Chapter 8: The Voice From the Grave
For a moment, Vittorio couldn’t move.
The phone remained pressed against his ear.
His fingers tightened around it so hard that his knuckles turned white.
The voice on the other end was impossible.
It belonged to someone he had buried.
Someone whose funeral he had attended.
Someone whose photograph still sat in the family hallway.
His mother.
“Daddy?””
Lucy’s small voice came first.
Then silence.
Then the woman spoke again.
“Vittorio.””
He closed his eyes.
“No.””
The word came out like a whisper.
Across the room, everyone watched him.
Bianca looked terrified.
Marcus looked confused.
Lorenzo Ferri looked like he had just seen a ghost.
Because he understood what Vittorio was hearing.
“Who is it?”” Lorenzo asked.
Vittorio didn’t answer.
He couldn’t.
The voice continued.
“You need to stop searching.””
His heart pounded.
“Where is my daughter?””
A pause.
Then:
“She is safe.””
Vittorio’s anger exploded.
“Don’t tell me she’s safe while you have her.””
“She is not with me.””
“Then who are you?””
The woman didn’t answer.
Instead, she said something only his mother would have known.
“You used to hide under the wooden table in my office when your father was angry.””
Vittorio froze.
A memory appeared.
A small boy.
A dark room.
His mother kneeling beside him.
Her hand holding his.
“Tears are not weakness, Vittorio,” she had whispered.
“You are allowed to be afraid.””
Nobody else knew that.
Nobody.
His voice became unsteady.
“Who are you?””
The woman sighed.
“Someone who loved you.””
The call ended.
Vittorio stood motionless.
The room was silent.
Then Marcus spoke.
“Your mother?””
Vittorio looked at him.
“I don’t know.””
That answer frightened everyone.
Because Vittorio Romano always knew.
He trusted facts.
Documents.
Evidence.
But this was something else.
Something that didn’t fit into logic.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“Show me the phone.””
Vittorio handed it over.
The attorney checked the number.
His expression changed.
“What?””
Lorenzo looked up.
“It’s impossible.””
“What?””
“This number belonged to your mother.””
Nobody spoke.
Vittorio felt cold.
“My mother has been dead for eight years.””
“Yes.””
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
“But this number was reactivated yesterday.””
The room erupted.
Marcus stepped forward.
“That’s impossible.””
Lorenzo shook his head.
“No.””
He looked at Vittorio.
“It means someone wanted you to believe she was still alive.””
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed.
“Or she is.””
Nobody answered.
Because nobody wanted to say it.
The impossible thing.
The thing that changed everything.
Bianca suddenly spoke.
“It’s not her.””
Everyone looked at her.
“You know that?””
Bianca nodded slowly.
“Yes.””
“How?””
Her face was pale.
“Because I know who has access to that number.””
Vittorio turned.
“Who?””
Bianca hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Your mother’s assistant.””
Lorenzo frowned.
“She died.””
“No.””
Bianca looked at him.
“She disappeared.””
The attorney went quiet.
Vittorio noticed.
“You knew.””
Lorenzo sighed.
“I suspected.””
“You suspected someone connected to my mother vanished and you didn’t tell me?””
“I was trying to protect you.””
Vittorio laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.””
He looked around.
“Protect me.””
His voice hardened.
“While everyone lies to me.””
Nobody argued.
Because they knew he was right.
Then Emma’s phone buzzed.
Everyone turned.
Another message.
She opened it.
Her face changed.
“What?””
She looked at Vittorio.
“It’s a location.””
“From who?””
“I don’t know.””
“Where?””
Emma hesitated.
Then showed him.
A place outside the city.
An abandoned property.
Vittorio recognized it immediately.
His father’s old vineyard.
The place that had been sold after Alessandro’s death.
The place nobody in the family visited anymore.
“The vineyard,” Lorenzo whispered.
Vittorio looked at him.
“You know it?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
The old attorney looked uncomfortable.
“Because that is where your mother hid something.””
“What?””
Lorenzo didn’t answer.
Vittorio grabbed his coat.
“We’re going.””
Bianca stepped forward.
“I’m coming.””
He stopped.
“No.””
Her expression changed.
“I know what they want.””
“You were part of this.””
“I know.””
The honesty surprised him.
She looked at him.
“But I also know how they think.””
Vittorio stared at her.
For a moment, he wanted to refuse.
Then he looked at the phone.
At Lucy’s name.
At the possibility that his daughter was waiting somewhere scared and alone.
“Fine.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“I’m coming too.””
Vittorio looked at him.
“You betrayed me.””
Marcus nodded.
“I know.””
“You helped them.””
“I know.””
“Then why should I trust you?””
Marcus looked down.
“Because I’m the only one here who knows what it feels like to realize too late that you helped destroy someone you love.””
The answer was painful.
Because Vittorio knew Marcus wasn’t talking about him.
He was talking about Lucy.
Twenty minutes later, the cars left the Romano estate.
The drive to the vineyard felt endless.
Nobody spoke.
Every person in the car carried a different fear.
Vittorio only had one.
Finding Lucy.
When they arrived, the old property looked abandoned.
The gates were covered in rust.
The vineyard had grown wild.
The house sat at the top of the hill.
Dark.
Silent.
Waiting.
Vittorio stepped out.
“This place was closed after my father died.””
Lorenzo nodded.
“Yes.””
“Then why would they bring Lucy here?””
Nobody answered.
They walked inside.
The door opened easily.
Too easily.
Vittorio immediately noticed.
“This was prepared.””
Bianca looked around.
“Yes.””
Marcus found something on the floor.
A piece of fabric.
A small pink piece of fabric.
Vittorio grabbed it.
His heart stopped.
Lucy’s sweater.
“She was here.””
They searched the house.
Room by room.
Then they heard something.
A sound upstairs.
A child crying.
Vittorio ran.
“Lucy!””
He reached the second floor.
A locked door stood at the end of the hallway.
“Lucy?””
A small voice answered.
“Daddy?””
His entire body relaxed.
“I’m here.””
He tried the handle.
Locked.
Marcus ran over.
Together, they forced the door open.
Inside, Lucy sat on the floor.
She ran into Vittorio’s arms immediately.
He held her so tightly she could barely breathe.
“I’m sorry,” she cried.
“You did nothing wrong.””
“I tried to be brave.””
“You were brave.””
Behind her was a small table.
On it was an old envelope.
With his name.
Vittorio.
He picked it up.
The handwriting made him freeze.
His mother’s handwriting.
Inside was a letter.
Only one sentence was visible.
*My son, if you are reading this, it means they found Lucy before I could tell you the truth.*
Vittorio’s hands shook.
He read the next line.
*The woman you married is not the greatest danger to your family.*
He looked at Bianca.
She stared back.
Then he read the final sentence.
And everything changed.
*The person who ordered Lucy’s kidnapping is someone who has loved her since the day she was born.*
The room went silent.
Vittorio slowly lowered the letter.
Because only one person came to mind.
One person who had always been close.
One person who had always claimed to protect the Romano family.
Then Lucy whispered:
“Daddy…”
He looked down.
“What is it?””
Her face was pale.
“The woman who took me…”
Vittorio froze.
“What woman?””
Lucy looked toward the hallway.
May you like
And whispered:
“She looked exactly like Grandma.””
