Chapter 1 - YOU BURIED THE WRONG WOMAN
“STOP LYING! YOUR MOTHER IS DEAD!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE SCREAMED AT HIS SIX-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER IN FRONT OF THEIR WEDDING GUESTS. THE LITTLE GIRL CLUTCHED HER TEDDY BEAR AND BEGAN CRYING. BUT WHEN THE MAID OPENED THE DOORS, A MYSTERIOUS WOMAN ENTERED HOLDING AN IDENTICAL BEAR—AND VANESSA DROPPED HER WINEGLASS.
“Daddy, the lady came again last night.”
Six-year-old Sophie Moretti stood beside the wedding dinner table, hugging a worn brown teddy bear.
Luca Moretti looked down at his daughter.
“What lady, sweetheart?”
“The one who comes to my window. She knows Mommy's song.”
Vanessa Sterling slammed her glass onto the table.
“Enough!”
Twenty guests turned.
Vanessa pointed at Sophie.
“You've been telling this ridiculous story for weeks!”
Sophie shrank backward.
“But I saw her.”
“Liar!”
The little girl's eyes filled with tears.
“I'm not lying.”
Vanessa snatched the teddy bear from her arms.
“Your mother is dead. Stop pretending she's coming back!”
Sophie began sobbing.
“VANESSA! GIVE IT BACK!”
Luca rose from his chair.
He took the bear and returned it to his daughter.
“Don't ever speak to her like that again.”
Vanessa forced a smile.
“Darling, she's confused. She's still grieving.”
But Sophie shook her head.
“The lady said she'd come tonight.”
Vanessa's face went pale.
Suddenly, the dining room doors opened.
Emma Reed, the young housemaid, stepped inside.
Beside her stood a woman wearing a dark coat and a scarf wrapped around her head.
In her arms was a brown teddy bear.
Identical to Sophie's.
Vanessa's wineglass slipped from her fingers.
It shattered against the marble.
Luca stared at the stranger.
“Who are you?”
The woman slowly removed her scarf.
She was in her forties, with tired eyes and a thin scar along her jaw.
She looked at Luca.
Then spoke five words that silenced the room.
“You buried the wrong woman.”
Luca stopped breathing.
His wife, Elena, had died in a highway accident three years earlier.
The car had burned so badly that the body had been identified through dental records.
He'd buried her himself.
“What did you say?”
The woman stepped closer.
“My name is Rachel Porter. I worked in the hospital records department the night your wife was brought in.”
Vanessa suddenly shouted:
“She's lying! Get her out!”
Rachel ignored her.
She held up the teddy bear.
“Your wife bought two of these the week before the accident.”
Sophie gasped.
“That's the lady's bear!”
Rachel knelt.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Sophie rushed toward her.
“You came!”
Luca stared.
“You've been visiting my daughter?”
Rachel nodded.
“I couldn't risk coming through the front gate.”
“Why?”
Rachel looked toward Vanessa.
“Because someone has been watching this house.”
Vanessa backed away.
Luca's voice hardened.
“Tell me what happened to Elena.”
Rachel swallowed.
“The hospital received two unidentified women that night. One was declared dead. The other was transferred before sunrise.”
Luca felt cold.
“Transferred where?”
“I don't know. The records were altered before I could find out.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“This is insane!”
Rachel reached into her coat.
She pulled out a faded hospital photograph.
Two covered stretchers.
Two identification tags.
One tag read:
ELENA MORETTI.
The other had been crossed out.
Luca leaned closer.
Beneath the ink was a second name.
VANESSA STERLING.
He slowly looked up.
“Why was your name on a hospital identification tag?”
Vanessa's lips trembled.
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
Rachel's voice broke.
“Because Vanessa was there that night.”
The room fell silent.
“She arrived before the ambulance carrying your wife.”
Luca stared.
Vanessa had always claimed she'd been out of the country when Elena died.
Rachel continued.
“She demanded that the hospital release the deceased woman's belongings directly to her.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“What belongings?”
Rachel pointed toward Sophie's teddy bear.
“Among them was a child's toy.”
Sophie suddenly spoke.
“Daddy, the lady told me something else.”
Luca knelt beside her.
“What, sweetheart?”
Sophie hugged her bear.
“She said Mommy left something inside.”
Luca looked at Rachel.
Rachel nodded.
“Both bears have a small stitched pocket beneath the ribbon.”
Luca carefully examined Sophie's bear.
Under its faded blue bow was a hidden seam.
He opened it.
Inside was a tiny folded photograph.
Elena stood beside an unfamiliar woman in a hospital corridor.
On the back, in Elena's handwriting, were four words:
“IF I DISAPPEAR, FIND HER.”
Luca looked up.
“Who is this woman?”
Rachel's face drained of color.
“That's the patient who was transferred.”
Luca's heart pounded.
“Is she Elena?”
Rachel shook her head.
“No.”
Then she whispered:
“She's the woman who was supposed to die instead.”
Vanessa suddenly grabbed her purse.
Luca stepped in front of her.
“Where are you going?”
She froze.
He held up the photograph.
“ANSWER ME, VANESSA! WHO DID I BURY?”
Rachel looked at the terrified bride-to-be.
Then at Luca.
“The answer is in the second bear. But someone removed what Elena hid inside it.”
Luca turned toward Vanessa.
And Vanessa began crying.
Because she knew exactly what had been taken.
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Read Chapter 2 in the first comment to discover whose body was buried in Elena's grave—and what secret Vanessa removed from the second teddy bear. Thank you for reading!
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