"THE MAFIA BOSS SAW HIS MAID BEING DRAGGED OUT OF HIS WEDDING—THEN HIS DAUGHTER RAN AFTER HER SCREAMING, “SHE HAS MOMMY'S LETTER!”

## THE LETTER THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED

For several seconds, Luca Moretti couldn't hear anything except his daughter's frightened breathing.

Two hundred guests stood motionless beneath the chandeliers. Somewhere near the back, a champagne glass struck the floor and shattered.

Luca looked down at the letter again.

Six weeks earlier.

His wife had supposedly been dead for more than a year.

He unfolded the paper completely.

My dearest Luca,

If this letter has reached your hands, then someone has finally found the courage to let you know what happened to me. I am alive. I know what they told you, and I know you searched for me.

But I need you to understand something before you come looking for me.

Do not trust Vanessa Sterling.

Luca stopped reading.

A murmur spread through the ballroom.

Vanessa's face tightened.

"Anyone can write those words," she said. "This is a calculated attempt to destroy us."

Luca continued.

She knows why my car was found beside the river. She knows why Sophie was taken from my arms that night. And she knows what your father did before he died.

The room seemed to tilt.

Luca's father, Anthony Moretti, had been dead for four years.

"What does that mean?" Luca whispered.

Vanessa reached for the letter.

He pulled it away.

"Don't touch it."

"Darling, listen to yourself. You're letting a stranger manipulate you in front of everyone who matters to us."

"Then explain the handwriting."

She opened her mouth, but no words came.

Luca read the final lines.

I cannot return until I know Sophie is safe. The person who helped me escape has disappeared, and someone has been watching the house where I am hiding. If you still love me, remember the promise we made beneath the old oak tree.

Ask Vanessa what happened to the blue key.

Isabella.

Luca lowered the letter.

The blue key.

He remembered it immediately.

Three days before Isabella disappeared, she had asked him to keep a small brass key painted blue. She'd told him it belonged to a box containing something she wasn't ready to explain.

The key had vanished from his desk the night of the storm.

Vanessa had told him Isabella took it with her.

"Where is the blue key?" he asked.

Vanessa's expression changed.

"I don't know."

"You told me Isabella stole it."

"I thought she had!"

"You thought?"

His voice was quiet, but the nearest guests stepped backward.

Vanessa's composure began to crack.

"Luca, your wife is gone. Whatever this is, it's cruel. You're standing here in front of your daughter, allowing someone to use your grief against you."

Sophie tugged at his sleeve.

"Daddy, Mommy said you'd remember the tree."

Luca looked down.

"What tree, sweetheart?"

"The one behind the greenhouse. She told me that if she couldn't come home, I should tell you to look underneath it."

Vanessa went completely still.

Luca noticed.

So did Emily.

"Security," Luca said.

His head of security, Marco Bellini, appeared beside him.

"Sir?"

"Lock the estate gates. Nobody leaves until we've identified the woman who delivered this letter. Preserve the security footage from every entrance."

Vanessa stared at him.

"You cannot be serious."

"I've never been more serious in my life."

"What about our wedding?"

Luca looked at the abandoned altar.

"There is no wedding."

Her mouth fell open.

"You can't humiliate me like this!"

"You attempted to have my employee dragged out of my house because she was carrying a letter addressed to me. My daughter says her mother is alive. Until I know the truth, this ceremony is over."

Vanessa's eyes filled with furious tears.

Then she leaned toward him and whispered, "If you go looking for Isabella, you may discover why she was better off dead."

Luca caught her wrist before she could retreat.

"What did you say?"

She jerked free.

"Nothing."

But it was too late.

He had heard her.

Marco escorted Vanessa into a private sitting room while the guests were instructed to remain inside. Luca handed the letter to Marco for safekeeping, then carried Sophie toward the west corridor.

Emily followed several steps behind them.

At the greenhouse, rainwater still darkened the earth beneath the ancient oak tree.

Luca knelt and began digging where Sophie pointed.

Within minutes, his fingers struck a small metal box.

Inside lay a faded photograph of Isabella holding their newborn daughter, a second letter, and a blue brass key.

But beneath the photograph was something else.

A small digital voice recorder.

Luca pressed the playback button.

Static crackled.

Then a woman's voice emerged.

Isabella's voice.

"If you're hearing this, Luca, it means Vanessa has finally made her move."