Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Came Back From The Dead
The lights went out.
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
The room that had always belonged to me suddenly felt unfamiliar.
I heard Elena breathe.
I heard Giulia holding onto her mother's hand.
And somewhere in the darkness, I heard something else.
A soft click.
Like someone had locked the door from the outside.
I reached for the bedside table.
My fingers searched for the emergency light.
Nothing.
Someone had removed it.
That detail told me everything.
This wasn't a power outage.
This was planned.
"Dario."
Elena's voice was barely a whisper.
"Stay where you are."
I ignored her.
Not because I wanted to be brave.
Because I had spent my entire life refusing to be controlled.
I moved toward the edge of the bed.
My legs almost failed beneath me.
The weakness that had embarrassed me for weeks suddenly became something worse.
A weapon someone else could use against me.
I hated that.
I hated that someone knew my body better than I did.
"Dario, stop."
Elena grabbed my arm.
Her hand was shaking.
Not mine.
Hers.
That was when I realized something.
Elena wasn't afraid of me.
She was afraid of what was happening to me.
I slowly turned toward her.
"You knew."
She didn't answer.
"You knew someone was trying to hurt me."
Her silence was enough.
A long time ago, I would have demanded answers immediately.
I would have broken every wall between me and the truth.
But weakness had taught me something.
People revealed more when they thought they were safe.
So I lowered my voice.
"Tell me everything."
Elena looked at Giulia.
The little girl was still holding her teddy bear.
But now she looked different.
Not curious.
Scared.
"Giulia."
Elena knelt down.
"Go to the bathroom and lock the door."
The child shook her head.
"No."
"Giulia."
"No."
Her voice trembled.
"If I leave, they will talk about the secret."
My eyes narrowed.
"What secret?"
The little girl looked at me.
Then she looked toward the dark door.
"The secret that someone wants you to die."
The words were simple.
But they hit harder than any threat I had ever received.
Elena quickly pulled her daughter closer.
"Don't say that."
"Why?"
Giulia looked confused.
"Because it's true."
The darkness around us felt heavier.
I had spent years dealing with enemies who announced themselves.
Competitors.
Rivals.
Men who wanted what I owned.
But this was different.
This was someone close enough to touch my glass.
Close enough to enter my room.
Close enough to make me sick without anyone noticing.
The lights suddenly returned.
Everyone looked toward the door.
Nothing.
The hallway was empty.
I grabbed the phone.
The call history was still there.
The last incoming call.
Unknown number.
I pressed redial.
One ring.
Two rings.
Then someone answered.
Silence.
"Who is this?"
Nothing.
I looked at Elena.
She looked pale.
Then a voice finally came through.
Not Camilla.
A man.
"Dario Castellano."
My entire body went still.
The voice was calm.
Too calm.
"You should have listened when they told you to rest."
I tightened my grip on the phone.
"Who are you?"
A quiet laugh.
"Someone who has watched you lose everything without lifting a finger."
My anger returned.
"I'll find you."
"No."
The man interrupted.
"You won't."
The confidence in his voice bothered me.
Because it wasn't arrogance.
It was certainty.
"You don't even know who you should be looking for."
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Elena spoke softly.
"That wasn't the person who came into your room."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She swallowed.
"There were two people."
The room became silent.
"Two?"
She nodded.
"One person came inside."
Her eyes moved toward the door.
"And another person made sure nobody found out."
I thought about Aldo.
The timing.
The documents.
The way everyone suddenly believed I was finished.
"Who else knows about this?"
Elena hesitated.
"Everyone in the house."
That answer shocked me.
Everyone.
The staff.
The guards.
The people who had served me for years.
I had built an empire.
But somehow, inside my own home, I had become the only person who knew nothing.
I pushed myself off the bed.
This time I didn't care about the pain.
I walked toward the desk.
Every step felt like a battle.
I opened the drawer where I kept my private records.
The drawer was locked.
I checked the key.
Still there.
I opened it.
Inside were documents.
Contracts.
Financial records.
Personal files.
Everything was exactly where I left it.
Except one thing.
A small black notebook was missing.
My private notebook.
The one where I recorded every important conversation.
Every name.
Every suspicion.
Only three people knew it existed.
Me.
Aldo.
And Camilla.
I turned around.
"Elena."
She looked at me.
"Did Camilla ever come into this room?"
She looked uncomfortable.
"Yes."
"When?"
"Many times."
"Before she disappeared?"
Elena nodded.
"Yes."
I walked closer.
"What did she do?"
Elena looked down.
"She was looking for something."
"What?"
"I don't know."
I stared at her.
"You expect me to believe that?"
She looked up.
"Dario, I saw her crying."
That stopped me.
Camilla had always been controlled.
Elegant.
Impossible to read.
She never cried.
Not in front of anyone.
"She said someone had betrayed you."
"Who?"
Elena shook her head.
"She didn't tell me."
"Why?"
"Because she said if the wrong person knew she was helping you, you would never survive."
The words stayed in the air.
Helping me.
Not betraying me.
I had spent three weeks believing Camilla abandoned me.
What if I was wrong?
I returned to the bed and looked at the glass of water.
The glass that had been sitting beside me every night.
The glass that might have been killing me.
I picked it up.
Elena immediately stepped forward.
"Don't."
I looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because if someone wanted you sick, they would have made sure there was no evidence."
I placed the glass down.
"What are you saying?"
She walked closer.
"Maybe the glass wasn't the weapon."
A chill moved through me.
"Then what was?"
Elena didn't answer.
Because suddenly Giulia spoke.
"The medicine."
We both looked at her.
The little girl was staring at the bottle beside the bed.
"The person who comes at night doesn't touch the water."
She pointed.
"They touch that."
I picked up the medicine bottle.
My hands were steady for the first time in weeks.
Because anger was stronger than weakness.
I examined the label.
Nothing.
Then I noticed something.
A small mark.
Almost invisible.
A tiny scratch on the bottom of the bottle.
I turned it upside down.
There was a number written underneath.
A date.
Not today's date.
A date from three weeks ago.
The day my condition became worse.
My heart started beating faster.
Someone had replaced it.
Someone had planned this.
I reached for my phone and called my personal security chief.
The line connected immediately.
"Dario?"
"Come to my room."
A pause.
"Sir, it's late."
"Now."
Another pause.
Then:
"Of course."
I hung up.
Ten minutes later, nobody arrived.
Five more minutes passed.
Still nothing.
That was impossible.
My security chief had answered every call within seconds for fifteen years.
I called again.
No response.
I looked at Elena.
She understood before I said anything.
Someone was cutting me off.
The people who were supposed to protect me were gone.
I moved toward the hallway.
"Dario, don't."
"I need answers."
I opened the bedroom door.
The hallway was empty.
But on the floor was something that hadn't been there before.
A photograph.
I picked it up.
The picture showed my bedroom.
Taken from inside.
My blood turned cold.
Because the photo wasn't old.
It was recent.
Someone had been standing inside my room tonight.
Behind the photograph was a handwritten message.
Three words.
I read them slowly.
"Ask Aldo why."
I looked back at Elena.
Her face had lost all color.
Because she wasn't looking at the photograph.
She was looking behind me.
"Dario..."
Her voice shook.
"Don't turn around."
But it was too late.
A familiar voice came from the dark hallway.
A voice I had trusted for twenty years.
"Dario."
I froze.
May you like
Because Aldo Manfredi was standing there.
Holding my missing black notebook.
