# CHAPTER 17 — THE WOMAN WHO DIED FIRST
Dr. Reed was placed in the wine cellar under guard.
He denied killing Sofia.
He claimed Salvatore had ordered him to hide evidence of an allergic reaction to prevent scandal.
Alejandro did not believe him.
Yet killing Reed before learning the truth would solve nothing.
Lucia stood inside Sofia’s former bedroom.
The room had been closed longer than Kiara’s wing.
“You blamed yourself when she died,” Lucia said.
“I left her alone that morning.”
“You were meeting with Nico.”
Alejandro looked toward the window.
“Sofia asked me not to go.”
“Why?”
“She said someone had entered her room the night before.”
Lucia turned.
“You never told me.”
“I thought grief had confused her. She had been sick for weeks.”
“What did she see?”
“A man standing beside Kiara’s crib.”
Alejandro had sent guards to search the mansion.
They found nothing.
Sofia died twelve hours later.
Emma entered holding Mara’s hand.
She carried Sofia’s old jewelry box, which she had found under the bed.
“I heard something inside.”
The box appeared empty.
Emma shook it.
Something moved beneath the velvet lining.
Bruno removed the panel.
Inside was a tiny digital recorder.
Sofia’s voice played.
“If Alejandro hears this, then I was right to be afraid.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
“I found documents inside Salvatore’s office. He created a trust that gives someone control of Kiara’s inheritance if Alejandro dies.”
Sofia breathed slowly.
“The guardian’s name is not Lucia. It is not Nico.”
Paper rustled.
“The name is—”
The recording cut out.
Gabriel examined the device.
“The next section was manually deleted.”
“Can it be recovered?” Alejandro asked.
“Possibly.”
Emma looked at the jewelry box.
“There’s another bottom.”
Beneath the recorder was a thin photograph.
It showed Sofia at a charity event.
Beside her stood Salvatore, Matteo, Teresa, and Dr. Reed.
Behind them was a young Bruno.
One more person stood at the edge of the frame.
A man whose face had been scratched away.
On the back, Sofia had written:
THEY CALL HIM THE FORGOTTEN SON.
Lucia stared at the message.
“Our father had another child?”
Alejandro remembered rumors from his childhood.
A woman in Sicily.
A baby Salvatore refused to acknowledge.
No one had ever found proof.
Gabriel’s laptop chimed.
He had recovered four seconds from Sofia’s erased recording.
Her voice filled the room.
“The guardian named in the trust is Salvatore’s eldest son.”
The recorder clicked.
Sofia whispered the final name.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
Everyone looked at Gabriel Kane, the technology specialist standing beside the laptop.
May you like
Gabriel slowly removed his glasses.
“My name has never been Kane.”
