Chapter 1 - THE SIGNATURE OF A DEAD MAN
Isabella Bennett had spent eleven years believing her father died because of a terrible highway accident.
Now the most dangerous man at a billionaire's wedding was standing in front of her, holding a document that suggested her father had been involved in something far more sinister.
And Matteo Rossi wanted answers she didn't have.
"What did your father know about mine?" Matteo repeated.
Isabella stared at the signature.
Daniel Bennett.
The familiar handwriting made her chest tighten.
"My father was an accountant," she whispered. "He worked for a small financial consulting company in Chicago. He wasn't involved with people like you."
Matteo's expression hardened.
"People like me?"
"Powerful people. Dangerous people."
He studied her for several seconds.
Then he turned the document toward himself.
"Your father signed this agreement seventeen years ago. Three weeks later, my father disappeared."
Isabella looked up sharply.
"Disappeared?"
"Without a goodbye. Without taking his money. Without contacting his family."
"And you think my father had something to do with it?"
"I think your father knew something."
Isabella shook her head.
"My father died when I was sixteen. He was driving home from work when his car went off a bridge."
Matteo went still.
"What date?"
"October seventeenth."
"What year?"
"2015."
Something changed in his eyes.
He looked at the document again.
Then at her.
"My father disappeared on October seventeenth, 2015."
Isabella felt the floor shift beneath her.
"That's impossible."
"Apparently not."
Before she could respond, someone called her name.
"Isabella!"
Her supervisor, Mrs. Caldwell, stood near the ballroom entrance.
Her face was furious.
"You're being paid to serve guests, not socialize with them!"
Isabella instinctively stepped away.
"I'm sorry. I was just—"
"Get back to work. Now."
Matteo's voice cut through the air.
"She's speaking with me."
Mrs. Caldwell froze.
"Mr. Rossi, I didn't realize—"
"Clearly."
His tone was quiet enough to be frightening.
Isabella touched his arm.
"It's okay. I need this job."
Matteo looked down at her hand.
Nobody touched him casually.
Yet her gesture held no calculation.
Only honesty.
He stepped aside.
"Then finish your shift."
Isabella nodded.
But as she turned toward the kitchen, Matteo added something.
"Miss Bennett."
She stopped.
"Don't leave the estate without speaking to me."
Her stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"Because someone here knows what happened to both our fathers."
Across the ballroom, the bride's father, Richard Vale, stood beside a towering arrangement of white roses.
He had been watching them.
And when Matteo met his eyes, Richard immediately turned away.
Ten minutes later, Isabella entered the service corridor.
A folded piece of paper had been slipped into her apron pocket.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph of her father standing beside Matteo's father.
Both men looked frightened.
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On the back, someone had written:
YOUR FATHER DIDN'T DIE IN THAT ACCIDENT. ASK MATTEO WHAT HIS FAMILY DID TO HIM.
