Chapter 1 - The Father Who Died Twice
Vanessa Bellini was about to marry Luca Moretti when an ambulance stopped outside the mansion.
Two medical workers carried a stretcher into the ballroom.
And when they pulled back the white sheet, Luca's bride recognized the dead man.
She screamed.
“GET HIM OUT OF HERE!”
The wedding guests turned.
Luca stood beneath the crystal chandeliers, holding Vanessa's hand.
“What happened?”
One of the medical workers stepped forward.
“Someone requested the bride identify him.”
Vanessa immediately shook her head.
“I don't know him.”
The man on the stretcher had a pale face, silver hair, and a deep scar beneath his left eye.
His clothes were soaked.
His hands were folded across his chest.
Luca looked down.
Something about the man's face made his stomach tighten.
He had seen that face before.
Not in a photograph.
Not in a dream.
In his father's bedroom.
In the family portrait that had hung above the fireplace for thirty years.
“Open the sheet,” Luca ordered.
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
“Luca, please.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
She couldn't answer.
The medical worker slowly pulled the sheet away.
The man looked almost exactly like Antonio Moretti.
Luca's father.
The man who had died twelve years earlier.
The man whose funeral Vanessa had attended.
The man whose death had made Luca the head of the Moretti family.
Luca stepped closer.
“Who is he?”
The medical worker handed him a document.
“We were told the bride could identify him.”
Vanessa backed away.
“I told you. I don't know him.”
Emily Carter, the maid standing near the ballroom entrance, noticed something.
The dead man's right hand was clenched.
A silver ring rested between his fingers.
Emily leaned forward.
“Mr. Moretti…”
Luca turned.
“What?”
She pointed at the ring.
“That's your family crest.”
Luca carefully opened the man's hand.
The ring was old.
The black stone had been scratched.
But the engraving inside was unmistakable.
VANESSA BELLINI.
Luca stared at it.
Then he looked at his bride.
“Why does a stranger have your name?”
Vanessa began crying.
“I don't know.”
Luca held up the ring.
“Look at it.”
She refused.
He stepped closer.
“Vanessa.”
She finally looked.
And immediately covered her mouth.
The medical worker opened the folder.
“There is another document.”
Luca took it.
The first page contained the man's fingerprints.
The second contained a photograph.
The third contained a signature.
Vanessa Bellini.
Luca slowly read the final line.
PATIENT IDENTIFIED BY: VANESSA BELLINI.
The date was twelve years earlier.
The same year Antonio Moretti had died.
Luca looked at his bride.
“You identified this man?”
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“I was a child.”
Luca stared at her.
“You were seventeen.”
She shook her head.
“I didn't know who he was.”
Emily looked at the medical worker.
“Then why does the report say she identified him?”
The man opened another page.
“Because she signed it.”
Luca took the document.
He examined the signature.
It was Vanessa's.
The same handwriting.
The same name.
The same date.
He looked at her.
“Who was he?”
Vanessa began shaking.
“I don't remember.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“Then why are you afraid?”
She stepped backward.
The medical worker suddenly reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a small envelope.
“There's one more thing.”
Luca took it.
The envelope was addressed to him.
Inside was a photograph.
Antonio Moretti stood beside a young woman.
The woman was Vanessa.
She looked about five years old.
Antonio was holding her hand.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten message.
The girl who identified the body knows which father was buried.
Luca froze.
He looked at Vanessa.
Then at the dead man.
“Which father?”
Vanessa began crying.
The medical worker slowly turned the stretcher.
A second photograph was attached beneath the mattress.
It showed Antonio standing beside another man.
The two men looked identical.
But one had a scar beneath his left eye.
The other had a scar beneath his right.
Luca stared at the photograph.
Then he looked at the dead man's face.
His father had always had a scar beneath his left eye.
The man on the stretcher had the same scar.
But the photograph showed something else.
The man standing beside Antonio had the scar on the opposite side.
Luca slowly turned toward Vanessa.
“Who are these men?”
She covered her mouth.
Then whispered:
“Your father had a twin.”
Luca stopped breathing.
The medical worker nodded.
“Antonio Moretti wasn't the only man buried twelve years ago.”
Luca looked at the stretcher.
Then at the photograph.
“Who was the other man?”
The medical worker opened the final page of the report.
A name was written beneath the photograph.
ANTONIO MORETTI.
Luca stared at it.
Then he looked at the dead man.
“That's impossible.”
The medical worker shook his head.
“No, sir.”
He pointed toward the bride.
“She identified him twelve years ago.”
Vanessa suddenly screamed.
“STOP!”
The ballroom went silent.
Luca turned toward her.
“Who did you identify?”
Vanessa's lips trembled.
Then she looked at the dead man.
And whispered:
“Your father.”
Luca slowly stepped backward.
The medical worker lowered his voice.
“Mr. Moretti, there's something you need to understand.”
Luca looked at him.
“What?”
The man pointed at the stretcher.
“The body we brought today…”
He paused.
Then whispered:
“...is the man you buried twelve years ago.”
Luca stared at the corpse.
His father had been buried twelve years earlier.
But the man on the stretcher had a hospital bracelet.
Emily stepped forward.
She read the name.
Then her face went pale.
PATIENT: LUCA MORETTI.
Luca looked at the bracelet.
The date of birth was his.
The medical worker slowly turned toward Vanessa.
“Mrs. Bellini…”
She began shaking.
“Tell him who you identified twelve years ago.”
Vanessa looked at Luca.
Then at the body.
Finally, she whispered:
“I identified your father.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“Which one?”
Vanessa began crying.
And the medical worker answered:
“The one who was still alive.”
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To be continued...
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