Chapter 2 - The Man Who Was Buried Twice
The ballroom doors opened slowly.
A man entered, leaning heavily on a black walking cane. His silver hair was disheveled, his face pale, and a deep scar disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt.
In his left hand, he carried a yellowed document inside a transparent plastic folder.
Luca couldn't breathe.
He recognized the face.
Not because he had seen it recently, but because it had haunted every family photograph in the mansion for three years.
“Dad?”
The man stopped.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Antonio Moretti looked at his son.
“Don't come any closer.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“Where the hell have you been?”
Antonio glanced at Vanessa.
“That's the wrong question.”
The ballroom erupted in whispers.
Some guests backed away. Others raised their phones, but Luca's security chief, Dominic Russo, immediately ordered everyone to put them down.
Vanessa looked as if she might collapse.
“Antonio,” she whispered.
His expression hardened.
“You still remember my name.”
Luca turned toward her.
“You knew he was alive?”
“No.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I didn't know he would come here!”
Antonio struck his cane against the marble floor.
“Enough.”
The entire room fell silent.
He placed the document on the nearest table.
“This is the original death certificate issued after the car explosion three years ago. The document your family received was not the one signed by the medical examiner.”
Luca examined it.
The name was correct. The date was correct.
But the signature belonged to a physician he had never heard of.
“Who signed this?”
“Dr. Samuel Reed.”
Luca looked toward Dominic.
“Find him.”
Dominic nodded and stepped away.
Antonio continued.
“The explosion happened on November seventeenth. But I wasn't inside the car when it burned.”
Luca stared at him.
“Then whose body did they bury?”
Antonio's eyes shifted toward Vanessa.
“That's what your bride knows.”
Vanessa shook her head violently.
“I told you, I had nothing to do with the explosion!”
Antonio's face twisted with anger.
“You were the last person I saw before someone struck me from behind.”
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“Explain.”
She began crying.
“Your father called me that evening. He said he had discovered something about the business. He wanted to meet me privately.”
“And you went?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he threatened to expose something that would destroy my family.”
Antonio gave a bitter laugh.
“There it is.”
Vanessa stepped toward Luca.
“Your father discovered that my brother had been stealing money from his companies. He wanted to turn him over to the authorities. I was trying to protect my family.”
“You were protecting a thief?”
“He was my brother!”
“And what did that have to do with my father?”
Vanessa's voice broke.
“I thought I could convince Antonio to give him another chance.”
Antonio shook his head.
“She arrived with someone else.”
Luca looked at him.
“Who?”
Before Antonio could answer, the older stranger from the back of the ballroom stepped forward.
“Me.”
He removed his glasses.
“My name is Robert Hayes. I was Antonio's personal attorney.”
Luca's expression changed.
“Robert Hayes died six months ago.”
Robert gave him a tired smile.
“Apparently, people have been dying rather conveniently around your family.”
He pulled a folded photograph from his jacket.
It showed a black sedan parked outside an abandoned warehouse.
Beside it stood Vanessa.
A second figure was visible behind her.
A man with his face turned toward the camera.
“Your father was supposed to meet us that night,” Robert explained. “But someone changed the meeting location.”
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“Who?”
She didn't answer.
Antonio suddenly reached for the edge of the table.
His knees weakened.
Luca caught him before he fell.
“Get a doctor!”
“No.” Antonio gripped his son's wrist. “Listen to me.”
His breathing became shallow.
“The person who ordered the explosion wasn't your bride.”
Luca froze.
Antonio looked directly into his eyes.
“It was someone who knew exactly where I would be.”
Then he whispered a name.
“Dominic.”
Luca turned.
May you like
His security chief was standing near the ballroom doors.
And Dominic was holding a gun.
