Chapter 2 - The Signature That Should Have Been Impossible
Alexander Romano didn't raise his voice.
That frightened me more than if he had screamed.
He stood in the center of the marble hallway while the doctor packed away the nebulizer that had just helped him breathe again.
Victoria remained near the staircase.
Two guards stood beside her.
Mia's fingers were wrapped tightly around mine.
And in my other hand was the document that had transformed an asthma attack into attempted murder.
Alexander held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
I hesitated.
Not because I intended to disobey him.
Because I had seen the signature.
And I knew enough about the Romano family to understand why it made no sense.
“Isabella.”
His voice was rough from the attack.
I handed him the paper.
Alexander read it once.
Then again.
Nothing moved in his face.
But his fingers tightened around the page.
Victoria spoke first.
“Alexander, I swear to you, I didn't write that.”
He ignored her.
His eyes remained fixed on the bottom of the document.
I could see the signature from where I stood.
ANTHONY ROMANO.
Alexander's father.
The problem was simple.
Anthony Romano had been dead for twelve years.
Alexander slowly lifted his eyes.
“Where did you get this?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I've never seen it before.”
“It fell out of your bag.”
“Someone put it there.”
“You expect me to believe someone placed my inhaler and a document describing my death inside your handbag?”
“I don't know!”
Her voice cracked.
For the first time since I had known her, Victoria Laurent no longer looked like the polished woman photographed beside Alexander at charity galas.
She looked terrified.
Alexander turned toward his head of security.
“Daniel.”
Daniel Cross stepped forward.
He was in his early forties, broad-shouldered, quiet, and had protected Alexander for almost fifteen years.
“Lock down the estate.”
Daniel nodded.
“No one leaves.”
Alexander looked toward the conference room.
His brothers and cousins were still inside.
“Especially family.”
The words landed heavily.
Daniel immediately began issuing instructions.
The gates closed.
Phones were collected.
Security cameras were reviewed.
Employees were moved into separate rooms.
Nobody understood exactly what was happening.
But everyone understood one thing.
Alexander Romano believed someone had tried to kill him.
And until he discovered who it was, nobody was going home.
I bent toward Mia.
“We're leaving.”
Alexander heard me.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“My daughter shouldn't be here.”
“She saw something.”
“She already told you.”
“She may have seen more.”
Mia pressed against my side.
I felt anger rise inside me.
“She is eight years old.”
Alexander's expression softened slightly.
It was the smallest change.
But I saw it.
“I know.”
“Then don't turn her into a witness in whatever this is.”
“I won't.”
“You already are.”
Silence.
People did not speak to Alexander Romano that way.
I knew that.
Daniel knew that.
Victoria definitely knew that.
But motherhood makes you forget who you're supposed to fear.
Alexander studied me for several seconds.
Then he crouched.
The movement surprised everyone.
Especially Mia.
He lowered himself until he was at her eye level.
“Did you see Victoria take my inhaler?”
Mia looked at me.
I squeezed her hand.
“You can tell the truth.”
She nodded.
“I was looking at the paintings.”
Victoria suddenly interrupted.
“Alexander—”
“Quiet.”
One word.
Victoria stopped.
Mia continued.
“I saw her come out of your office.”
Alexander's eyes sharpened.
“When?”
“Before you came downstairs.”
“What did she do?”
“She had the blue thing.”
“The inhaler?”
Mia nodded.
“She looked at it. Then she put it in her purse.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No. That's not what happened.”
Mia frowned.
“Yes, it is.”
“I found it.”
Alexander looked at Victoria.
She swallowed.
“Your inhaler was on your desk. I picked it up because I thought you'd forgotten it.”
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“I was going to.”
“You watched me collapse.”
Victoria's face went pale.
“I panicked.”
“You stood six feet away.”
“I was scared!”
“And you said nothing.”
“I didn't understand what was happening!”
Alexander slowly stood.
Something changed in his expression.
The coldness returned.
“Take her upstairs.”
Victoria's eyes widened.
“Alexander.”
Daniel gestured to the guards.
She resisted.
“You're making a mistake.”
Alexander didn't answer.
Victoria stared at him desperately.
Then she looked at me.
And what she said next made my stomach twist.
“Ask your maid why her daughter was really watching me.”
I froze.
Alexander turned.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“You think I'm the only person keeping secrets in this house?”
“Victoria.”
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
Victoria pointed at me.
“Ask Isabella why she changed her last name.”
My blood went cold.
I had not heard my old name spoken inside that mansion.
Not once.
Alexander looked at me.
“Changed from what?”
I couldn't answer.
Because twelve years earlier, before I became Isabella Reed...
My name had been Isabella Moretti.
And the Moretti family had once been the Romano family's greatest enemy.
“Mom?”
Mia looked up at me.
I forced myself to breathe.
Alexander stared.
“Isabella?”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
Victoria smiled.
“You're sure?”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What aren't you telling us?”
I looked around the hallway.
Too many eyes.
Too many people.
Too many memories.
“I left that life a long time ago.”
Alexander's expression hardened.
“What life?”
“My father worked for your father.”
That stopped him.
Anthony Romano had been more feared than Alexander.
Before his death, he had controlled half the city's underground operations.
“My father was Gabriel Moretti.”
Daniel's face changed.
Alexander didn't move.
But he knew the name.
Everyone did.
Gabriel Moretti had been blamed for the warehouse explosion that damaged Alexander's lungs.
And according to the story Chicago had believed for twelve years...
Gabriel had died in that same explosion.
Alexander stepped toward me.
“Your father tried to kill me.”
“No.”
“You're Gabriel Moretti's daughter?”
“Yes.”
“And you worked inside my home for two years without telling me?”
“I needed a job.”
“You chose my house?”
“I didn't know you personally when I applied.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is the truth.”
His jaw tightened.
Before he could speak again, Daniel approached carrying a tablet.
“Boss.”
Alexander looked over.
“We found something.”
Daniel placed the tablet on the table.
Security footage appeared.
Timestamp:
11:42 A.M.
Twenty-three minutes before Alexander's attack.
Victoria entered Alexander's office.
Just as Mia had said.
She stayed for forty-one seconds.
Then left.
Alexander watched closely.
“Zoom.”
Daniel enlarged the image.
Victoria was holding something.
Blue.
The inhaler.
Mia whispered, “See?”
But Daniel wasn't finished.
“There was someone else.”
He rewound the footage.
At 11:38, four minutes before Victoria entered, another person appeared.
A man.
He walked into Alexander's office carrying a folder.
He remained inside for approximately two minutes.
When he emerged, his face turned toward the camera.
Alexander stopped breathing for an entirely different reason.
The man was his younger brother.
Nicholas Romano.
“Where is Nicholas?” Alexander asked.
Daniel turned toward the conference room.
One of the guards checked.
Then returned quickly.
“He's gone.”
Alexander's expression darkened.
“You said nobody left.”
“He didn't leave through the main doors.”
“Find him.”
Guards moved immediately.
Alexander stared at the screen.
Nicholas had always been the charming Romano.
The younger brother.
The one who avoided violence.
The one Alexander had protected since childhood.
I saw something beneath Alexander's anger.
Pain.
He didn't want the evidence to be true.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“Alexander.”
“What?”
“We found Nicholas's car.”
“Where?”
“Near the old Romano warehouse.”
The same warehouse where Alexander had almost died twelve years earlier.
The same warehouse where my father supposedly died.
Alexander grabbed his coat.
“Get the cars.”
I stepped forward.
“You're going there?”
“Yes.”
“That's insane.”
His eyes met mine.
“Someone used my dead father's signature.”
“That could be exactly why they want you there.”
“Then they're going to be disappointed when I arrive alive.”
He walked toward the doors.
Mia suddenly pulled away from me.
“Mr. Romano!”
Alexander stopped.
Mia pointed at the frozen security image.
Not Nicholas.
The folder in his hand.
“What?”
Mia walked closer.
“That picture.”
Daniel enlarged it.
On the corner of the folder was a faded red symbol.
A lion inside a circle.
I knew that symbol.
I hadn't seen it since childhood.
My father used it on documents he never wanted outsiders to read.
My mouth went dry.
“Alexander.”
He looked at me.
“That isn't your family's file.”
“Whose is it?”
I stared at the red lion.
May you like
“My father's.”
And suddenly, for the first time in twelve years, I wondered whether Gabriel Moretti had actually died in that warehouse at all.
