Chapter 4 - The Man Who Held My Secrets
Aldo Manfredi stood in the hallway holding my black notebook.
My notebook.
The one that contained every deal, every suspicion, every name I had written down when I believed someone might betray me.
For twenty years, that notebook had never left my possession.
And now it was in the hands of the man who claimed he was protecting my empire.
Nobody spoke.
Not Aldo.
Not Elena.
Not even Giulia.
The little girl only stared at him.
And that told me something.
Children didn't understand business.
They didn't understand power.
But they understood fear.
And Giulia was afraid of Aldo.
I looked at the notebook.
Then at him.
"Give it to me."
Aldo didn't move.
Instead, he looked past me.
At the room.
At the medicine bottle.
At Elena.
Then finally at Giulia.
"I see you found the one person who was willing to tell you the truth."
My jaw tightened.
"You knew?"
Aldo slowly stepped closer.
"I knew someone would eventually."
"Someone?"
I pointed toward the notebook.
"You had this."
His expression didn't change.
"Yes."
"Why?"
Aldo looked tired.
Not guilty.
Tired.
That bothered me more.
A guilty man tried to defend himself.
A confident man explained.
But Aldo looked like someone who had been carrying a burden for a long time.
"I was trying to protect you."
I almost laughed.
"Protect me?"
My voice echoed through the hallway.
"You stole my private notebook."
"I took it."
"You entered my room."
"No."
His answer came immediately.
Too quickly.
"I never entered your room."
The confidence in his voice stopped me.
Because he wasn't denying everything.
Only one thing.
The room.
I studied him.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I expect you to remember who I am."
I stepped closer.
"You are the man preparing to replace me."
Aldo's eyes changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
Pain.
"Do you really believe that?"
I didn't answer.
Because for a moment, I wasn't sure.
Then I remembered the documents.
The succession plans.
The signatures.
The timing.
"I saw what you prepared."
Aldo nodded.
"I know."
That surprised me.
"You know?"
"Because I wrote them."
The hallway became silent.
"Then explain."
He looked at the notebook in his hand.
"Not here."
"Why?"
"Because there are cameras."
I looked around.
The hallway.
The corners.
The ceiling.
For years, I had installed security systems everywhere.
I thought they protected me.
But now I wondered who they protected me from.
Aldo lowered his voice.
"Someone has been watching this house."
Elena stepped back.
"Since when?"
Aldo looked at her.
"Longer than you think."
The way they looked at each other bothered me.
Not like strangers.
Like two people who knew something I didn't.
I hated that feeling.
I hated being the last person to understand what was happening around me.
"Everybody leaves."
My voice became cold.
"Everyone disappears."
I looked at Aldo.
"Camilla."
Then Elena.
"Now this."
I pointed toward the notebook.
"I am standing in my own house surrounded by people who know more about my life than I do."
Nobody spoke.
Then Giulia quietly said:
"He's not the bad person."
Everyone turned toward her.
Aldo looked surprised.
I looked at the child.
"Why would you say that?"
She pointed at him.
"Because the bad person smiles when people are scared."
Aldo's expression changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
He knew who she meant.
"Giulia."
Elena immediately moved toward her.
But the girl continued.
"The man who comes at night doesn't look angry."
She hugged her teddy bear.
"He looks happy."
A cold silence filled the hallway.
A person enjoying my suffering.
That was worse than an enemy.
That was someone close.
Someone who had access.
Someone who could watch me fall every single day.
I looked at Aldo.
"Open the notebook."
He hesitated.
Then handed it to me.
I opened the first page.
My handwriting.
My notes.
My private thoughts.
Except one page had been added.
A page I never wrote.
My eyes moved across the words.
DARIO CASTELLANO.
THEY ARE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK.
Below that was a list.
Names.
People inside my house.
Staff.
Guards.
Executives.
Everyone.
But one name had been circled.
Aldo Manfredi.
I looked up.
Aldo saw it.
"I know what it looks like."
"Do you?"
I closed the notebook.
"Because right now, you look like the person who betrayed me."
Aldo didn't argue.
Instead, he said something I didn't expect.
"Then ask yourself why someone wanted you to find that page."
I froze.
Because he was right.
The page was too obvious.
Too convenient.
Someone wanted me to suspect him.
Someone wanted Aldo to become the first person I blamed.
But why?
To protect the real person?
Or because Aldo was guilty?
I didn't know anymore.
And that was the most dangerous feeling.
Not knowing.
Aldo stepped closer.
"There is something you need to understand."
"What?"
"The illness."
My expression changed.
"What about it?"
He looked at the medicine bottle.
"Your doctors were wrong."
The words hit me harder than any accusation.
"What did you say?"
Aldo lowered his voice.
"You are not dying from a natural disease."
Elena covered her mouth.
I stared at him.
"How long have you known?"
"Three weeks."
The exact time.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Aldo looked away.
"Because the person responsible was listening."
My eyes moved toward the cameras.
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he opened the notebook again and turned to another page.
There was a photograph hidden inside.
A picture of my bedroom.
The same room.
The same bed.
But taken from a different angle.
Someone had photographed me while I slept.
On the back was a date.
The first night my hand started trembling.
I felt my stomach tighten.
The person hadn't just watched my decline.
They had recorded it.
Aldo looked at me.
"That was the first night."
"First night of what?"
He took a breath.
"The first night someone entered your room."
I stared at him.
"Who?"
For the first time, Aldo looked afraid.
Not nervous.
Not concerned.
Afraid.
"Someone you trusted more than me."
The words stayed between us.
I thought about Camilla.
Elena.
My doctors.
My staff.
Everyone.
"Tell me the name."
Aldo looked toward the stairs.
Then toward the dark hallway.
"I can't."
My anger returned.
"Can't?"
"Because if I say it, they will know we found out."
I stepped forward.
"Who are they?"
Aldo reached into his coat.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Elena immediately grabbed Giulia.
I watched his hand.
Then he pulled out a small envelope.
My name was written on it.
Not printed.
Written.
By someone I knew.
My breathing stopped.
Because I recognized the handwriting.
Camilla's handwriting.
Aldo handed it to me.
"She left this for you."
I stared at the envelope.
"Where was it?"
"Hidden."
"Where?"
Aldo looked at me.
"Inside your room."
My fingers tightened around it.
"When?"
His answer was almost a whisper.
"Tonight."
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
Only one sentence.
My eyes moved across the words.
And every part of me went cold.
Because Camilla had written:
"Dario, if you are reading this, the person who poisoned you is standing closer than you think."
I looked up.
Slowly.
Everyone was watching me.
Aldo.
Elena.
Giulia.
Then I noticed something.
The door behind Aldo.
The door to the west hallway.
It was slightly open.
But nobody had opened it.
I stared at the darkness beyond it.
Then my phone vibrated.
A new message.
From Camilla's number.
One sentence.
"Don't trust the man holding my letter."
I looked at Aldo.
The man standing in front of me.
Holding the envelope.
Then the west hallway door opened wider by itself.
May you like
And from the darkness, a woman's voice whispered:
"Dario..."
