Chapter 8 - THE TRAITOR WHO NEVER LEFT THE HOUSE
Dante replayed the video three times.
Each time, Daniel Reyes said the same thing.
The woman who helped Victor Costa murder Dante's mother was still inside the Moretti mansion.
"Who?" Marco demanded.
The recording continued.
Daniel glanced toward a window.
I can't say her name on this file. If someone finds it before Elena does, they'll kill her too.
Elena gripped the edge of the table.
Daniel's face softened.
Elena, if you're seeing this, I'm sorry. I wanted to give you a safe life. I wanted to watch our daughter grow up.
His voice broke.
Tell Sophia her daddy loved her before he ever saw her face.
Elena covered her mouth.
Dante looked away, giving her the privacy of grief.
Then Daniel spoke again.
The evidence is in the place where the first lie began.
The screen went black.
Silence filled the room.
"The first lie," Marco repeated.
Dante stared at the laptop.
His mother's death.
Gabriella Costa's murder.
Luca's false identity.
The stolen family seal.
Which lie had come first?
Elena wiped her cheeks.
"Daniel used to say something."
Dante turned.
"What?"
"Whenever he found a mistake in someone's books, he'd say, 'Go back to the first lie. Everything after that is just decoration.'"
Dante's eyes sharpened.
"Then he meant the earliest falsified record."
Marco opened the financial files.
They searched for the oldest suspicious transaction.
Within twenty minutes, they found it.
A payment made thirty years earlier.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
Recipient: Margaret Bell.
Dante frowned.
"Who is Margaret Bell?"
Marco looked up.
"The woman who raised Isabella after Gabriella disappeared."
Dante's stomach tightened.
"Where is she now?"
Marco hesitated.
"Boss, Margaret Bell is the current head housekeeper."
Dante went still.
Mrs. Bell.
The woman who had managed the Moretti household for almost twenty years.
The woman who supervised Elena.
The woman who had unrestricted access to every room.
The woman who had personally recommended Isabella as a suitable wife.
And the woman who had been standing beside Dante's mother on the morning she died.
Dante reached for his phone.
"Lock down the estate."
Marco called security.
No answer.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Then the lights went out.
The mansion plunged into darkness.
A distant alarm sounded.
Elena immediately stood.
"Sophia."
Dante grabbed her arm.
"Stay behind me."
They moved toward the hallway.
A guard appeared at the far end.
"Boss! The east gate is open!"
"Who opened it?"
"We don't know. The system's been overridden."
Then a scream echoed from upstairs.
Elena recognized the voice.
Sophia.
She broke free and ran.
"Elena!" Dante shouted.
He followed her up the staircase.
Sophia's bedroom door stood open.
The bed was empty.
Mr. Whiskers lay on the floor.
And beside the stuffed cat was a folded note.
Dante picked it up.
Four words.
Bring the seal. Alone.
Elena staggered backward.
"No. No, please."
Dante caught her before she fell.
Marco appeared in the doorway.
"Boss, the security cameras are back."
"Show me."
Marco held out his phone.
The footage showed a woman entering Sophia's room.
Gray hair.
Black dress.
A familiar posture.
Margaret Bell.
She lifted the sleeping child from the bed and carried her toward the service elevator.
Elena began sobbing.
Dante's expression became terrifyingly calm.
"Find her."
Marco looked at the timestamp.
"She left seven minutes ago."
"Then she hasn't gone far."
Dante turned toward the hallway.
But before he could move, his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Margaret Bell's voice emerged.
"Good evening, Dante."
"Where is the child?"
"Safe. For now."
"If you hurt her—"
"Don't threaten me. Your father made that mistake."
Dante's blood chilled.
"What do you want?"
"The bronze seal. The original, not a copy."
"Why?"
Margaret laughed softly.
"Because your father hid something inside it."
Dante looked toward the study.
"What?"
"The only thing that can prove who really killed your mother."
A pause.
May you like
Then Margaret whispered:
"And if you want Sophia alive, bring it before midnight."
