Chapter 5 - SOPHIA'S KEY
Lorenzo took the key from Hunter.
He stared at the initials.
“Sophia had this made.”
“How do you know?”
“I ordered the set.”
“What set?”
“Keys for the nursery furniture.”
Hunter looked confused.
“Furniture?”
“Sophia bought half the room without telling me.”
For the first time, warmth touched his memory.
“She said if I was going to make our child live in a fortress, she was choosing the furniture.”
Hunter glanced toward Tommy.
“Why would someone give this to him?”
Lorenzo's expression darkened.
“Because they wanted the key to reach you.”
“Why me?”
No one answered.
Tommy was taken to a guarded room.
Lorenzo kept his promise.
No one hurt him.
Hunter did not thank him.
She knew the promise had cost Lorenzo more than she understood.
They returned to the nursery.
The key opened nothing obvious.
The crib drawers had ordinary locks.
The wardrobe did not require a key.
Neither did the changing table.
Then Hunter noticed the carved music box on a high shelf.
It was painted with tiny clouds matching the ceiling.
She lifted it down.
A narrow brass keyhole sat underneath.
Lorenzo went still.
“I've never seen that.”
Hunter inserted the key.
It turned.
The music box opened.
No song played.
Instead, the false bottom lifted.
Inside sat a small memory card.
Hunter stared.
“Sophia hid that.”
Lorenzo picked it up.
His fingers trembled once.
Only once.
They took it to Lorenzo's study.
Nico disconnected the office from the estate network before inserting the card into an isolated laptop.
Several video files appeared.
Dates stretched across the final six weeks of Sophia's life.
Lorenzo clicked the earliest.
Sophia appeared on screen.
She was sitting in the nursery.
Pregnant.
Alive.
Lorenzo stopped breathing.
Hunter quietly moved toward the door.
“Stay.”
She looked back.
He was staring at the screen.
Sophia spoke.
“If Lorenzo is watching this, then I was right to be afraid.”
Lorenzo gripped the desk.
Sophia continued.
“I hope I’m being dramatic.”
“I hope you laugh at me for this later.”
“But three weeks ago I found transfers from Rossi Maritime Holdings into accounts connected to companies we do not own.”
Lorenzo looked at Nico.
Nico frowned.
Sophia held up paperwork.
“The authorization codes belong to someone with executive clearance.”
“The amounts total almost forty million dollars.”
“I asked Dante.”
Hunter looked sharply at Lorenzo.
On screen, Sophia's expression changed.
“He told me it was an accounting issue.”
“I believed him.”
“Then someone followed me home from my doctor’s appointment.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
Sophia continued.
“I have not told Lorenzo because he is already at war with half the world.”
“If I’m wrong, I could destroy the only relationship he still trusts.”
“But if I’m right…”
She placed a hand over her stomach.
“…then I need to protect our son.”
The video ended.
No one moved.
Nico spoke first.
“We need the rest.”
Lorenzo clicked the second file.
Sophia appeared again.
This time she looked frightened.
“I found the destination.”
“It’s Moretti money.”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“The transfers weren’t going to the Morettis.”
“They were coming back.”
Hunter frowned.
Sophia held up another page.
“Someone inside our organization has been selling routes, schedules, and account information.”
“And I think that person wanted Lorenzo to believe the Morettis were preparing an attack.”
Nico whispered a curse.
The third video was recorded four days before the explosion.
Sophia was crying.
“I confronted Dante.”
Lorenzo stood so suddenly the chair fell behind him.
“No.”
Sophia wiped her face.
“He admitted the money.”
“He said Lorenzo was weak because he was becoming a husband and father.”
“He said the family needed someone who could make decisions without asking permission from a woman.”
Lorenzo's breathing changed.
Hunter stepped toward him.
Sophia continued.
“He told me if I loved Lorenzo, I would keep quiet.”
“I told him I was telling my husband everything after the gala.”
The video flickered.
Then Sophia leaned closer to the camera.
“If anything happens to me, Dante will blame the Morettis.”
“Do not believe him.”
Lorenzo turned away.
His fist struck the bookshelf.
Hunter flinched.
He pressed both hands against the wood.
For two months, Lorenzo had carried Sophia’s death like a blade inside him.
He had started a war because he believed the Moretti family killed her.
Men had died.
Families had broken.
And all along, Sophia had left him the truth ten feet from his son's crib.
Hunter touched his shoulder.
Lorenzo did not move.
“She tried to tell you.”
His voice broke.
“And I never saw it.”
“You didn't know.”
“I should have.”
Hunter looked at the screen.
“She hid it because she knew you would blame yourself.”
Lorenzo turned.
“You don’t know that.”
“I know grief.”
The room became quiet.
Nico examined the card.
“There’s one more file.”
Lorenzo sat slowly.
“Play it.”
The final recording showed only darkness.
Sophia's voice whispered.
“He knows about the recordings.”
A door opened somewhere behind her.
Footsteps.
Sophia inhaled sharply.
Then the file ended.
Hunter felt cold.
Nico looked at Lorenzo.
“Dante knew.”
Lorenzo's eyes became empty.
“Find him.”
May you like
Nico reached for his phone.
Then the lights in the entire estate went out.
