Chapter 2 - The Box Beneath the Lake
The first thing Elena heard after coming out of the water was Dante shouting.
Not at her.
At everyone else.
“Back up!”
The crowd obeyed instantly.
Doctors rushed toward the dock.
Security pushed guests away.
Marco Bellini crouched near the edge, scanning the lake with the expression of a man trying to calculate how close death had come to his employer.
Dante was still holding Elena.
Her wet curls clung to her face.
Her uniform was heavy with water.
She was shaking so violently that her teeth chattered.
“Put this around her,” Dante ordered.
A security officer handed him a blanket.
Dante wrapped it around Elena himself.
Bianca stood 15 ft away.
Frozen.
“Dante…”
He looked at her.
The tenderness disappeared from his face.
“You said she slipped.”
“She did.”
“I saw you standing behind her.”
“I tried to help.”
“You pushed her.”
Bianca’s eyes widened.
“How can you say that?”
“Because I saw you.”
The guests fell silent.
Bianca looked around.
“You think I would push a maid into a lake?”
Dante's voice was quiet.
“I think I would believe my own eyes.”
She stepped closer.
“This is insane.”
Elena opened her mouth.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She coughed.
“Don't…”
Dante leaned down.
“What?”
Elena looked at Bianca.
“She…”
Bianca’s face went pale.
“She pushed me.”
A collective gasp moved through the crowd.
Bianca immediately shook her head.
“That’s not true.”
Elena's voice was weak.
“She grabbed my wrist.”
Dante stared at Bianca.
Bianca looked at him.
“You believe her?”
“Yes.”
That single word destroyed something between them.
Bianca began crying.
“You're my fiancé.”
“And she is one of my employees.”
“She means more to you than I do?”
Dante didn't answer.
Bianca stared at him.
Then she looked at Elena.
There was hatred there now.
No disguise.
No elegance.
Pure hatred.
Elena was too exhausted to understand the full meaning of it.
She only knew that Dante carried her into the house.
He took her to a guest bedroom.
A doctor examined her.
No broken bones.
No major injuries.
Severe shock.
Mild hypothermia.
A concussion.
The doctor told Dante she needed rest.
Dante nodded.
Then he stayed.
He sat beside Elena’s bed while she slept.
For 3 hours.
He didn't answer calls.
He didn't return to the party.
He didn't even look at Bianca when she passed the doorway.
By midnight, every guest had left.
The fireworks had stopped.
The musicians were gone.
Villa Moretti was silent again.
Elena woke at 2:17 a.m.
She found Dante sitting in a chair near the window.
His jacket was gone.
His shirt sleeves were rolled up.
His hair was still damp.
“You should sleep,” she whispered.
His head lifted immediately.
“Are you okay?”
Elena nodded.
“I think so.”
He stood.
“How does your head feel?”
“Like I fell into a lake.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Then his expression became serious.
“Bianca pushed you.”
Elena looked down.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She thought…”
Elena stopped.
“What?”
“She thinks I want you.”
Silence.
Dante stared at her.
“Do you?”
Elena's heart pounded.
“This is a bad time.”
“It is.”
“Then don't ask.”
He sat beside her.
“I need to know.”
Elena looked at him.
“I don't know what you want me to say.”
“The truth.”
She swallowed.
“The truth is that I have cared about you for a long time.”
His expression changed.
“But I never expected anything.”
“Why?”
“Because you were never available.”
His gaze lowered.
“That's true.”
“And because I'm your employee.”
“That doesn't make your feelings less real.”
“No.”
Elena looked toward the window.
“It makes them dangerous.”
Dante was silent for a long time.
Then he said, “Bianca and I haven't been married.”
“I know.”
“You think the engagement means I love her.”
Elena looked at him.
“Don't you?”
He hesitated.
“No.”
The answer hurt in a way Elena didn't expect.
“Then why?”
“My father arranged it.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“The engagement was a business alliance.”
“With the Vitali family.”
“Yes.”
Elena had heard whispers.
The Vitalis owned shipping routes in Europe.
Dante controlled major ports in New York.
Their marriage would unite 2 powerful networks.
“It doesn't mean I don't respect her,” he said.
“But you don't love her.”
“No.”
“Then why did you let her humiliate me?”
Dante looked away.
“I didn't know.”
That answer was worse.
Because it sounded honest.
A knock came.
Marco entered.
“Boss.”
Dante turned.
“What?”
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
Marco looked at Elena.
Dante immediately understood.
“What did you find?”
Marco closed the door.
“The lake.”
Dante stood.
“Go on.”
“We searched beneath the dock.”
Elena sat up.
“And?”
Marco's eyes moved toward her.
“We found something.”
Dante looked at Elena.
“The box.”
Marco nodded.
“The box Elena mentioned.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“What was inside?”
Marco didn't answer immediately.
Then he placed a photograph on the table.
Elena recognized the person instantly.
A younger Dante.
A younger Marco.
And a third man.
Elena stared.
“That’s my father.”
Marco nodded.
“His name is Luca Rossi.”
Elena’s heart stopped.
“My father died when I was 8.”
Dante looked at her.
“I know.”
“How?”
He was silent.
“How do you know my father?”
Dante walked to the desk.
He opened a drawer.
Inside was a file.
Old.
Sealed.
He gave it to Elena.
She opened it.
There were photographs.
Shipping records.
Police reports.
Bank statements.
At the center was a newspaper clipping.
Luca Rossi presumed dead.
Date: 20 years ago.
Elena looked at Dante.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father worked for mine.”
She stared.
“My father worked for your family?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“He was my father's accountant.”
Elena kept reading.
Then she found something.
A handwritten note.
Luca Rossi had written:
If anything happens to me, never trust the Vitali family.
Elena's hands began shaking.
“Why would my father write this?”
Dante’s expression darkened.
“We need to know.”
Marco stepped forward.
“There’s more.”
He placed the metal box on the table.
Inside was a flash drive.
Dante connected it to the computer.
A single video file appeared.
The date was 20 years old.
They played it.
Luca Rossi appeared on screen.
Older than Elena remembered.
His face was bruised.
He looked frightened.
“If Elena is ever brought to Villa Moretti…”
Dante froze.
Luca continued.
“…she must never know who her mother is.”
Elena's heart slammed against her ribs.
“My mother?”
Dante turned to her.
The video continued.
“The Vitalis will tell you she died.”
A pause.
“She didn't.”
Elena covered her mouth.
The screen showed Luca leaning closer.
“She is alive.”
The video ended.
Silence.
Dante looked at Elena.
She whispered:
“Who is my mother?”
Before he could answer, the door opened.
Bianca stood there.
Her face was pale.
“I know.”
Elena turned.
Bianca stared at her.
“Who is my mother?”
Bianca looked at Dante.
Then at Elena.
“She was my aunt.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Bianca’s eyes filled with tears.
“Your mother was Sofia Vitali.”
The room became silent.
Dante stood.
“Bianca.”
But she was already crying.
“She was my father's sister.”
Elena shook her head.
“My mother died.”
“No.”
Bianca whispered.
“She disappeared.”
“And my father?”
“He was killed.”
Elena stared.
“By who?”
Bianca looked at Dante.
“I don't know.”
Dante did not believe her.
But Elena saw something in Bianca's eyes.
Fear.
Not jealousy.
Fear.
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot exploded in the corridor.
Dante grabbed Elena and pushed her behind the desk.
Marco drew his weapon.
Another shot.
Then another.
Someone shouted from downstairs.
“Secure the house!”
Dante turned toward Bianca.
She was standing frozen in the darkness.
Then a voice came through the security intercom.
“Dante Moretti.”
Dante raised his gun.
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed.
“Ask the maid where she found the box.”
Dante looked at Elena.
The box was gone.
May you like
Someone had stolen it.
And whoever had taken it knew Elena was the reason it had surfaced.
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