Chapter 2 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
By midnight, the mansion no longer felt like a home.
Every hallway looked different.
Every closed door seemed to hide someone listening.
Mrs. Carter had locked the staff entrance.
Daniel doubled the security outside.
And Luca had ordered every camera feed in the house transferred to his study.
I sat on the leather couch with my ankle elevated while Dr. Harris examined the swelling again.
"You have a severe sprain," he said.
"Nothing broken?"
"Thankfully, no."
"Can I work tomorrow?"
Luca looked at me from across the room.
"No."
I lowered my eyes.
"I need the money."
"I'll pay you for the week."
I looked up sharply.
"I already told you I don't want charity."
"You keep using that word."
"Because you keep offering me money."
"I'm offering you compensation because someone injured you while you were working."
His voice was calm, but something dangerous sat beneath it.
I looked away.
Dr. Harris packed his medical bag.
"I'm going to leave some pain medication."
After he left, Luca remained standing beside the window.
"You said Arthur Vale gave me the necklace after my mother's funeral."
"Yes."
"Tell me everything."
I tried to remember.
"It was raining."
"When?"
"At your mother's funeral."
"Go on."
"Most of the guests had already left. I was cleaning the corridor outside the chapel."
Luca leaned against the desk.
"I worked for the funeral company then. Temporary staff."
That surprised him.
"I've never heard that."
"You wouldn't. I wasn't working for your family directly."
"What happened?"
I took a breath.
"I saw Vanessa outside."
"Vanessa?"
"She was standing near the chapel doors talking to a man."
"Arthur."
"I think so."
"You said he gave me the necklace."
"I didn't see the whole exchange."
"What did you see?"
"The man placed a velvet box in your hand."
Luca's brow furrowed.
"What else?"
"He said something."
"What?"
I closed my eyes.
"I think he said, 'Your mother wanted you to have the real one.'"
Luca's expression froze.
"The real one."
I nodded.
"Then you opened the box."
"What did I do?"
"You looked inside."
"And?"
"You cried."
He stared at me.
"That's not what happened."
"You don't remember?"
"I remember the funeral."
"I remember what happened after."
Luca sat down.
"My mother died when I was twenty."
"I know."
"She had been fighting with my father."
"About what?"
"I never knew."
I hesitated.
"Maybe you did."
"What are you saying?"
"The man wasn't there to give you a gift."
Luca waited.
"He was there because he wanted to warn you."
A phone vibrated.
Luca checked it.
Daniel.
He answered.
"Tell me."
A pause.
"You're sure?"
Another pause.
"Bring me the file."
He hung up.
"What happened?" I asked.
"The auction house never received an emerald necklace."
I frowned.
"Then what did Vanessa send?"
"A box."
"Empty?"
"No."
Luca looked directly at me.
"Photographs."
My stomach turned.
"What kind?"
"Photographs of you."
My blood ran cold.
"Me?"
"Different days."
"That's impossible."
"How long have you worked here?"
"Ten months."
"These photographs go back eleven."
I stared at him.
"That means someone was watching me before I came here."
Luca didn't answer.
Daniel entered carrying a folder.
He placed it on the desk.
Inside were photographs.
Me leaving a grocery store.
Me standing at a bus stop.
Me entering my apartment.
Me talking to another maid outside the mansion.
The last photograph showed me on the morning I interviewed for the Moretti job.
Someone had circled my face.
Beside it was a handwritten note.
Keep close.
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"Who took these?"
Daniel shook his head.
"We're still tracing the source."
I stared at the photograph.
"I've seen that handwriting."
Both men looked at me.
"Where?"
"At the mansion."
"When?"
"On a delivery receipt."
Luca stood.
"Show me."
I described the signature.
Daniel immediately made a call.
Ten minutes later, the answer came back.
A private courier company.
A false name.
But the payment account belonged to Bellini Holdings.
Vanessa's family business.
Luca's expression hardened.
"Why would Vanessa monitor Hannah?"
I swallowed.
"Maybe because I saw something."
"What?"
"The night I was hired."
Luca stared at me.
"Tell me."
"I was shown the staff wing by Mrs. Carter."
"Yes."
"There was a locked room."
"Which room?"
"Your mother's old office."
Luca went quiet.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Mrs. Carter told me not to go near it."
"And you did?"
"I heard something."
"What?"
"A music box."
Luca looked toward the wall.
"My mother had a music box."
"Was it red?"
He nodded.
"With a silver bird?"
Another nod.
"Then I heard it."
"When?"
"The night before Vanessa's engagement party."
Luca walked to the bookshelf.
"There hasn't been electricity in that room for years."
"I know."
He turned back.
"That room was searched after my mother's death."
"Maybe."
"Not maybe."
His voice sharpened.
"I personally emptied it."
I looked down.
"Then someone put something back."
Luca exchanged a glance with Daniel.
"Open the room."
Daniel moved toward the hall.
"Now?"
"Now."
The old office door was hidden behind a paneled wall.
Daniel unlocked it.
Dust covered everything.
A desk.
A broken lamp.
A bookshelf.
And in the corner, beneath a sheet, the music box.
Luca walked toward it slowly.
He lifted the cover.
The silver bird moved.
Music began to play.
A soft melody filled the room.
Luca's face changed.
"My mother used to play this when I was a child."
I noticed something underneath the box.
A narrow metal compartment.
"Luca."
He removed it.
Inside was a key.
And a folded note.
His hands trembled slightly as he opened it.
Luca,
If you are reading this, Arthur failed to keep you safe.
Do not trust the woman you plan to marry.
She is not who she says she is.
Luca looked up.
"Vanessa."
I didn't answer.
There was more.
The next line had been torn away.
Only one sentence remained.
The truth about my death is in the room where you first learned to lie.
"What does that mean?" I whispered.
Luca shook his head.
"I don't know."
Then something moved behind us.
Daniel drew his weapon.
A shadow crossed the hallway.
He ran after it.
We heard a door slam.
Then silence.
Luca grabbed my arm.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Hannah."
"I know this house better than you think."
I pulled open a hidden drawer beneath the desk.
Inside was a file.
Luca stared.
"You knew that was there?"
"No."
I picked up the folder.
A name was printed across the front.
ELENA MORETTI — PRIVATE.
Inside were bank statements.
Photographs.
Medical records.
And a marriage certificate.
I turned the page.
Then stopped.
Luca saw my expression.
"What?"
I handed him the certificate.
His face went pale.
The name of Elena's husband wasn't his father's.
It was Arthur Vale.
Luca stared at the document.
"My mother was married to Arthur."
"Apparently."
"But that's impossible."
"There were two signatures."
"Then my entire childhood was a lie."
A sound came from the doorway.
"Not your childhood."
We turned.
Vanessa stood there.
Her face was wet with tears.
"It was your father's."
Luca's gun rose.
"How long have you known?"
"Since the day I met you."
"Who is Arthur?"
Vanessa looked at the floor.
"The man who built your father's first empire."
Luca's eyes darkened.
"Why would he give my mother a necklace?"
"Because your mother stole it."
I stepped forward.
"That's not what she wrote."
Vanessa looked at me.
"And you still don't understand."
"Understand what?"
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"The necklace isn't jewelry."
Luca lowered the gun slightly.
"What is it?"
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
A gunshot exploded through the mansion.
Vanessa screamed.
I ducked.
Daniel shouted from the hallway.
"Luca!"
Another shot.
Then the emergency lights came on.
May you like
And on the wall behind Vanessa, someone had written in red:
YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO YOUR MOTHER.
