Chapter 2 - The Woman in the Hallway
At 2:17 in the morning, I woke up because somebody was standing outside my bedroom door.
I didn't move.
The mansion had settled into its usual nighttime silence.
The old pipes clicked softly behind the walls.
Wind pushed against the windows.
Somewhere downstairs, a clock struck twice.
Then I heard it.
Three slow knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
I sat upright.
Every instinct told me not to answer.
I had slept in the staff wing for eight months without ever being afraid of the dark.
That night was different.
I slipped out of bed and reached for the lamp.
Before I could turn it on, a shadow moved underneath the door.
A man's shoes.
Black.
Polished.
He wasn't one of the guards.
I knew them all.
“Emma?”
My whole body froze.
It was Luca.
I opened the door.
He stood there in a dark shirt with his sleeves rolled up.
He looked exhausted.
“You should lock your door,” he said.
“I thought you were outside.”
“I am.”
“What?”
His expression didn't change.
“I told you to stay close to me. I didn't tell you to stop being careful.”
He stepped inside.
“There was another attempt to enter the house.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Was it the man from earlier?”
“We don't know.”
He closed the door.
“Vanessa?”
“She’s in the east guest room under guard.”
I stared at him.
“You're keeping your fiancée prisoner?”
“I’m keeping a witness from leaving.”
“She might be innocent.”
Luca's eyes met mine.
“Do you believe that?”
I thought about Vanessa's face when she saw the blood under Daniel's watch.
“No.”
He nodded.
“I don't either.”
He placed a folder on my desk.
Inside were photographs.
Old police reports.
A map.
And a photograph of Daniel Moretti.
I had never seen him before.
But the resemblance to Luca was impossible to miss.
Same dark hair.
Same gray eyes.
Same sharp jaw.
Daniel looked younger.
Lighter.
Almost carefree.
“Why show me this?”
“Because there's something you don't know.”
I looked up.
“Your father?”
“My father died six years ago.”
“I didn't know.”
“Most people outside the family don't.”
He tapped the photograph.
“Daniel disappeared eight years ago.”
I nodded.
“He vanished after a meeting with a man named Victor Hale.”
I stared at the name.
“Who is he?”
“A former Moretti associate.”
“Former?”
“He was handling accounts for us.”
Luca paused.
“Until he betrayed my father.”
I looked at the papers.
“Was Daniel involved?”
“We always thought he was.”
“Did you find evidence?”
“No.”
“Then why did you believe it?”
“Because the night Daniel disappeared, he called me.”
Luca's face changed.
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘If anything happens to me, don't trust the woman closest to our family.’”
I stared at him.
“Vanessa?”
“No.”
He lowered his voice.
“My mother.”
I sat down.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“Exactly.”
He continued.
“Daniel never accused her directly. He only said that somebody inside the family was helping Victor.”
“And you thought your mother was involved?”
“I didn't know what to think.”
I looked at the photograph.
“Why didn't you tell the police?”
“Because two hours after Daniel vanished, my father was shot.”
The room went still.
I had heard rumors.
I had never heard the story from Luca.
“He survived,” Luca said, “but after that, he stopped trusting everyone.”
“And Daniel?”
“Never found.”
I looked back at the watch.
“What does Vanessa have to do with him?”
“That's what we're going to find out.”
He opened another photograph.
It showed Vanessa's father.
Giovanni Bellini.
He had been a powerful businessman.
Publicly, he owned shipping companies.
Privately, he had controlled several illegal operations that overlapped with the Moretti organization.
“He died three years ago,” Luca said.
“And Vanessa inherited everything.”
“Not everything.”
He turned another page.
“There was one account she never reported.”
A private trust.
Twenty million dollars.
A trust created eight years ago.
The same month Daniel disappeared.
“Whose name is on it?”
Luca's eyes hardened.
“Daniel Moretti.”
I couldn't breathe.
“So Daniel was alive.”
“Or somebody wanted us to believe he was.”
We stared at each other.
Then I noticed something.
A tiny notation on the bank document.
The account had been accessed six months ago.
By Vanessa.
“Why would she access Daniel's money?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you confront her?”
“She claimed she inherited access from her father.”
“But if the trust belongs to Daniel—”
“She had no legal right.”
I stood.
“She lied.”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe the watch wasn't sent by Daniel.”
Luca looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because if Daniel is alive, he wouldn't need to send his own watch to prove it.”
Luca frowned.
“He might.”
“Unless…”
I looked again at the photograph.
“Unless someone wants you to think Daniel is alive.”
A long silence followed.
Luca walked toward the window.
“You notice things.”
“My father taught me to.”
“Your father.”
“He was a watchmaker.”
Luca looked at the folder.
“Could he identify who serviced the watch?”
“Probably.”
“Bring him here tomorrow.”
I stared at him.
“My father can't travel easily.”
“Then I'll send a car.”
I shook my head.
“He doesn't trust powerful people.”
“Smart man.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Then a sound came from the hallway.
Luca immediately moved.
He pulled me behind him.
The door opened.
One of his guards stepped in.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found this in the east wing.”
He held up a small silver key.
I recognized it instantly.
It belonged to Vanessa.
The guard continued.
“And we found a hidden access panel behind the library.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“Show me.”
We followed him downstairs.
Behind a bookcase was a narrow steel door.
The key fit.
Inside was a hidden room.
There were boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
And a wall covered with names.
Daniel Moretti.
Victor Hale.
Giovanni Bellini.
Vanessa Bellini.
Luca.
And one more name.
Emma Reed.
I stared.
My own name.
“I've never seen this before.”
Luca stepped forward.
His face became unreadable.
“Neither have I.”
My hands went cold.
“Why is my name here?”
He walked toward the wall.
There was a photograph beside mine.
My father.
Standing outside his watch shop.
Taken from across the street.
The date was seven years ago.
A second photograph showed my mother.
Another showed me leaving college.
I turned toward Luca.
“Someone has been watching my family.”
He didn't answer.
Then I saw another photograph.
A man stood beside my father.
Young.
Dark-haired.
Gray-eyed.
Daniel.
My knees nearly gave out.
“That can't be…”
Luca looked at the picture.
His face lost all color.
The photograph had been taken seven years and four months ago.
One year after Daniel's disappearance.
My father had known him.
Luca reached toward the image.
“What the hell…”
I looked at the back.
There was handwriting.
A sentence in blue ink.
“Trust the watchmaker.”
Luca stared at me.
“Emma.”
I shook my head.
“I swear my father never told me.”
“Then we need to ask him.”
A scream echoed from upstairs.
We ran.
Vanessa's room stood open.
A guard was unconscious on the floor.
The window was shattered.
Vanessa was gone.
Luca stopped at the doorway.
On the bed lay a folded piece of paper.
He picked it up.
I watched his face change as he read.
“What does it say?”
He handed it to me.
Only one line was written.
“Stop looking for Daniel, or the girl pays first.”
I looked up.
“The girl?”
Luca's eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
And suddenly I understood.
May you like
The person behind all of this hadn't just been investigating the Moretti family.
They had been waiting for me.
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