Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Dante stared at the wedding ring.
He knew the name engraved inside it.
Daniel Bennett.
He had seen it before, although he couldn't remember where.
“Marco,” he said without looking away from his mother. “Get me the security footage from the last six months. Every camera covering this garden.”
Marco nodded.
“And nobody touches that phone until our forensic team arrives.”
Victoria stepped toward him.
“Dante, darling, please. You don't understand what you're looking at.”
He slowly turned the ring between his fingers.
“Then explain it.”
“It's probably something that woman brought here herself.”
“It's buried three feet beneath your garden.”
“She could have—”
“Stop.”
One word.
That was all it took.
Victoria's mouth closed.
Dante placed the ring inside an evidence pouch and walked toward the mansion.
He found Dr. Russo in the upstairs guest suite. Sophia lay beneath a white blanket, an oxygen monitor attached to her finger.
The doctor looked up.
“She's stable for now. The baby has a heartbeat. But she's dehydrated, exhausted, and showing signs of uterine contractions. She needs complete rest and careful monitoring.”
Dante's shoulders loosened slightly.
“Can you save the baby?”
“We're doing everything we can. She needs a hospital with a proper maternity unit. I recommend transferring her immediately.”
“Prepare the car.”
Sophia stirred.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Dante approached the bed.
“I'm here.”
“Did you find it?”
He looked at her.
“The box?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“The ring.”
Dante took a moment before answering.
“Yes.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
A sob escaped her.
“Daniel…”
Dante pulled a chair closer.
“Tell me about your husband.”
She hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because I found his wedding ring buried in my mother's garden.”
Sophia's face changed.
“You know about Daniel?”
“No. That's what I'm trying to understand.”
She swallowed.
“Daniel worked as an accountant. He wasn't rich. He wasn't powerful. He didn't belong to your world.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was investigating financial records for a company connected to Moretti Shipping.”
Dante went still.
“What company?”
“Bellmont Logistics. He told me something was wrong with the invoices. Containers were being registered as empty when they weren't.”
Dante recognized the company immediately.
It was one of his family's oldest shipping subsidiaries.
“Did he tell you what he found?”
Sophia shook her head.
“He said he needed to protect the evidence. Then one night, he came home frightened. He told me that if anything happened to him, I should never trust anyone wearing the Moretti family crest.”
Dante looked down at his cuff links.
A silver crest was engraved on each one.
“Why didn't you tell me this before?”
“I didn't know you. And after Daniel died, I needed a job. Your household manager offered me one.”
“Did my mother know you were Daniel's wife?”
Sophia's eyes moved toward the doorway.
“I think she did.”
Before Dante could ask another question, Marco appeared.
“Boss. The forensic team is downstairs.”
“Good.”
Marco hesitated.
“There's something else. The phone in the box isn't dead. It has a removable memory card, and the battery was disconnected before burial.”
Dante looked at him.
“Can they recover the contents?”
“They're trying.”
Sophia suddenly gripped the blanket.
“Please don't let your mother take it.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“She won't.”
“You don't understand.” Her voice trembled. “Daniel told me someone in this house wanted him dead.”
“Who?”
She looked directly at him.
“I don't know. But he said the person had access to your father's private office.”
Dante felt something cold settle in his chest.
His father, Alessandro Moretti, had died seven years earlier.
A heart attack, according to the family physician.
But his private office had been sealed immediately afterward.
Only three people had possessed keys: Alessandro, Victoria, and Dante.
“Did Daniel ever mention my father?”
Sophia nodded.
“He said Mr. Alessandro was trying to stop something.”
Dante stood.
“Marco, take two guards to the old office. Nobody enters or removes anything.”
“Yes, boss.”
As Dante reached the door, Sophia called after him.
“Mr. Moretti?”
He turned.
“Thank you for saving my baby.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
“You shouldn't have needed saving in my house.”
Then he left.
Downstairs, Victoria waited in the drawing room.
She had changed her wet shoes and poured herself a glass of wine.
“Dante, we need to talk.”
“We do.”
He placed the evidence photograph of the ring on the table.
“Tell me why my mother's garden contains a dead man's wedding ring.”
Victoria looked at the photograph.
Her hand trembled.
“I don't know.”
“Then tell me why you recognized it.”
She lifted her eyes.
“I never said I recognized it.”
“You said, 'Oh, God,' before I even read the inscription.”
Silence.
Dante leaned forward.
“Mother, whose body was in Daniel Bennett's coffin?”
Victoria dropped her glass.
It shattered against the marble floor.
May you like
And she whispered the one thing Dante had never expected to hear.
“There was never a body.”
