Chapter 6 - DANIEL’S LAST MESSAGE
Chaos swallowed the factory.
Glass shattered.
Someone fired.
Alessandro pulled me behind an old machine.
Matteo moved toward Vivian.
Marco’s men returned fire toward the upper catwalk.
I pressed the rabbit against my chest.
Daniel’s mother was somewhere in the dark.
“Margaret!”
“I’m here!”
Her voice came from the opposite side.
Then emergency lights flickered on.
Ricci’s men were gone.
Not defeated.
Retreating.
He had planned an exit.
Vivian was free.
Matteo had cut her restraints.
Margaret was alive.
Ricci had disappeared through a loading bay beneath the catwalk.
Alessandro wanted to follow.
Marco stopped him.
“Trap.”
“He’s getting away.”
“He wants you angry.”
Alessandro stared toward the open door.
Then looked at me.
I was shaking.
Margaret crossed the room and wrapped both arms around me.
I hadn’t seen her in eight months.
She had sold her home after Daniel died and moved back to Ohio.
“What are you doing here?”
“Trying to finish what my son started.”
I pulled back.
“You knew?”
Her eyes filled.
“Not everything.”
“Enough?”
“Yes.”
Anger rose.
“You let me think Daniel died in an accident.”
“I thought telling you would get you killed.”
“Everyone keeps deciding that lying to me is protection.”
Margaret flinched.
She deserved that.
Vivian sat against a pillar.
Blood streaked her forehead.
Alessandro approached.
“Were you working with Ricci?”
“No.”
“You lied about Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if I told you, you’d know Matteo moved the Verona accounts.”
Alessandro looked at Matteo.
His friend did not deny it.
Vivian continued.
“I recruited Daniel years ago.”
I listened.
This was the truth I had needed since Christmas.
Daniel had started as an architectural consultant.
Vivian recognized his talent for security design.
He became useful.
Then indispensable.
When Alessandro’s father and Ricci planned to use hidden money to finance a violent conflict, Daniel objected.
Matteo secretly agreed.
Together, they moved the forty million into a dormant trust.
Vivian provided the second encryption key.
Daniel created the final voice lock using my identity.
“Why me?” I asked.
Vivian looked at me.
“Because Daniel trusted one person completely.”
The answer hurt.
I sat down.
“He lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“But he trusted me.”
“More than anyone.”
I hated how both things could be true.
Margaret removed a small envelope from inside her coat.
“This is what Daniel left.”
My handwriting was on the front.
No.
His handwriting.
For Clara, if the rabbit is ever opened.
My hands shook.
I opened it.
Inside was a memory card.
Marco found an old laptop.
The file contained a video.
Daniel appeared on screen.
Alive.
Two years younger.
Tired.
Beautiful.
I stopped breathing.
“Clara.”
His voice broke me.
“If you’re watching this, then I failed to keep this away from you.”
I covered my mouth.
Nobody spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked directly into the camera.
“I told myself I was protecting you by lying. Maybe I was protecting myself from seeing what you’d think of me.”
Tears rolled down my face.
“I did work for the Morettis. I helped build hidden routes and secure rooms. Then I learned some of those systems were being used to prepare a war.”
He swallowed.
“I couldn’t keep pretending technical work was neutral when people were going to die because I made something harder to find.”
Alessandro listened without moving.
Daniel continued.
“I moved the Verona accounts with Matteo and Vivian.”
Matteo looked down.
“Ricci found out.”
My heart tightened.
“If Ricci learns Emma has the rabbit, he will come for her.”
I pulled the toy closer.
“That is why I hid the access key in the one object nobody in our house could throw away.”
A faint smile appeared.
“Emma would burn the world before giving up Mr. Bunny.”
Despite everything, I laughed through tears.
He knew her.
Even as a baby.
Then Daniel’s face became serious.
“Clara, the money does not belong to Emma.”
Everyone looked at the screen.
“It belongs to no family.”
Alessandro frowned.
Daniel continued.
“I converted the trust structure before I died. Once opened correctly, the money goes to a foundation for families harmed by the old organizations.”
Ricci wanted forty million.
There was nothing for him.
Not personally.
“That’s why he needs you to open it,” Matteo whispered.
If Ricci forced the wrong entry or attempted to break the encryption, the funds would lock permanently.
Daniel had built the entire system as a trap.
The video continued.
“One more thing.”
My body tensed.
“The traitor is not only Ricci.”
The room froze.
Vivian stared.
Alessandro stepped closer.
Daniel looked exhausted.
“Ricci has someone inside Alessandro’s home.”
My eyes moved toward Marco.
Then Vivian.
Matteo.
Everyone suddenly looked suspicious again.
Daniel continued.
“I don’t know the name. Only the mark.”
He held up a photograph.
A silver cufflink.
Wolf’s head.
Black enamel eyes.
Marco swore.
I had seen it.
At Villa Moretti.
Not on one of the twelve bosses.
On Alessandro’s chief steward.
Paolo Vieri.
The man responsible for every private schedule in the house.
The man who knew Emma was being left behind at the villa.
I stood so fast the chair fell.
“Emma.”
Alessandro was already moving.
He called the villa.
No answer.
Marco tried.
Nothing.
Vivian whispered, “Paolo controls the internal lines.”
My blood went cold.
We ran.
The drive back felt endless.
When Villa Moretti finally appeared, the front gates stood open.
No guards.
No lights.
The great doors were unlocked.
I ran inside.
“Emma!”
Silence.
Then Teresa appeared from the service corridor.
Blood on her forehead.
My heart stopped.
“Where is she?”
Teresa started crying.
“Paolo took her.”
My knees almost gave out.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Then she opened her fist.
Inside was Emma’s pink hair ribbon.
May you like
And a note.
Bring Clara to Verona. Alone.
