Chapter 3 - The Child Who Saw Too Much
The ballroom erupted.
Guests pushed toward the locked doors. Security officers ordered everyone to remain where they were. Vanessa screamed that someone had touched her, while Rosa dropped to her knees and pulled Emma against her chest.
Alessandro checked the inside of his tuxedo jacket.
The receipt was gone.
Someone had removed it during the blackout.
Only a handful of people had been close enough to reach him.
Vanessa.
Rosa.
His uncle Vittorio.
Celia Hart, the Moretti family attorney.
And two members of mansion security.
“Tomas, search everyone,” Alessandro ordered.
Vittorio Moretti stepped forward.
At sixty-two, Alessandro’s uncle still possessed the commanding presence that had helped him control the Moretti financial empire for decades.
“You cannot search prominent guests like criminals,” Vittorio said.
“A dead woman’s signature was used to purchase evidence of fraud.”
“You have a photograph of a receipt. That will be enough.”
“The photograph doesn’t contain the transaction code printed on the back.”
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed.
“You saw a transaction code?”
“No.”
Alessandro watched his uncle’s face.
“But you apparently knew one was there.”
Vittorio did not respond.
Celia Hart intervened before the confrontation could deepen.
“As family counsel, I recommend preserving the security footage and contacting the authorities. Public searches inside a ballroom will only create more legal exposure.”
She was calm, polished, and practical, as she had been since Alessandro’s childhood. Elena had trusted Celia enough to name her executor of several personal documents.
Alessandro had always trusted her too.
Tonight, trust felt like a luxury.
“Search everyone,” he repeated.
The female guests were taken to one side of the mansion, the men to another. Phones, handbags, coats, and pockets were checked.
The missing receipt was not found.
Neither was the flower-covered box.
Someone had removed a large object from a locked ballroom in less than sixty seconds.
That meant there had been a hidden exit.
Tomas discovered it behind the family portrait.
When guards moved the enormous frame, they found a narrow service door concealed in the wall. It opened into an unused passage leading toward the west wing.
Alessandro had lived in the mansion for most of his life.
He had never known the passage existed.
Emma had.
“The lady used that door,” she said.
Alessandro brought her to Elena’s study, away from the angry guests. Rosa sat beside the child on a velvet sofa while Tomas recorded the conversation.
Alessandro kept his questions simple.
“What did the lady look like?”
“She had Mama’s coat.”
“Did you see her face?”
Emma shook her head.
“She wore black over it.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked if I missed my mommy.”
Alessandro’s chest tightened.
“What did you tell her?”
“I said Mommy is in the stars.”
Rosa covered her mouth.
Emma continued.
“The lady said Mommy wanted me to be brave. Then she gave me a red key.”
“What key?”
Emma searched the tiny pocket of her dress.
It was empty.
“I put it in my dollhouse.”
“What did the key open?”
“She said it opened the room where the baby cried.”
Alessandro exchanged a look with Rosa.
“What baby?”
Emma glanced toward the closed study door.
“The other Emma.”
Rosa froze.
Alessandro leaned closer.
“What do you mean, the other Emma?”
“The girl in the picture. She looks like me.”
“Where did you see the picture?”
“In the lady’s phone.”
A knock interrupted them.
Tomas opened the door and entered.
“We traced the telephone transmitter.”
“Where did the signal originate?”
“Inside the mansion. Specifically, from Elena’s old bedroom.”
“That room is sealed.”
“It was opened tonight with an active staff code.”
“Whose code?”
Tomas hesitated.
“Rosa’s.”
Every guard in the room looked at her.
Rosa remained seated beside Emma.
“I didn’t open it.”
“The system says you did.”
“My code was disabled months ago.”
“Someone reactivated it this morning.”
Alessandro faced Tomas.
“Who has authority to reactivate staff credentials?”
“Security administration, the estate manager, and family counsel.”
Celia Hart stood in the doorway.
Her expression revealed nothing.
Rosa rose slowly.
“Sir, you need to know something.”
Alessandro waited.
“Three weeks before Elena died, she made me promise never to tell you what she had discovered unless someone tried to remove Emma from this house.”
Alessandro’s voice dropped.
“Someone has tried.”
May you like
Rosa looked toward the family portrait and the secret passage hidden behind it.
“Elena believed your daughter had been watched since the day she was born.”
