Chapter 2 - THE LETTER THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE ARRIVED
My father had been buried nine years ago.
At least, that was what I believed.
I remembered standing beside his coffin in a small Queens cemetery, holding my mother's hand while rain soaked our black coats.
Now Vivienne was telling me that everything about his death had been a lie.
“That's impossible,” I whispered.
Matteo looked toward Dr. Bennett.
“She needs medical care first.”
I shook my head.
“No. I need answers.”
“You'll get them,” Matteo said. “But not at the cost of your health.”
There was something unexpectedly gentle in his voice.
He wasn't ordering me because he owned the mansion.
He was frightened.
For me.
The ambulance arrived minutes later.
Before I left, I watched an officer seal my father's letters inside an evidence bag.
One envelope had fallen open.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
The careful capital letters.
The slightly crooked letter R.
My father had written every birthday card that way.
“Please,” I whispered. “Can I see the first page?”
The officer held it where I could read without touching it.
My beautiful Naomi,
If this letter reaches you, then someone has finally broken the agreement that kept us apart.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I know you believe I died. I know what that has done to you and your mother.
Tears blurred the words.
But there is something about your childhood you must understand.
The officer turned the page.
My breath caught.
When you were six, you witnessed something that powerful men have spent twenty-five years trying to erase.
I stared at the sentence.
Six years old.
I remembered almost nothing from that time.
Except a red door.
A woman's scream.
And my father carrying me through heavy rain.
The memories had always appeared in my nightmares.
Then I read the final line.
Naomi, if you ever meet Matteo Marino, do not tell him what you saw behind the red door.
My blood turned cold.
I slowly looked toward Matteo.
He was standing beside the ambulance, speaking with a paramedic.
The man who had caught me when I collapsed.
The man who had ordered his mansion secured because someone was hurting me.
And my father had specifically warned me about him.
I swallowed.
Why?
Then Matteo's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“Where?”
A pause.
Then his voice dropped.
“That's impossible.”
He looked toward me.
For the first time since I'd entered his mansion, Matteo Marino appeared genuinely afraid.
“Naomi,” he said, “your father was found this morning.”
My hands began trembling.
“Alive?”
Matteo nodded.
May you like
Then he added:
“He's been held inside a private medical facility owned by my family.”
