Chapter 1 - The Secret Behind the Wall
“Mama... that's where the man goes after he knocks.”
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Dante Moretti stared at my five-year-old daughter as if she'd just identified a ghost. Behind him, Bruno's growl deepened, vibrating through the narrow hallway. Somewhere inside the hidden tunnel, something scraped against brick.
Then came three knocks.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
They came from beneath our feet.
Dante immediately pulled me and Sophie away from the wall. He drew his pistol, signaled toward the security cameras, and spoke into the radio clipped to his belt.
“Lock down the estate. Nobody leaves. Nobody enters.”
A man's voice crackled through the speaker. “Understood, boss.”
Dante turned toward Sophie, crouching until his eyes were level with hers.
“Sweetheart, I need you to tell me exactly what you saw.”
Sophie clutched her star-shaped pillow against her chest.
“A man with a silver watch. He opens the little door, walks through the dark, and comes to my window.”
My stomach twisted.
“Why didn't you tell me about the door?”
“I thought you'd be mad.”
“Oh, baby.” I pulled her against me. “I'd never be mad at you for telling me you're scared.”
Dante's expression changed at those words, something painful flickering behind his cold eyes.
Then Bruno lunged toward the passage.
A security guard rushed around the corner, pale and breathless.
“Boss, we checked the outside cameras. Nobody approached the cottage tonight.”
“Impossible,” I whispered.
The guard swallowed.
“There's something else. The cameras inside the servants' corridor were disabled eleven minutes ago. Someone used your master access code.”
Dante slowly lowered his gun.
“That code belongs to three people.”
He looked at me.
Then at the guard.
Finally, he spoke a name that made the man take an involuntary step backward.
“Teresa.”
Dante's mother had hired me, protected my daughter, and given us a home when the rest of the world had turned its back on us.
But as Bruno barked into the darkness, Dante opened his phone and showed me a photograph from the disabled camera's final frame.
A man stood outside Sophie's window.
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On his wrist was a silver watch.
And his face belonged to my dead husband.
