Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The music room door opened slowly.
A woman stood in the doorway holding an old photograph, whispering:
"Matteo... you were never supposed to find this."
When mafia boss Matteo Vescari turned around, he saw the broken necklace that belonged to his mother.
But one detail made him freeze.
The pendant had been opened from the inside.
Matteo suddenly realized someone had been hiding the truth for twenty-five years.
The woman standing there was not a stranger.
She was someone I recognized.
Someone I never expected to see inside the Vescari mansion.
Her name was Sofia Bellini.
For years, I had heard that name only in stories.
Not good stories.
Sofia had been my mother’s closest friend before everything changed.
She was the woman who disappeared the same night my mother left the Vescari household.
The woman everyone believed had abandoned Lucia Caruso.
The woman my mother refused to speak about until her final days.
But now she stood in front of us.
Alive.
Older.
Tired.
And carrying the same fear I had seen in my mother’s eyes before she died.
Matteo stared at her.
The powerful man who never showed emotion looked completely lost.
"Who are you?"
Sofia’s expression broke.
Because she knew.
She knew he didn’t remember her.
"You were eight years old the last time I saw you."
Matteo tightened his grip on the letter.
"That’s impossible."
Sofia slowly stepped into the room.
"No."
Her voice shook.
"What’s impossible is that you survived this long without knowing the truth."
The words hit harder than any threat.
I looked between them.
I had spent eleven months cleaning this mansion.
I had watched Matteo control meetings.
I had watched men twice his age lower their heads when he entered a room.
But now he looked like a man standing in front of a locked door he had spent his whole life trying to open.
"What truth?" he asked.
Sofia looked at me.
Then at the violin.
Then back at Matteo.
"Your mother wasn’t trying to finish a song."
She paused.
"She was trying to leave you a message."
Matteo’s face hardened.
"My mother died in a car accident."
Sofia looked down.
"That’s what they told you."
The room went silent.
I felt my heart begin to race.
Because I knew that tone.
It was the same tone my mother used whenever she talked about things she was afraid to say.
Things that could destroy people.
Matteo stepped closer.
"Are you saying my mother was murdered?"
Sofia didn’t answer immediately.
That silence was enough.
His expression changed.
Anger.
Pain.
Confusion.
All at once.
"Who?"
Sofia looked toward the hallway.
Like she was afraid someone might be listening.
"Not here."
Matteo laughed once.
A cold, empty sound.
"You walk into my house after twenty-five years, tell me my mother’s death was a lie, and now you’re worried about privacy?"
Sofia looked at him.
"I’m worried about keeping you alive."
Nobody spoke.
Then Matteo picked up the old photograph from the desk.
"Explain this."
He held it up.
It showed three people.
A young Lucia.
A younger Sofia.
And a little boy standing between them.
Matteo.
But there was something strange.
Someone had cut another person out of the photograph.
Only half an arm remained on the edge.
Sofia noticed me looking.
"Your mother kept that photo because she wanted you to remember."
"Remember who?"
Sofia swallowed.
"The fourth person."
Matteo stared.
"Who was cut out?"
Sofia didn’t answer.
Instead, she looked at me.
"Rosa."
I froze.
"Why are you looking at me?"
"Because your mother trusted you with something she never trusted anyone else."
I shook my head.
"I don’t understand."
Sofia walked closer.
"Your mother didn’t just teach you music."
The room felt smaller.
"She taught you the last part of the song."
My fingers tightened.
Because that was true.
But I had never told anyone.
Not even Matteo.
When my mother was dying, she gave me the final page.
The missing page.
The page that completed the melody.
She told me never to show it.
Not until the right person heard the song.
I thought she meant Matteo.
But now I wondered.
Maybe she meant someone else.
Matteo looked at me.
"You have the ending?"
I stayed silent.
That was my mistake.
Because his eyes immediately understood.
"Rosa."
I looked away.
"Please."
The word surprised me.
Not because he said it.
Because of how he said it.
Matteo Vescari did not ask.
He commanded.
But this time, he was asking.
"I promised my mother."
"Your mother is dead."
The words came out harsher than he intended.
The moment they left his mouth, regret crossed his face.
I looked down.
"My mother was the only person who believed she mattered."
The room became quiet.
Matteo looked away.
For a second, I saw something beneath the power.
A man carrying guilt.
A man who had lost someone and spent years pretending he didn’t care.
Sofia moved toward the piano.
"There is something you both need to see."
She opened a hidden compartment beneath the wooden surface.
Inside was a small metal box.
Old.
Scratched.
Locked.
Matteo frowned.
"I searched this room."
Sofia nodded.
"Because you searched like a man looking for evidence."
She touched the box.
"You never searched like a son."
The words stayed in the air.
She handed him the box.
Matteo opened it.
Inside were letters.
Dozens of them.
All addressed to him.
But never delivered.
His hands trembled slightly.
The first letter was dated twenty-five years ago.
The day before his mother died.
He opened it.
I watched his eyes move across the page.
Then stop.
"What does it say?"
He didn’t respond.
His face had changed.
"What?"
Slowly, he handed me the letter.
I read the first line.
My dear Matteo,
If you are reading this, then I failed to protect you.
My breath stopped.
The next words were written beneath.
The person you trust the most is the person who destroyed everything.
I looked at Matteo.
Because suddenly the room felt different.
Someone close to him.
Someone inside his family.
Someone who had access to everything.
Someone who had spent twenty-five years hiding the truth.
Then Matteo found another letter.
This one was different.
Because it was not written by his mother.
It was written by someone else.
Someone whose name made Sofia step backward.
Someone she thought would never return.
Matteo read the name aloud.
And the moment he said it, every light in the mansion went out again.
The security alarm started screaming.
Then Matteo’s phone received a message from an unknown number.
May you like
Three words appeared on the screen:
"She is alive."
