Chapter 1 - The Voice from the Tape
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The static on the small digital recorder cleared, replaced by the shaky, breathless cadence of my wife’s voice.
“Adrian, I hope you are the one who finds this,” Grace whispered through the speaker. “I found my mother. Or at least, I found the woman who says she is my mother. But she isn't Elena Moretti. Elena died twenty years ago in Milan. The woman holding me here is her twin sister, Sophia.”
My mother let out a strangled gasp, stumbling backward against the wooden pews of the chapel. Her face turned an ash-gray color, her manicured fingers digging into the velvet upholstery.
“Sophia...” my mother breathed, her voice barely audible over the patter of rain outside. “No... she was supposed to be in asylum in Switzerland.”
I picked up the recorder, stepping closer to my mother until my shadow completely covered her.
“What is she talking about?” I demanded, my voice dropping an octave into a dangerous, icy growl. “Who is Sophia?”
“Your father’s real obsession,” Bellini answered from the doorway, his eyes filled with profound exhaustion. “Elena was his accountant, yes. But Sophia was the woman he couldn't control. When Vittorio died eleven years ago, it wasn't a heart attack, Adrian. Sophia poisoned him. And your mother covered it up to keep the Rossi empire from collapsing.”
My chest heaved as decades of lies crumbled around me. Every memory of my stern, cold father suddenly felt like a puppet show staged by the woman sitting before me.
“Where did she take Grace?” I shouted, grabbing my mother by her lapels and pulling her up. “Where is my wife?”
“The old family dock,” my mother whimpered, her former arrogance completely shattered. “Sophia wants the ledger because it contains the offshore access codes to your father’s primary trust. She doesn't care about Grace. She only wants the money!”
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I shoved her back onto the pew and turned to Marco, who was already holding his radio.
“Get the cars,” I ordered, pulling a heavy black handgun from beneath my coat. “If a single scratch is on my wife when we find her, no one leaves that dock alive.”
