CHAPTER 9 — THE LETTER ELENA LEFT FOR ME
CHAPTER 9 — THE LETTER ELENA LEFT FOR ME
For several long seconds, no one spoke.
I couldn't take my eyes off the photograph.
I was barely a year old, sitting in my grandmother Lucia's lap, smiling at the camera.
Standing beside us was Elena Moretti.
Her hand rested gently on my shoulder, and she was smiling as though she already knew me.
As though she had always planned for this moment.
"This has to be a mistake," I whispered.
Dante slowly shook his head.
"My wife never wrote anything by accident."
My hands trembled as I unfolded the letter.
The paper had yellowed with age, but Elena's elegant handwriting remained perfectly clear.
I began reading aloud.
Ava,
If this letter has reached you, then Lucia's greatest fear has finally come true. I wish we were meeting under different circumstances.
You probably don't remember me. You were too young. But I remember you. Lucia brought you to Italy after your parents died because she believed someone was watching your family. She stayed only three weeks, just long enough for us to make a promise.
If anything ever happened to either of us, we would protect each other's family.
If you're reading this, then I failed to protect mine.
Now I need you to finish what Lucia and I started.
Save my daughters.
Trust Dante—but not everyone standing beside him.
The man who betrayed us wears loyalty better than anyone I've ever known.
He smiles when he lies.
He cries when people are watching.
And he already knows you're coming.
The room was silent when I lowered the letter.
Marco slowly looked around at the guards standing nearby.
"No names."
Dante folded his arms.
"She couldn't identify him."
"No," I agreed.
"But she gave us something."
"What?"
"He pretends."
Marco nodded thoughtfully.
"Someone who's built trust over a long time."
Before anyone could respond, a phone vibrated.
Marco answered immediately.
"What is it?"
The voice on the other end spoke rapidly.
Marco's expression darkened.
"When?"
He looked at Dante.
"The kidnapper is dead."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"How?"
"The doctors say he went into cardiac arrest."
Marco didn't look convinced.
"They found a tiny puncture wound behind his left ear."
"Poison," Dante said quietly.
Marco nodded.
"Someone silenced him."
That meant the mastermind was still one step ahead.
Dante turned to me.
"We're leaving."
"For the harbor?"
"Yes."
"You think we'll still find something?"
"I think someone wanted us to."
Within twenty minutes, we were speeding through downtown Chicago in a convoy of black SUVs.
Rain pounded against the windshield.
No one spoke during the drive.
My mind kept returning to Elena's final sentence.
He already knows you're coming.
How?
I'd never heard of the Moretti family until three days ago.
Unless...
Someone had been watching me long before I accepted the job.
The convoy stopped beside an abandoned warehouse overlooking the harbor.
Police lights flashed in the distance.
The dead kidnapper had already been taken away.
Only a handful of Moretti guards remained.
Marco entered first, flashlight sweeping across the empty building.
"There was a struggle."
Blood stained the concrete floor.
Broken chairs lay scattered everywhere.
The room had been cleaned in a hurry.
Too clean.
Dante noticed it too.
"They removed something."
Marco crouched near a support column.
"Not something."
He pointed downward.
"Someone."
Fresh drag marks stretched across the dusty floor toward a rusted freight elevator.
The elevator doors stood open.
We followed the trail down into the underground storage level.
The air smelled of saltwater and diesel fuel.
The drag marks ended beside a steel table.
On top sat a small cardboard box.
No note.
No lock.
Just my name written across the lid.
AVA
Marco immediately stopped me.
"Don't touch it."
A bomb technician carefully examined the package.
After several tense minutes, he nodded.
"It's clean."
Dante opened the box.
Inside was a small velvet pouch.
He handed it to me.
I loosened the drawstring.
A gold wedding ring slipped into my palm.
Engraved inside were four words.
Forever, Elena and Dante.
Dante's face went white.
"This was buried with her."
Marco looked stunned.
"Someone dug up her grave."
Beneath the ring was a folded piece of paper.
This one wasn't written by Elena.
The handwriting was sharp and deliberate.
Dante unfolded it.
Only one sentence was written across the page.
You found the memories. Now find the truth beneath the church.
At the bottom of the note...
Was the black raven symbol.
Marco looked up.
"The church in Sicily?"
Dante nodded slowly.
"The same church where Lucia saved Elena."
A heavy silence settled over the warehouse.
The past wasn't finished with us.
It was pulling us back to where everything had begun.
Then Dante's phone rang.
He answered without taking his eyes off the note.
"What?"
His expression changed instantly.
"What do you mean... she escaped?"
He looked at Marco.
"One of the twins."
"What?"
"Isabella."
"She got away from the kidnappers."
"Where is she?"
Dante listened for another few seconds before lowering the phone.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"They found her."
He looked directly at me.
"She was standing outside my wife's grave..."
"...holding someone's hand."
May you like
"And when the guards arrived..."
"...the other person disappeared without leaving a single footprint."
