Chapter 4 - Isabella’s Last Phone Call
Daniel Rossi arrived at the Moretti estate at eight the next morning.
He came voluntarily.
That alone made me question Dominic’s theory.
Daniel was forty-five, clean-cut, educated, and nothing like the people I imagined when someone said mafia family.
He ran an investment firm.
He funded children’s hospitals.
He spoke softly.
And when Ethan ran toward him shouting, “Uncle Daniel!” he knelt and hugged the boy with genuine affection.
Or what looked genuine.
After everything that had happened, I no longer trusted appearances.
Then I noticed his shoes.
Black leather.
Red serpent embroidered near the heel.
Exactly what Lily had described.
Dominic noticed me looking.
So did Daniel.
“They’re custom,” Daniel said casually.
“Apparently my daughter likes them,” I replied.
Lily had frozen beside me.
Daniel smiled.
“Hello, Lily.”
She hid behind my leg.
That was all Dominic needed to see.
“Library,” he said.
Daniel frowned.
“Dominic—”
“Now.”
Behind closed doors, Dominic placed the gold V cufflink on the desk.
Daniel looked at it.
“Victor.”
“You recognize it?”
“He's worn those since his father gave them to him.”
Dominic placed a photograph from security footage beside it.
“Victor entered the cold room.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“So arrest him.”
“He's missing.”
“And you're talking to me because?”
“My daughter’s witness”—Dominic nodded toward me—“described shoes matching yours.”
Daniel stared.
Then laughed once.
“You think I tried to poison Ethan?”
“Did you enter Claire’s room last night?”
“No.”
“Where were you at 1:14 a.m.?”
“At my apartment in Manhattan.”
“Can you prove it?”
Daniel took out his phone.
“Building security. Doorman. My assistant.”
His confidence unsettled me.
Dominic stared at him.
“Isabella called you before she died.”
Daniel's expression changed.
There it was.
Pain.
“She called lots of people.”
“She called you seven minutes before the crash.”
Daniel looked away.
“What did she say?”
“You know.”
“No. I never saw her phone records until yesterday.”
That surprised Daniel.
Dominic stepped closer.
“What did my wife tell you?”
For several seconds, Daniel said nothing.
Then he sat.
“She was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Victor?”
Daniel nodded.
“She thought he had discovered she was collecting evidence against him.”
“What evidence?”
“Money missing from charitable accounts. Offshore payments. Payments to private contractors.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Isabella told me not to.”
“She died.”
“And I blamed you.”
Dominic recoiled slightly.
Daniel continued.
“You spent years around dangerous men. She kept begging you to leave. Then she died in a car crash after saying someone was following her.”
“You thought I caused it?”
“I thought your life caused it.”
Silence.
“That is why you disappeared from the family for nearly two years,” Dominic said.
“Yes.”
Daniel reached into his coat.
Dominic tensed.
Daniel slowly produced an old phone.
“Isabella mailed this to me the morning she died.”
He placed it on the desk.
“I never opened some of the files.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I tried, I heard her voice.”
Dominic picked up the phone.
His hands were shaking.
The device still worked.
Inside were photos.
Accounting records.
Voice memos.
Then one audio recording.
Date: the morning Isabella died.
Dominic pressed play.
His wife’s voice filled the library.
“Daniel, if anything happens to me, Victor knows I found the insurance files. Dominic does not know. Please don't blame him. He's trying, even if he's too proud to admit it.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Isabella continued.
“Victor has someone inside security. I don't know who. There is a symbol they use—a red serpent. I saw it embroidered inside a jacket and on a pair of shoes. It isn't Daniel. If anyone finds this phone, please protect Ethan.”
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Daniel wiped his eyes.
Dominic stared at the phone as if his wife had just spoken from the grave.
Then he looked at Daniel’s shoes.
“You knew about the symbol.”
“No.”
“You’re wearing it.”
Daniel looked down.
“My stylist gave me these two months ago.”
Dominic’s face sharpened.
“Who sent them?”
Daniel frowned.
“They arrived as a gift.”
“From?”
“No card.”
My stomach dropped.
Someone wanted Lily to identify Daniel.
A planted clue.
A deliberate frame.
Victor knew a three-year-old would remember something bright and simple.
Red snake.
He had made sure another man wore the same symbol.
Then Dominic’s phone rang.
Paolo.
Dominic put it on speaker.
“We found Victor.”
“Where?”
“Not Victor himself. His phone.”
“Where?”
“Inside Daniel Rossi’s office.”
Daniel stood.
“What?”
Paolo continued.
“Police found it twenty minutes ago after an anonymous tip.”
Daniel stared at Dominic.
“This is a setup.”
“Yes,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
The answer suddenly seemed obvious.
“Victor wants Dominic suspicious of everyone close to Ethan.”
Daniel.
Paolo.
Possibly me next.
“He doesn't only want Ethan dead,” I continued. “He wants this family destroying itself.”
Dominic looked at Isabella’s phone.
Then at me.
“What would you do?”
It was strange hearing Dominic Moretti ask a housekeeper for strategic advice.
But housekeepers spend their lives putting broken rooms back in order.
I thought about what didn't fit.
“Stop looking at the people Victor wants you to look at.”
“Meaning?”
“Look at what he doesn't want you to notice.”
Daniel picked up Isabella’s phone.
“The insurance files.”
We opened them.
One document appeared repeatedly.
A life insurance policy linked to Ethan.
Another to Isabella.
Both policies had been quietly amended.
The beneficiary wasn't Dominic.
It was a holding company.
Dominic recognized it immediately.
“Victor controls this.”
My skin went cold.
Then I saw something at the bottom.
A signature.
Not Victor’s.
Paolo Ricci.
Dominic stared at it.
His trusted security chief had witnessed both policy amendments.
And suddenly Paolo’s warning from the previous night sounded completely different.
Do not let Lily out of your sight.
Was it protection?
Or a threat?
Before anyone could speak, an alarm sounded upstairs.
Dominic raced toward the hallway.
A security guard shouted from the landing.
“Mr. Moretti!”
“What?”
“Ethan is gone.”
Dominic’s face transformed.
“What do you mean gone?”
“His room is empty.”
My blood turned cold.
May you like
Then I looked down.
Lily was gone too.
