Chapter 4 - The Fiancée Who Was Never Who She Claimed To Be
The words on the security monitor stayed there.
ACCESS GRANTED: VIVIAN ROSSI
For several seconds, Alessandro did not move.
The mansion was silent.
Too silent.
The kind of silence that came before something broke.
Jonah’s voice came through the communication system again.
“Alessandro?”
No answer.
Because Alessandro Duca had spent his entire life learning one important skill.
Control.
When enemies attacked him, he remained calm.
When people betrayed him, he remained calm.
When the world expected him to react, he calculated.
But this time was different.
Because the person who had access to his home…
The person who could walk through his security system…
The person whose name appeared after someone tried to steal evidence connected to his dead brother…
Was the woman wearing his engagement ring.
Vivian Rossi.
The woman who was supposed to become his wife in three days.
The woman who had smiled beside him in hundreds of photographs.
The woman who had held his hand in front of the world and promised loyalty.
Alessandro finally spoke.
“Lock the estate.”
Jonah immediately responded.
“Already done.”
“No one enters.”
“No one leaves.”
A pause.
Then Jonah asked the question both men were thinking.
“What about Vivian?”
Alessandro looked toward the hallway.
Toward the bedroom where she had been staying.
“Bring her to the library.”
The old library was the heart of the Duca mansion.
Thousands of books.
Dark wooden shelves.
A fireplace that had burned through generations of family history.
Alessandro’s grandfather had made decisions in that room.
His father had made decisions in that room.
Now Alessandro stood there preparing to make his own.
Vivian entered five minutes later.
Two security officers followed behind her.
The moment she saw their faces, she knew.
Something had changed.
She looked at Alessandro.
“What happened?”
He did not answer immediately.
Instead, he placed the tablet on the table.
The screen showed one thing.
Her name.
Her access code.
The security log.
Vivian stared.
Then looked back at him.
“You think I did this?”
Alessandro’s expression remained unreadable.
“I think your access code was used.”
“That doesn’t mean it was me.”
“Correct.”
A small flash of relief crossed her face.
Until he continued.
“But it means someone close to you did it.”
Vivian looked away.
“Someone could have stolen my credentials.”
“Possible.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because you’re the only person who knew about the east corridor camera system.”
Her eyes lifted.
“That’s not true.”
“Who else?”
Silence.
Alessandro watched her carefully.
“Vivian.”
Her jaw tightened.
“I don’t know.”
That answer was too quick.
He noticed.
“You do know.”
“No.”
“You always do this.”
She frowned.
“Do what?”
“Pretend uncertainty when you already have an answer.”
For the first time, Vivian looked hurt.
Not angry.
Hurt.
“You really believe I’m capable of this?”
Alessandro looked at her.
“I believe everyone is capable of hiding something.”
The words affected her.
Because they were true.
Even she knew it.
Across town, Sophia Carter woke up again.
This time, she remembered everything.
The hallway.
The broken mirror.
The person standing behind her.
The voice.
She gripped the hospital blanket.
A nurse noticed.
“Are you okay?”
Sophia looked toward the door.
“Where is my daughter?”
“She’s with Mr. Duca.”
Sophia’s eyes widened.
“No.”
The nurse stopped.
“No?”
Sophia tried to sit up.
Pain moved through her head.
“He cannot have her.”
The nurse looked confused.
“He saved her.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“That’s what scares me.”
Back at the mansion, Emma was awake.
She sat on Alessandro’s office chair.
Her legs did not reach the floor.
She watched him through the glass wall as he questioned Vivian.
The little girl did not understand everything.
But she understood one thing.
The man who saved her was unhappy.
She hugged her teddy bear.
“Mr. Duca?”
Alessandro turned.
Her voice instantly changed the atmosphere.
He walked toward her.
“What happened?”
“Are you leaving?”
The question surprised him.
“Leaving?”
She nodded.
“People leave.”
A simple sentence.
But it carried a story.
A story no three-year-old should carry.
Alessandro crouched beside her.
“Who left you?”
Emma looked down.
“My daddy.”
He became still.
“What happened?”
She squeezed the teddy bear.
“Mommy said he went away.”
“Do you remember him?”
She thought for a moment.
“No.”
That answer hurt more than if she had said yes.
Because it meant Emma had spent her entire life without someone who should have been there.
Alessandro looked at her.
“Your mother loves you.”
Emma nodded.
“She always says I’m the only good thing she has.”
Something about those words stayed with him.
The only good thing.
Because Alessandro knew that feeling.
Growing up in the Duca family meant learning early that love was often mixed with power.
Affection was sometimes a weapon.
Family was sometimes a battlefield.
At 2:00 a.m., Jonah entered the office.
“We found something.”
Alessandro stood.
“What?”
Jonah placed a folder down.
“About Vivian.”
Alessandro opened it.
Inside were financial records.
Travel documents.
Communication logs.
His expression slowly changed.
Vivian Rossi was not just connected to the security breach.
She had been communicating with someone.
Someone using an encrypted account.
The name was hidden.
But one message was clear.
The drive must be found before Alessandro opens it.
Another message.
If he learns the truth, everything collapses.
Alessandro read the words again.
Then again.
“Who sent this?”
“We’re trying to identify them.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“No.”
Jonah looked at him.
“Soon is not enough.”
Alessandro closed the folder.
“I want answers tonight.”
At 3:15 a.m., Vivian was no longer in the library.
She was sitting alone in the guest room.
A guard stood outside.
But she was not afraid.
She was thinking.
Then her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She stared.
She almost ignored it.
Almost.
Then she answered.
A man’s voice came through.
“You failed.”
Vivian’s face changed.
“I tried.”
“You were supposed to get the drive before he saw it.”
“He found it faster than expected.”
“You underestimated him.”
She looked toward the door.
“Someone else knows.”
“Who?”
“The girl.”
Silence.
The man’s voice became colder.
“The child?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
Then:
“She cannot stay alive.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“No.”
The man laughed softly.
“You’re developing feelings?”
“She’s innocent.”
“Innocence doesn’t matter.”
Vivian lowered her voice.
“You promised nobody would get hurt.”
“And you believed me?”
The call ended.
Vivian stared at the phone.
For the first time that night…
She looked genuinely afraid.
Not because Alessandro suspected her.
Because she realized something.
She had been used.
Meanwhile, Alessandro stood alone in the hidden room beneath the mansion.
The room his father had forbidden him to enter.
The room that had remained locked for twenty years.
The room where old family secrets were stored.
Jonah had found the key inside the hidden drive.
A digital file.
A code.
A message.
For Alessandro. When you are finally ready to know the truth.
He opened the door.
Dust filled the air.
Inside were old boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
And one object sitting in the center of the room.
A small wooden box.
The same type of box his father had once burned.
Alessandro opened it.
Inside was a letter.
The handwriting was familiar.
His father’s.
The first line made his heart stop.
My son Alessandro,
If you are reading this, then I have failed to protect you from the truth.
He continued.
Your brother Marco did not die because of an accident.
Alessandro stopped breathing.
The room seemed to disappear.
The next sentence was worse.
He died because he discovered what I had done.
Alessandro’s hand tightened around the paper.
Twenty years of lies.
Twenty years of believing his brother was gone because of fate.
And now…
His father was telling him otherwise.
Then came the final line.
The line that changed everything.
Marco was not my only son.
Alessandro looked up.
Frozen.
Because suddenly…
A three-year-old girl.
A hidden drive.
A woman named Elena.
A maid named Sophia.
And a dead brother…
May you like
Were all connected.
And the truth was much bigger than he imagined.
Related Stories
