Chapter 3 - the second secret
The tape crackled softly as Chiara’s recorded voice resumed, echoing through the quiet study like a ghost returning from the dark.
Chiara’s Recording: "Dante... three weeks ago, I found a secondary set of ledgers in the family vault beneath the east wing. Someone inside our family has been routing private syndicate assets to a holding firm in New York called Sterling Logistics."
Dante leaned forward, resting his broad hands flat on the desk blotter, his dark eyes fixed on the revolving tape reels.
Chiara’s Recording: "I tried to confront Valentina about it, but she told me to stay out of family business. Two days later, my daily medicine began tasting strange... bitter, like crushed copper. If anything happens to me, Dante, look inside my antique music box in the conservatory. The key to the vault is hidden beneath the velvet lining."
The recording cut off with a harsh, metallic click, leaving the study in total silence.
Dante sat motionless for three long minutes, his chest rising and falling in heavy, ragged hitches of anger. His wife hadn't died of a sudden, tragic illness three years ago. She had discovered an internal betrayal... and she had been silenced.
Dante stood up, pulled his heavy silver revolver from his desk drawer, checked the cylinder, and tucked it securely into his suit holster.
He walked down the long corridor toward the second-floor conservatory—a glass-walled room filled with exotic plants and antique furniture that had remained locked since Chiara's funeral.
As he reached the conservatory doors, he found Giulia Bennett standing near the threshold, holding a small silver key in her hand.
"Giulia?" Dante asked, his brows furrowing. "What are you doing here?"
Giulia looked up, her soft brown hair loose around her shoulders, her face pale with nervousness. "Mr. Moretti... when I was cleaning the conservatory three months ago, Mrs. Valentina gave me explicit orders to throw away all of late Mrs. Chiara's personal boxes."
Dante’s posture went rigid. "And did you throw them away?"
Giulia swallowed hard, reaching into her apron pocket and pulling out a small, velvet-lined rosewood music box. "I couldn't do it, sir. I knew how much Mrs. Chiara loved this music box. I hid it inside the linen closet."
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Dante looked at the quiet housekeeper, a rare, genuine spark of gratitude shining in his dark eyes. He took the music box from her hands, his broad fingers gently prying open the hidden velvet lining in the base.
Resting inside the wood was a small, antique iron key stamped with the Moretti family crest.
