Chapter 1 - The Photograph With the Missing Face
Seventy-four-year-old billionaire Walter Bennett collapsed during a charity dinner at Mafia boss Dominic Moretti's Philadelphia mansion.
Within seconds, Walter's daughter-in-law, Victoria Bennett, accused a young maid named Emily Parker of poisoning him.
Victoria shoved Emily to the marble floor in front of hundreds of wealthy guests.
Nobody defended her.
Nobody except Dominic.
The forty-two-year-old Mafia boss noticed something strange. Walter had specifically refused alcohol earlier that evening, yet Victoria insisted he had consumed five glasses of champagne.
Emily maintained that she had served him only room-temperature water.
When Dominic reviewed security footage, he discovered Victoria leaning over Walter's water glass shortly before the collapse.
A flower arrangement concealed her hand.
Then Emily revealed something far more disturbing.
She had overheard Walter confronting Victoria about using a dead man's name for six years.
Victoria had answered with a threat.
Worse, she controlled the charitable funding for Emily's mother, Ruth, who was recovering from a stroke in an expensive nursing facility.
Emily had remained silent because she feared losing her mother's care.
But Walter had secretly entrusted her with an envelope addressed to Dominic.
Inside was an old photograph showing Walter and Dominic's father, Anthony Moretti, standing outside a warehouse.
Someone had scratched away a fourth person's face.
On the back were five words.
THE WRONG PERSON WAS BURIED.
Emily recognized the photograph. Her mother possessed another copy, with the missing face intact.
Before Dominic could investigate, Margaret Bennett called from what should have been Walter's ambulance.
The vehicle had been switched.
Margaret said Walter had revealed something about Anthony's death six years earlier.
Then someone grabbed her.
Her final warning was terrifying.
"Your father left someone in his office."
The call disconnected.
Seconds later, a telephone began ringing inside Anthony Moretti's locked office.
A telephone supposedly disconnected for six years.
Dominic approached the door with an old brass key.
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But before he could open it, a man's voice called from inside.
"Dominic, don't open that door. Victoria knows you're there."
