Chapter 4 - THE SECRET INSIDE CAROLINE'S MUSIC BOX|
The upstairs linen room smelled of lavender, clean cotton, and furniture polish.
I had entered it hundreds of times without thinking about anything more important than folded towels and fresh bedsheets.
That night, every shadow seemed to hold a secret.
Luca followed me inside while Marco waited in the hallway.
I crossed to the highest shelf and pulled down a cardboard box marked Donations.
Vanessa had ordered me to place several of Caroline's belongings inside it the previous month.
I had obeyed, but I had never found the courage to tell Benjamin where his mother's things had gone.
Now the memory filled me with shame.
I opened the box.
Beneath a folded cardigan and a bundle of children's drawings sat the silver music box.
Its lid was decorated with tiny blue flowers.
One corner had been dented, and a faint scratch ran across the polished surface.
Luca stared at it.
"Caroline bought that the week Benjamin was born."
His voice sounded different.
Softer.
Almost unfamiliar.
"She said every child should have one thing that would still feel like home when everything else changed."
He lifted the box with extraordinary care.
For several seconds, he simply held it.
Then he opened the lid.
A delicate melody drifted into the silent room.
Luca closed his eyes.
I looked away, feeling that I had wandered into a grief that belonged entirely to him.
When the music stopped, he turned the box over.
A narrow strip of felt covered the bottom.
He frowned.
"That wasn't there before."
Marco brought a small desk lamp from the hallway.
Under the light, we could see that the felt had been attached with tiny stitches.
Luca carefully loosened one corner.
A folded piece of paper slipped out.
There was also a small brass key.
The paper was yellowed along the edges.
On the front, written in blue ink, were three words.
For Luca only.
His hands began trembling.
I stepped backward to give him privacy, but he shook his head.
"Stay, Claire."
He unfolded the paper.
I watched his eyes move from one line to the next.
Then the color slowly drained from his face.
"What is it?" I asked.
For a long moment, Luca couldn't answer.
Finally, he began reading aloud.
"Luca, if you're finding this, it means I couldn't make you listen while I was standing in front of you."
He stopped.
His jaw tightened.
Then he continued.
"Someone has been moving money through the foundation accounts, and the transfers lead back to companies connected to the Bellini family."
I stared at him.
Vanessa Bellini.
The woman who had been engaged to him.
Luca's voice dropped.
"I've tried to tell you, but Dominic keeps convincing you that the discrepancies are accounting errors."
His fingers tightened around the letter.
"Please don't mistake loyalty for honesty."
Silence filled the little room.
I could hear my own heartbeat.
Luca lowered the page.
"She told me something was wrong."
His eyes remained fixed on the handwriting.
"Three weeks before she died, Caroline said she was afraid someone close to us was stealing from Benjamin's future."
I didn't know what to say.
Luca continued quietly.
"I told her Dominic would never betray us."
He swallowed.
"I told her she was exhausted and worrying too much."
The pain in his expression made my chest ache.
"Mr. Moretti, you couldn't have known."
He shook his head.
"I should have listened."
Then he looked at the final paragraph.
Caroline had written that she copied everything she discovered.
Bank records.
Names.
Dates.
And correspondence that could explain why the family foundation was losing money.
She had placed the evidence somewhere safe.
The brass key opened the first part of it.
Luca read the last sentence aloud.
"If anything happens to me, protect Benjamin before you protect the Moretti name."
He folded the letter slowly.
I noticed his wedding ring was still on his hand.
He had continued wearing it for nearly a year after Caroline's death, according to Mrs. Carter.
The ring he wore now was an old family signet.
But in that moment, I could almost see the husband he had been before grief hardened him.
He looked at me.
"Claire, did Vanessa ever ask you about Caroline's belongings?"
I nodded.
"Several times."
"Anything specific?"
"She wanted to know whether Caroline kept letters or notebooks in the nursery."
Luca's expression darkened.
"Did she find any?"
"I told her I didn't know."
That was true.
But another memory suddenly surfaced.
"She also asked about a blue leather notebook."
Luca stared at me.
"Blue?"
"Yes, sir."
He looked toward the music box.
"Caroline kept a blue notebook."
Marco appeared at the doorway.
"Sir, Elena is downstairs."
Luca took the key and letter.
We returned to the study, where Elena was examining financial documents.
When Luca showed her Caroline's letter, she became visibly shaken.
"She wrote this before the accident?"
"Yes."
Elena scanned the page.
Then her eyes stopped on Dominic's name.
"Luca, there's something you need to know."
He waited.
"I requested records from Caroline's final week because of the suspicious trust activity."
"And?"
"Her last appointment was with a private financial investigator."
Luca looked confused.
"Caroline never mentioned an investigator."
"Apparently she hired one without telling anyone."
Elena opened a scanned receipt.
"The investigator sent her a package on the morning she died."
Luca leaned forward.
"Where is it?"
Elena hesitated.
"The courier records say it was delivered to the estate."
"Who accepted it?"
She turned her laptop toward him.
A signature appeared at the bottom of the receipt.
Dominic Rinaldi.
I felt the room tilt around me.
Caroline had found evidence of stolen money.
She had hidden a key.
She had warned her husband not to trust Dominic.
And on the very day she died, the man she feared had intercepted a package meant for her.
Luca stared at the screen.
Then he asked the question nobody wanted to answer.
"Elena, are you telling me Caroline's accident might not have been an accident?"
Elena looked at him for a long moment.
May you like
"I'm telling you we need to find out."
And somewhere deep inside the mansion, Benjamin began calling for his father.
