Chapter 1 - The Photograph That Stopped a Wedding
THE MAFIA BOSS'S WEDDING GUESTS ALL RECEIVED THE SAME PHOTOGRAPH
Luca Moretti was seconds away from putting the wedding ring on Vanessa Rowan’s finger when the first envelope appeared.
A waiter approached the nearest table and placed a white envelope beside a champagne glass.
Then another.
And another.
Within minutes, every table in the Moretti mansion had received one.
Luca noticed the movement.
“What is that?”
The waiter stopped.
“Wedding gifts, sir.”
Vanessa smiled nervously.
“Just ignore them, darling. Someone probably sent congratulations.”
But the waiter didn't leave.
Instead, he looked directly at Luca.
“I'm sorry, Mr. Moretti. The instructions said everyone had to open them at the same time.”
Luca lowered the ring.
“Who gave you those instructions?”
The waiter swallowed.
“I don't know.”
Vanessa suddenly stepped away from the altar.
“Don't open them!”
Her voice was so sharp that the guests turned.
Luca looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because this is a wedding, Luca. Not some ridiculous investigation.”
He didn't answer.
He raised his hand.
“Everyone, open your envelopes.”
The guests hesitated.
Then the first envelope opened.
A photograph slid onto the table.
The guest holding it stopped smiling.
At the next table, a woman gasped.
Then another guest stood up.
Within seconds, the entire ballroom had fallen silent.
Every envelope contained the same photograph.
Vanessa Rowan stood beside a man in a dark suit.
His arm was around her waist.
Her head was tilted toward him.
She was smiling.
And the man wasn't Luca Moretti.
Luca walked toward the nearest table.
He picked up the photograph.
His fingers tightened around its edges.
The man standing beside Vanessa had gray hair, a familiar jawline, and a small scar beneath his left eye.
Luca knew that scar.
He had seen it every morning of his childhood.
He had watched his father shave around it.
He had touched it once when Antonio Moretti carried him out of a burning car.
His father.
Antonio Moretti.
The man who had been declared dead three years earlier.
Luca turned the photograph over.
There was a date written in black ink.
November 17.
The exact date Antonio had supposedly died.
Luca's eyes moved toward Vanessa.
She was staring at the photograph.
Her bouquet trembled in her hands.
“Where did this come from?” Luca asked.
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't know.”
He held up the picture.
“That's my father.”
“I know.”
The words escaped her before she could stop them.
Luca went completely still.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“I mean—I know who he is. Everyone knows who Antonio Moretti was.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Then why are you crying?”
She looked toward the ballroom doors.
“Because someone is trying to destroy our wedding.”
Luca didn't move.
A guest near the back suddenly pushed his chair away.
The man was older, wearing a dark blue suit. He had been sitting quietly throughout the ceremony, never once touching his champagne.
Now he stood.
“Luca.”
The mafia boss turned.
The stranger slowly removed his glasses.
“I was there that night.”
Luca stared at him.
“What night?”
The man looked down at the photograph.
Then he looked directly at Vanessa.
“The night your bride killed your father.”
Vanessa screamed.
“That's a lie!”
The stranger didn't flinch.
Luca lowered the photograph.
His voice became dangerously quiet.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
The man opened his mouth.
But before he could speak, Vanessa grabbed Luca's arm.
“Don't listen to him!”
Luca looked at her hand.
Then at her face.
“Why?”
Vanessa's lips trembled.
“Because…”
She glanced toward the ballroom doors.
And for the first time that evening, Luca noticed something.
The stranger wasn't the only person looking at the entrance.
Three of his own security guards had turned toward it.
One of them slowly reached for his weapon.
The doors began to open.
Vanessa stepped backward.
Luca released her hand.
Then the stranger whispered:
May you like
“Because Antonio Moretti isn't the only person who survived that night.”
And the person walking through those doors was carrying the original death certificate.
