Chapter 4: Nine Words That Changed Everything
Vittorio read the message three times.
*Open the box, Vittorio, and Lucy won't reach her ninth birthday.*
For several seconds, the study seemed unnaturally quiet. Even the ticking clock on the mantel sounded louder than usual.
Lucy stood beside him, watching his face.
“Daddy?””
Vittorio locked his phone and crouched in front of her.
“Come here, sweetheart.””
She stepped into his arms.
He held her tightly, forcing his breathing to remain steady. He couldn't let an anonymous message decide how he behaved in front of his daughter. Whoever had sent it wanted him frightened, reckless, and predictable.
They would get none of those things.
“Emma,” he said without releasing Lucy, “please take her to the blue room. Stay with her until I come.””
Emma nodded.
“Of course, sir.””
Lucy clutched his jacket.
“Are you coming, too?””
“In a few minutes.””
“Promise?””
He kissed her forehead.
“I promise.””
She hesitated before allowing Emma to lead her away. Just before she disappeared through the doorway, she looked back.
“Daddy, don't let Mommy take me.””
Vittorio felt the words settle somewhere deep in his chest.
“She won't,” he answered.
The moment the door closed, he called Salvatore.
“Someone has our address, knows what's inside this study, and is monitoring my daughter. I want the property secured immediately.””
“Understood.””
“Not with a public display of force. I don't want anyone outside knowing we've changed security. Check the gates, the perimeter cameras, and every vehicle that entered this property today.””
Salvatore paused.
“Did something happen, sir?””
Vittorio read the message aloud.
Silence followed.
Then Salvatore said, “I'll handle it personally.””
“No. You'll supervise. And I want an independent investigator. Someone who has never worked for DeLuca Maritime, never taken money from Bellandi, and has no connection to my wife's family.””
“I know someone.””
“Send me his details. And Salvatore?””
“Yes, sir?””
“Nobody approaches Lucy without your approval or mine. Nobody. That includes family.””
When he ended the call, Vittorio stared at the black box.
He wanted to smash it open.
He wanted to drag Marcus back into the study, demand every answer, and make him confess what had happened on September twenty-sixth.
But anger had already cost him one thing.
Control.
The fight in the kitchen could easily be used against him. Marcus would certainly claim that Vittorio had attacked him without provocation. Bianca would tell anyone willing to listen that her husband had become unstable.
And if they were preparing to have him declared unfit, an uncontrolled confrontation was exactly what they needed.
Vittorio picked up the box with gloved hands and placed it inside a locked document case.
He would not let his enemies determine when he opened it.
His phone rang.
Carlo Bellandi.
Vittorio answered without greeting him.
“You forgot to mention the threat against my daughter.””
“I just heard about it.””
“From whom?””
“Marcus called me.””
Vittorio's expression hardened.
“Marcus is in my house. Under security supervision.””
“Then you should keep him there.””
“Why?””
“Because he may be more frightened than you realize.””
“Of me?””
“Of the people he's been dealing with.””
Vittorio walked to the window.
“Tell me what is in the box.””
Carlo exhaled slowly.
“I can't do that over the phone.””
“You seem to have an extraordinary ability to know what's in my study without entering it.””
“Vittorio, listen carefully. The box contains something you should have received months ago. It was supposed to be delivered to you after the September meeting.””
“By whom?””
“Your father.””
Vittorio went still.
His father had been dead for six years.
“What did you say?””
“Your father left you a sealed archive. I was the executor responsible for delivering it.””
“Then why didn't I receive it?””
“Because the archive was incomplete.””
“Who decided that?””
“I did.””
Vittorio's grip tightened around the phone.
“You withheld a document from me that belonged to my father.””
“I withheld a collection of documents because I believed releasing them would put several people in danger.””
“Which people?””
“I can't tell you.””
“Then you're useless to me.””
“Perhaps. But I'm telling you this now because the situation has become dangerous. Don't open that box until we've met.””
“You said it contained material that could endanger Lucy.””
“Yes.””
“Why would my father leave something that could put his granddaughter in danger?””
“Because what he discovered involved people he trusted.””
Vittorio looked toward the locked case.
“Was Bianca involved?””
Carlo did not answer quickly enough.
Vittorio closed his eyes for a moment.
“Understood.””
“Vittorio—”
“The meeting is canceled.””
“What?””
“You're not coming to my house. You're not meeting me in a parking garage. You're not taking a private road to some isolated building and telling me it's for my protection.””
“That's not what I was going to suggest.””
“Good. Then you'll have no trouble meeting my independent investigator at a police station tomorrow morning.””
“You can't trust the police with this.””
“That's an interesting statement from a man who claims to be innocent.””
Carlo's voice sharpened.
“I have spent twenty-two years protecting you.””
“And apparently six years protecting a secret from me.””
“Your father made me promise.””
“My father is dead, Carlo. My daughter is alive. I know which promise matters more.””
Vittorio ended the call.
He stood in silence until he heard a knock.
Salvatore entered carrying a tablet.
“We've located the sedan from the photograph. It's registered to a shell company with no listed employees. The driver left before our second patrol reached the north gate.””
“Can you identify him?””
“Not yet. But we recovered footage of the vehicle entering the street. The plate was obscured.””
“Did it come onto the property?””
“No.””
“Then the person who took that photograph was close enough to watch Lucy's windows without crossing my gates.””
Salvatore nodded.
“That concerns me, too.””
“Anything else?””
“Yes. Mrs. DeLuca made three calls from the sitting room after you confronted her.””
“To whom?””
“The first was to her private attorney. The second was to an unknown mobile number. The third was to Richard Sloane.””
Vittorio looked at the tablet.
“What did she say?””
“We don't have the call recordings. But our exterior microphones captured part of the conversation when she stepped into the garden.””
Salvatore played the clip.
Bianca's voice was faint but clear enough.
“He found the box.””
A pause.
Then another voice replied through her phone speaker.
“Did he open it?””
“No.””
“Then we still have time.””
Bianca's next words were almost inaudible.
“What about the girl?””
The response came immediately.
“Keep her quiet.””
Salvatore stopped the recording.
Neither man spoke.
Vittorio looked toward the hallway.
“Move Lucy to the guest wing. Have two officers stationed outside the room, and make sure she understands they're there to protect her, not watch her.””
“Understood.””
“And nobody tells her anything about the message.””
Salvatore nodded.
As he turned to leave, Vittorio stopped him.
“One more thing. Find out whether my father had a relationship with Richard Sloane before Richard joined the company.””
Salvatore frowned.
“Why Richard?””
“Because Carlo said my father left the archive. Bianca knew about the box. Marcus knew about the box. And Richard is preparing a meeting to take my authority.””
Vittorio looked down at the case.
“Someone has spent years deciding what I should and shouldn't know. I want to know when it started.””
Salvatore left.
Vittorio walked into the guest wing twenty minutes later.
Lucy sat on a sofa wrapped in a blanket. Emma was beside her, reading aloud from a children's book. The two security officers stood outside the open doorway.
When Lucy saw him, she put the book aside and hurried toward him.
“You came back.””
“I told you I would.””
She reached for his hand.
“Can we go somewhere else?””
Vittorio knelt.
“Where would you like to go?””
“Anywhere they can't find us.””
The answer was so immediate that he felt an ache behind his ribs.
He brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.
“We don't have to decide that tonight. But if we need to leave, we will.””
“Will you come with me?””
“Every step.””
She studied him.
“Even if you lose your company?””
Vittorio couldn't speak for a moment.
Then he took both her hands.
“Lucy, companies can be rebuilt. Money can be earned again. Houses can be sold and replaced. You're not something I could ever trade for any of those things.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Mommy said you loved work more than me.””
Vittorio lowered his head, feeling the force of the accusation.
“I have spent too much time working,” he said.
“And I've trusted people when I should have asked more questions. Those are my mistakes, sweetheart.””
“Does that mean you don't love Mommy anymore?””
He chose his words carefully.
“It means I'm trying to understand what she's done. And it means you don't have to fix anything between the grown-ups.””
Lucy nodded, though she still looked uncertain.
Then she reached into the pocket of her sweater.
“There's something I found.””
She placed a small brass key in his palm.
Vittorio stared at it.
“Where did you get this?””
“Mommy's dressing room. It was underneath the little rug near the mirror.””
“When?””
“This morning. Before dinner.””
He turned the key over.
An inscription had been scratched into the handle.
*L.D.*
The same initials marked the black box.
Vittorio looked at his daughter.
“Did your mother know you had it?””
Lucy shook her head.
“I thought it was a toy key. But when the man came to the study, he asked Mommy where it was.””
“Did she answer?””
“She said it was safe.””
Vittorio closed his fingers around the key.
“Lucy, you did the right thing telling me.””
She leaned against him.
“Are we safe now?””
Vittorio looked past her toward the corridor, where his guards were standing watch.
He wanted to say yes.
Instead, he gave her the only promise he could keep.
“I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure we are.””
That night, while Lucy slept, Vittorio returned to the study.
He unlocked the document case and took out the black box.
Then he placed the brass key beside it.
The teeth matched the lock perfectly.
He turned the key once.
A faint click came from inside.
The lid lifted less than an inch before an electronic tone sounded.
Vittorio immediately stopped.
A thin red light began blinking on the box.
He backed away.
The device didn't appear to be a simple lock. It had a sensor, and something inside had activated when the key turned.
He called Salvatore.
“Come to the study. Bring the investigator you recommended. And tell him to bring equipment for examining a potentially tampered electronic device.””
Salvatore arrived within minutes.
He studied the blinking light from a distance.
“We shouldn't open it ourselves.””
“Agreed.””
Salvatore crouched near the desk.
“Sir, did you turn the key?””
“Yes.””
“Then whatever mechanism is inside has registered the attempt.””
Vittorio stared at the red light.
“Can it transmit?””
“Possibly. We'll have it checked.””
His phone vibrated.
A new message appeared from the same unknown number.
*You were warned. Now ask Carlo why your father died before he could open it.*
Vittorio read the words in silence.
Then another message arrived.
It contained a photograph of a document.
At the bottom was his father's signature.
At the top was a date.
Six years earlier.
May you like
And beside the signature was a sentence that made Vittorio's blood run cold.
*If anything happens to me, investigate Richard Sloane.*
