Chapter 5 - THE KEY HER FATHER LEFT BEHIND
Isabella had worn her father's gold necklace for twelve years.
She had slept with it.
Worked with it.
Held it during the worst days after his death.
Never once had she imagined it concealed something powerful men would kill to possess.
Matteo examined the pendant without touching it.
"It looks like an ordinary necklace."
Alessandro shook his head.
"Daniel was brilliant with security systems. He designed custom storage mechanisms."
Isabella frowned.
"My father was an accountant."
"He was much more than that."
She looked sharply at him.
"Then tell me the truth."
Alessandro lowered his eyes.
"Daniel Bennett was Lorenzo's confidential financial investigator."
The room became silent.
"He found evidence that Richard Vale was stealing from multiple companies, including ours."
Matteo's expression hardened.
"Why didn't my father involve the authorities?"
"He intended to. But someone warned Vale."
Matteo stared at his uncle.
"You."
Alessandro didn't deny it.
Isabella felt sick.
"My father died because of this?"
"We believed he did."
"Believed?"
Alessandro swallowed.
"His car was recovered from the river. The body was never conclusively identified."
Isabella's knees weakened.
Matteo immediately pulled out a chair.
"Sit."
She shook her head.
"No. I want answers."
Alessandro looked at her necklace again.
"The pendant may contain a miniature storage key. Daniel once told me that if he disappeared, the truth would survive with someone nobody suspected."
Isabella remembered her father's final birthday gift.
He had fastened the necklace around her neck.
Then kissed her forehead.
"Never lose this, sweetheart."
She had laughed.
"Is it expensive?"
"No," he'd answered. "It's important."
Tears blurred her vision.
Matteo gently asked permission to examine it.
Isabella removed the necklace and handed it to him.
Using a small precision tool supplied by Gabriel, Matteo opened the pendant's hidden clasp.
Inside was a tiny encrypted storage device.
Gabriel stared.
"That's old, but we can read it."
They moved to Matteo's private security office.
Gabriel connected the device to an isolated computer.
A password prompt appeared.
Three attempts allowed.
Matteo looked at Isabella.
"Did your father have a favorite phrase?"
She thought of countless evenings around their kitchen table.
Her father helping with homework.
Her mother baking bread.
A life that had seemed ordinary.
Then she remembered.
"He always said, 'Truth doesn't disappear. People just stop looking.'"
Gabriel entered the phrase.
Access denied.
Isabella's heart sank.
"Try my birthday."
Access denied.
One attempt remained.
Matteo placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Think about something only you and your father would know."
Isabella closed her eyes.
Then a memory surfaced.
A childhood nickname.
Her father had called her his little North Star.
"Try NORTHSTAR."
Gabriel typed.
The screen went black.
Then dozens of folders appeared.
Financial records.
Encrypted messages.
Photographs.
A video labeled:
For Isabella.
She pressed play.
Her father's face appeared.
Older than she remembered.
With gray hair at his temples.
And a trembling voice.
"My beautiful daughter..."
May you like
Isabella gasped.
Because the recording was dated only six months earlier.
