Chapter 2: The Message from the Study
Marco pulled up the trace on his tablet.
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
The message had originated from inside the estate.
Not a guest room.
Not a staff phone.
The private study on the second floor.
Lorenzo's own study.
"Only three people have access to that room," Lorenzo said.
"I know," Marco said quietly.
"Me.
You.
And—"
"Dante."
The name landed like a stone.
Dante Moretti.
Lorenzo's younger brother.
The one person Lorenzo had never once questioned.
The one person who had stood at his bedside after the mountain-road att@ck, held his hand, and said, *"I thought I'd lost you."*
Lorenzo didn't move for a long moment.
Then he walked to the window.
Below in the courtyard, Sophia sat on a bench with Lena asleep across her lap.
She was stroking her daughter's hair with shaking hands.
Marco spoke carefully.
"Dante arrived this morning.
He said he came to help with the wedding arrangements."
"Where is he now?"
Marco hesitated.
"We can't locate him."
Lorenzo turned slowly.
"He's gone?"
"His car is still here.
But he's not answering his phone."
Lorenzo looked back toward Valentina's door.
Two people.
One plan.
And he had been six weeks from walking straight into it.
Then his phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
One message.
*"Ask Valentina who introduced her to you.
Then ask her why."*
---
What Lorenzo uncovered next shattered everything he thought he knew.
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The full story — including what Dante was really after and what Sophia had been hiding for four years — is in the link below.
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