Chapter 2 - The Signature of a Dead Man
Isabella was removing her name tag when Matteo entered the service corridor.
“We need to talk.”
She looked up.
“My shift is over.”
“This isn’t about your shift.”
“Then tomorrow.”
“Your father’s name was Daniel Bennett.”
Isabella froze.
Matteo noticed immediately.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
He placed the old document on a service table.
“Tell me.”
She looked at the signature.
The color disappeared from her face.
“That’s impossible.”
“You recognize it?”
“Of course I recognize it.”
Her fingers touched the page.
“That’s his signature.”
“When did he die?”
“Eight years ago.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed.
“How?”
“Heart attack.”
“Are you certain?”
Isabella looked up sharply.
“What kind of question is that?”
“A necessary one.”
“My father was an accountant.”
“For whom?”
“Different companies.”
“Including Rossi Holdings?”
“No.”
Matteo tapped the document.
“Then explain this.”
“I can’t.”
The page was an old confidentiality agreement between Daniel Bennett and Matteo’s father, Alessandro Rossi.
Isabella read the date.
“Twenty-one years ago.”
“Yes.”
“I was six.”
“What did your father tell you about his work?”
“Almost nothing.”
“Did he ever mention Alessandro Rossi?”
“No.”
“Richard Moretti?”
“No.”
“Rossi Holdings?”
“No.”
Matteo watched her carefully.
She suddenly pushed the document back.
“You think I knew.”
“I think coincidences are usually just information we haven’t understood yet.”
“You investigated me.”
“Yes.”
Her expression hardened.
“After I saved your company?”
“Especially after you saved my company.”
“That’s insane.”
“That’s survival.”
Isabella picked up her coat.
“You rich people are unbelievable.”
Matteo raised an eyebrow.
“Rich people?”
“You think everybody has a hidden motive.”
“In my experience, most people do.”
“Maybe that’s because you only surround yourself with people who want something.”
She walked toward the exit.
Matteo followed.
“What do you want?”
“To go home.”
“Besides that.”
“Nothing from you.”
He stopped.
Those words bothered him more than they should have.
“Isabella.”
She turned.
“My father disappeared when I was eighteen.”
Her irritation faded.
Matteo continued.
“For eleven months.”
“Disappeared?”
“No calls. No bank activity. Nothing.”
“What happened?”
“He returned.”
“And?”
“He refused to explain where he’d been.”
Matteo looked at Daniel’s signature.
“Three weeks later, he died.”
Isabella’s expression changed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Before he disappeared, he told me one thing.”
“What?”
“If anything happened to him, never trust the people who claimed they loved him most.”
Isabella looked toward the ballroom.
“Your family?”
“I never knew.”
A voice interrupted.
“Mr. Rossi.”
Adrian approached quickly.
“You need to see this.”
He handed Matteo a photograph.
It showed Alessandro Rossi standing outside an office building more than twenty years earlier.
Beside him stood Daniel Bennett.
And Richard Moretti.
Isabella whispered, “My father knew Richard?”
Matteo looked toward the ballroom.
Richard was laughing with wedding guests.
“He knew all of them.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“The original partnership file from twenty-one years ago is missing.”
Matteo stared at him.
“Missing from where?”
“Your father’s archive.”
“Who accessed it?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Yesterday.”
Isabella’s stomach tightened.
“Yesterday?”
Adrian nodded.
“Someone knew Matteo would start looking.”
Matteo turned toward the ballroom.
The wedding suddenly looked different.
Not like a trap designed three days ago.
May you like
Like one that had been waiting twenty-one years.
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