Chapter 3 - THE COFFIN THAT WAS EMPTY
For several seconds, Dante couldn't move.
His mother stood beside the broken glass, staring at him as if she had just confessed to murder.
“There was never a body?” he repeated.
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Your father arranged everything.”
“My father has been dead for seven years.”
“Not this. Daniel's disappearance.”
Dante's expression became unreadable.
“Start talking.”
Victoria sat down.
She explained that Daniel had been hired as a financial auditor by one of the family's shipping companies. Initially, he had been instructed to investigate missing inventory and suspicious payments.
But he discovered something much bigger.
A network of illegal shipments was being concealed through legitimate shipping records. The operation involved several executives, corrupt officials, and members of the Moretti organization.
Daniel had discovered that someone was using Dante's father's signature to authorize the transfers.
Alessandro had confronted the people responsible.
Three weeks later, he died.
“Are you telling me my father's heart attack wasn't natural?”
Victoria looked away.
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I know what I saw.”
“What did you see?”
“Your father arguing with someone in his office. Two days before he died.”
“Who?”
Victoria's lips trembled.
“Your uncle, Salvatore.”
Dante's face darkened.
Salvatore Moretti had been his father's younger brother. He had supposedly moved to Florida after a family disagreement and had not attended a single Moretti family gathering in years.
“Where is he now?”
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie to me.”
Victoria rose.
“Your father made me promise to protect you. I did what I thought was necessary.”
“By burying evidence beneath your garden?”
“I was trying to keep you alive!”
Her voice cracked.
For the first time, Dante saw genuine fear rather than the usual calculated authority in her expression.
Before he could respond, Marco entered.
“Boss. The phone is ready.”
They moved into the security room.
The forensic technician had recovered several audio files and a series of photographs from the memory card.
Dante pressed play.
Daniel's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, it means I didn't make it home.”
Sophia's name appeared on the screen.
Dante listened without moving.
“I found the payments. Every shipment was approved through the executive office. But the signature isn't Alessandro Moretti's. Someone forged it after his death.”
A pause.
“There's another problem. Someone inside the family knows I'm investigating. I don't know who. I only know they're watching Sophia.”
The recording ended.
A second file began automatically.
This time, Daniel sounded breathless.
“I made a copy of everything. The original files are hidden somewhere no one would think to look. If something happens to me, Sophia has the key.”
Dante stopped the recording.
“Find the key.”
Marco looked confused.
“What key?”
“Whatever Daniel left with his wife.”
Dante returned upstairs.
Sophia was awake, sitting against the pillows.
He showed her a photograph recovered from the phone.
It was a picture of Daniel standing beside a wooden music box.
Sophia immediately began crying.
“I know that box.”
“Where is it?”
“In our old apartment. The police gave me Daniel's belongings after the accident. I kept the music box.”
“What's inside?”
“I don't know. It was a wedding anniversary gift.”
Dante called Marco.
“Find the apartment. Search the music box.”
Sophia grabbed his wrist.
“Please. I want to go with you.”
“Absolutely not.”
“It's mine.”
“And you're recovering from a medical emergency.”
“Daniel trusted me with this.”
Dante studied her face.
He recognized something familiar in her stubbornness.
His father had looked the same way whenever someone tried to stop him from doing what he believed was right.
“Fine,” he said. “We'll bring it here.”
An hour later, Marco returned with a small wooden music box.
Sophia recognized the carved roses immediately.
She pressed the little silver switch.
A familiar melody played.
Then something clicked.
A narrow compartment opened beneath the velvet lining.
Inside was a tiny brass key and a folded piece of paper.
Sophia unfolded it.
Her husband's handwriting covered the page.
My love, if you are reading this, the truth has finally reached you. The key opens the last drawer in Alessandro's private office. Trust no one who tells you the past is buried.
Dante stared at the message.
His father's office.
The one that had remained locked for seven years.
He reached for the key.
At that exact moment, Marco's phone rang.
He listened briefly, then looked up.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“The old office has been opened.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“By whom?”
Marco hesitated.
“Your mother.”
Dante turned toward Victoria, who had just appeared at the doorway.
She was pale.
And she was holding a photograph.
A photograph of Daniel Bennett.
Alive.
May you like
Standing beside Dante's father.
The date printed on the back was six months after Alessandro's funeral.
