pointed at the lining.
More letters were appearing as the rainwater spread.
A second message.
Smaller.
Written beneath the first.
Dominic bent closer.
And read:
“IF EDWARD EVER COMES BACK, TELL HIM THE BABY SURVIVED.”
His hands went cold.
A baby.
A death.
A wedding night.
And a brother his father had supposedly never seen again.
Then Vanessa whispered from behind him:
“Dominic… please don't ask your father about that child.”
He slowly turned.
“Why?”
Tears were streaming down her face.
Because the secret hidden inside Catherine's wedding dress wasn't simply about who had died forty years ago.
It was about someone who had survived.
And Vanessa knew exactly who that person was.
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Read Chapter 2 in the first comment to discover what happened on Catherine's wedding night—and why Vanessa was terrified of the baby mentioned in the dress. Thank you for reading!
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