Chapter 4 - The Secret Behind the Locked Door
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
Luca was already speaking into the phone.
“Was anything taken?”
I heard Marco's muffled reply.
“Who has access to that facility?”
Another pause.
Luca's jaw tightened.
“Send me the security footage. And don't let anyone touch what's left inside.”
He ended the call.
I locked the study door.
“Is someone hurt?” I asked.
“No. The unit was empty when the manager arrived. But someone forced the lock less than twenty minutes ago.”
“Did they find anything?”
“Marco's still checking.”
Luca looked toward the photograph.
“Elena Bellini.”
He repeated the name slowly, as though testing it against a memory.
“Vanessa told me she was an only child.”
I stared at him.
“Maybe Elena is a cousin?”
“Maybe.”
But he didn't sound convinced.
He opened the sealed envelope from Antonio's drawer.
Inside were several financial records, a handwritten letter, and an old medical invoice.
Luca studied the documents.
Then his face changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
He handed me the invoice.
I read the name at the top.
Elena Bellini.
Underneath was the name of a private rehabilitation center outside Chicago.
The bill had been paid through Moretti Holdings.
The date was six months before Catherine died.
“Why would your father pay for her treatment?” I asked.
Luca shook his head.
“He wouldn't. He was already dead.”
We looked at each other.
Someone had been using Antonio's old business accounts.
The letter provided another piece of the puzzle.
It was addressed to Luca.
But it had never been mailed.
He unfolded it.
As he read, the color drained from his face.
“It's from Catherine,” he whispered.
I turned away instinctively.
“That sounds private.”
“Stay.”
His voice was unsteady.
“I don't think I can read this alone.”
He began reading aloud.
Luca, if you find this, it means I couldn't explain everything before someone stopped me.
My heart hammered.
I know you think I've been pushing you away. I know you believe I'm hiding something because I don't love you anymore.
Luca stopped.
He pressed one hand against the desk.
Then continued.
The truth is that I have been trying to protect you and our son from something your father's business left behind.
I found payments made to a woman named Elena Bellini. When I contacted her, she told me she had evidence that someone inside Moretti Holdings was stealing money and using our shipping company to move illegal goods.
She said the person responsible had threatened her life.
Luca lowered the letter.
“God.”
I barely breathed.
He continued.
I asked your business partner Daniel Mercer for help because I thought he was loyal to you. That was my mistake.
Luca stopped again.
“Daniel?”
I recognized the name.
Daniel Mercer was Luca's chief financial officer.
He'd attended the engagement dinner.
He was also the man sitting beside Luca when Teresa first tried to stand.
Luca read the final paragraph.
If anything happens to me, find Elena. She knows who changed the shipping records. And Luca, please believe one thing.
His voice broke.
I never stopped loving you.
The room became painfully quiet.
Luca folded the paper.
For a long moment, he stared at the dark window.
Then he sat in his father's chair and covered his face.
I didn't know what to do.
This was a man who could make powerful people tremble.
A man everyone called dangerous.
But sitting in that room, he looked like a husband who had spent four years believing the worst thing about someone he loved.
“Mr. Moretti?”
He shook his head.
“I accused her of having an affair.”
My chest tightened.
“She wouldn't tell me where she was going. She kept getting phone calls. She was frightened all the time.”
He swallowed.
“I thought she'd fallen in love with someone else.”
I stayed silent.
“On the night of our last argument, she told me she couldn't keep living this way. I said some things I can never take back.”
His eyes shone.
“And the next morning, she was dead.”
There was nothing I could say to repair that.
So I did the only thing that felt right.
I placed the letter beside him.
“She wanted you to know the truth.”
He looked up.
“Four years too late.”
“Maybe. But she still wanted you to know.”
He stared at me.
Then his phone rang again.
Marco.
This time, Luca put the call on speaker.
“Boss, we found something.”
“What?”
“The storage-unit manager gave us the rental agreement. The unit was leased under Elena Bellini's name.”
Luca straightened.
“Where is she?”
“That's the problem.”
Marco hesitated.
“According to public records, Elena Bellini died four years ago.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Luca looked toward Catherine's photograph.
“Then who was paying for the storage unit?”
Marco answered quietly.
“Someone using Catherine Moretti's old bank account.”
The silence stretched.
May you like
Then Marco added something worse.
“Boss, the last payment was made yesterday.”
