Chapter 2 - THE PHONE INSIDE THE SUITCASE
The ringing stopped.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Nobody even breathed.
Gi Giovanni stared at the suitcase like it was a living thing.
The funeral hall, once filled with grief, had turned into a place of fear.
“Open it,” he whispered.
Nobody answered.
“Open it!” he shouted.
Emilio stepped back.
“Dad, you don’t understand.”
“No, Emilio.”
Giovanni’s voice was shaking.
“I understand one thing.”
He pointed at the suitcase.
“My wife was hiding something from me. My children were hiding something from me. And now that thing is sitting inside a bag at her funeral.”
He walked closer.
“Open it.”
Emilio looked at Clarissa.
She looked away.
That was when Giovanni knew.
They were both scared of what was inside.
Slowly, Emilio unlocked the suitcase.
The zipper moved.
Every person in the room watched.
Inside were clothes.
A small notebook.
Several old photographs.
And a black phone wrapped inside a white cloth.
Giovanni stopped breathing.
“No…”
He recognized the phone.
It belonged to Elena.
The same phone she claimed she lost before she died.
His hands started shaking.
“Why do you have this?”
Clarissa wiped her tears.
“Because Mom gave it to us.”
Giovanni looked at her.
“When?”
“The night before she died.”
The words hit him like a bullet.
“She knew she was going to die?”
Neither child answered.
That silence was the answer.
Giovanni grabbed the phone.
The screen was cracked.
But it still worked.
One notification appeared.
ONE MISSED CALL.
FROM: UNKNOWN NUMBER.
TIME: 2 MINUTES AGO.
Giovanni stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“What?” Emilio asked.
Giovanni slowly lifted his eyes.
“This phone has been dead for three weeks.”
The funeral guests began whispering louder.
Clarissa stepped forward.
“Dad…”
“No.”
Giovanni looked at the phone.
“No one touches anything.”
Suddenly, the phone rang again.
Everyone jumped.
Giovanni answered.
“Hello?”
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then a woman’s voice spoke.
A voice he knew better than his own.
“Giovanni…”
His heart stopped.
Because it was Elena.
His wife.
The woman he buried twenty minutes ago.
“Mom?” Clarissa screamed.
Giovanni couldn’t speak.
The voice continued.
“If you’re hearing this…”
A pause.
A deep breath.
“Then I’m already gone.”
Giovanni’s knees almost gave out.
The recording continued.
“Please don’t trust anyone.”
The room became cold.
“Not even our children.”
Emilio looked shocked.
“What?”
Giovanni turned toward his son.
But the message wasn’t finished.
“Giovanni, the truth about Maravilla is not what you think.”
A pause.
Then Elena whispered:
“The person you have been protecting for twenty years is the person who destroyed our family.”
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Giovanni looked at Emilio and Clarissa.
His children looked terrified.
But now he didn’t know if they were afraid…
Or guilty.
Then another sound came.
A car door slamming outside.
Everyone turned toward the entrance.
A tall man wearing a dark suit walked into the funeral hall.
Giovanni recognized him immediately.
A man he thought was dead.
A man connected to Maravilla.
“Impossible…”
The stranger smiled.
“Hello, Giovanni.”
His eyes moved toward the coffin.
“I’m sorry about Elena.”
Then he looked at the suitcase.
“But I’m glad you found what she left behind.”
Giovanni’s face hardened.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled.
“You really don’t remember me?”
He stepped closer.
“My name is Adrian.”
May you like
A pause.
“And I’m the reason your wife went to Maravilla.”
