Chapter 1 - THE NAME ON THE DEAD PHONE
The lights went out.
For three seconds, Adrian Moretti heard nothing except the baby breathing against his chest.
Then the phone inside his sealed office rang again.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
Mara froze in the hallway.
“Don't answer it,” she whispered.
Adrian turned toward her.
“Why?”
“Because that name shouldn't exist.”
The phone rang a fourth time.
Adrian carried the baby into his office and crossed the darkness without hesitation. He knew every inch of the room. He knew where the desk was, where the safe was, where the emergency lights were hidden.
He opened the drawer beneath his desk and pulled out a flashlight.
The phone sat in the center of his desk.
Its screen glowed pale blue.
LUCA MORETTI.
Adrian stopped breathing.
His older brother had been dead for eleven years.
A boating accident.
A body recovered three days later.
A funeral attended by hundreds.
Adrian had personally watched the coffin disappear beneath the earth.
Luca was dead.
Yet his name was calling him.
The phone rang again.
Adrian answered.
“Who is this?”
Static.
Then a man's voice whispered:
“You should have left the baby where you found her.”
Adrian's grip tightened around the phone.
“Who are you?”
“You already know.”
The line went dead.
Mara covered her mouth.
Adrian slowly lowered the phone.
“Start talking.”
Mara shook her head.
“I was trying to protect her.”
“From whom?”
She looked at the baby.
“From your family.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“My family?”
Mara nodded.
“Her mother was Elena.”
The name struck him unexpectedly.
Elena Rossi.
A woman Adrian remembered from years ago.
Luca's closest friend.
The woman everyone claimed had disappeared after Luca's death.
“What happened to her?”
Mara's eyes filled with tears.
“She didn't disappear.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Then where is she?”
Mara whispered the answer.
“She was murdered.”
A heavy silence filled the office.
Adrian looked down at the sleeping baby.
“And this child?”
Mara swallowed.
“She's Elena's daughter.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Who is the father?”
Before Mara could answer, something shattered outside.
A gunshot?
No.
Glass.
Adrian immediately turned off the flashlight.
The baby stirred.
He held her closer.
From the hallway came hurried footsteps.
Someone shouted.
Then the security alarm screamed.
Adrian's face became completely expressionless.
Someone had entered his penthouse.
And they had come looking for the child.
He handed the baby to Mara.
“Take the service elevator.”
“What about you?”
Adrian looked toward the office door.
“I'll make sure whoever came here never gets another chance.”
Mara hesitated.
Then she whispered:
“Adrian…”
He looked back.
“The baby's father isn't dead.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Who is he?”
May you like
Mara's answer came barely above a whisper.
“Luca.”
