Chapter 15: The Call From the Dead
1026 Words
"Your mother contacted us."
The words froze Aria in place.
For a moment, she simply stared at Luca.
Unable to move.
Unable to think.
Unable to breathe.
"What?"
Her voice barely emerged.
Luca looked equally disturbed.
The phone remained in his hand.
His knuckles had turned white.
"Who called?"
Aria's heart pounded violently.
"You already know."
No.
No.
This couldn't be happening.
Her mother was dead.
Then missing.
Now calling?
Nothing made sense anymore.
Luca placed the phone on the table.
"The call came through one of our secure lines."
Aria swallowed hard.
"What did she say?"
The room fell silent.
Then Luca answered.
"She asked for you."
A chill raced through Aria's body.
"Only me?"
"Yes."
Fear mixed with curiosity.
Why now?
Why after all these years?
Why not come home?
Why not explain everything?
The questions multiplied endlessly.
Then Marco entered the room.
His face was grim.
"We traced the signal."
Everyone turned toward him.
"Well?"
Marco hesitated.
The hesitation immediately worried Luca.
"Where?"
Marco slowly exhaled.
"The signal originated from an island."
Aria frowned.
"What island?"
Marco looked directly at her.
"Drakov Island."
Silence.
The name meant nothing to Aria.
Yet the reaction around the room said everything.
Several advisors exchanged nervous glances.
Luca's expression hardened.
Marco cursed quietly.
"What is Drakov Island?" Aria demanded.
No one answered immediately.
Finally, Luca spoke.
"It's supposed to be abandoned."
"Supposed to be?"
He nodded.
"For twenty years."
The room felt colder.
Much colder.
"And yet your mother somehow called from there."
Three hours later.
The Moretti war room buzzed with activity.
Maps covered every screen.
Satellite images filled the walls.
Security reports stacked across the conference table.
Aria sat beside Luca.
Trying to absorb everything.
Trying to understand anything.
Drakov Island sat deep within international waters.
Remote.
Isolated.
Forgotten.
Perfect for hiding.
Perfect for surviving.
Perfect for secrets.
Marco pointed toward a digital map.
"The island once belonged to the Drakov family."
Aria immediately recognized the surname.
Her mother's surname.
The one she discovered inside the journal.
"The bloodline."
Marco nodded.
"The same one."
A heavy silence followed.
Luca crossed his arms.
"Security?"
"Unknown."
"Population?"
"Unknown."
"Defenses?"
"Unknown."
Aria frowned.
"You don't know anything?"
Marco laughed bitterly.
"That's the problem."
Nobody had visited the island in years.
Any attempt to approach resulted in failure.
Boats disappeared.
Drones vanished.
Signals died.
The place had become a ghost.
A myth.
A legend.
Yet somehow Elena Romano was there.
Waiting.
Watching.
Calling.
That night.
Aria sat alone on the mansion balcony.
The city lights sparkled below.
Normally she loved the view.
Tonight she barely noticed it.
A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.
"You should be sleeping."
Luca.
Of course.
Aria smiled weakly.
"I could say the same thing."
Luca stepped beside her.
Neither spoke for a while.
The silence felt comfortable.
Natural.
A strange change from when they first met.
Back then she couldn't stand him.
Now...
Now things were different.
Dangerously different.
"You trust her?"
Aria looked at him.
"My mother?"
Luca nodded.
The question caught her off guard.
Did she trust Elena?
The woman who vanished for twenty-two years?
The woman connected to murder, lies, and secrets?
The woman who had just called from a mysterious island?
"I don't know."
The answer hurt.
Because it was true.
Luca stared at the city below.
"Neither do I."
For several moments neither spoke.
Then Aria asked something she had been wondering for weeks.
"Why me?"
Luca looked at her.
"What?"
"Back then."
Her eyes locked onto his.
"When you demanded the marriage."
Silence.
Luca already knew where this was going.
"You could've taken the debt."
"You could've taken the company."
"You could've destroyed my family."
Her voice softened.
"But you wanted me."
Luca looked away.
A rare occurrence.
And that immediately told her something important.
There was more.
Much more.
"Why?"
His jaw tightened.
For the first time in weeks—
Luca Moretti looked uncomfortable.
"Because of your mother."
Aria froze.
"What?"
Luca sighed.
The secret had remained buried long enough.
"My father knew Elena."
The world seemed to stop.
"What?"
"He knew her before she met Victor."
Aria's heart raced.
"How?"
Luca hesitated.
Then finally answered.
"They were engaged."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Aria stared.
Certain she had heard wrong.
"No."
Luca nodded.
"My father was supposed to marry Elena."
The revelation hit like a bomb.
Everything changed.
Everything.
Her mother.
The Morettis.
The debt.
The marriage.
The obsession.
Everything suddenly connected.
"Then..."
Her voice trembled.
"Then my mother left him."
"Yes."
"And married my father."
"Yes."
Aria struggled to process the information.
Luca's father.
Her mother.
An arranged marriage.
A betrayal.
A love triangle decades old.
The implications were endless.
Then a terrifying thought struck her.
"Does your father know I'm Elena's daughter?"
Luca's silence answered immediately.
Fear crawled down her spine.
"Oh God."
"He knows."
"And he approved the marriage?"
Another silence.
A much darker silence.
"Luca."
His expression hardened.
"He suggested it."
The room seemed to spin.
What?
Why?
Why would Luca's father want that?
Unless—
A horrible possibility emerged.
"He wants something from me."
Luca didn't answer.
Because she was right.
The following morning.
Chaos erupted.
A security alarm suddenly blared throughout the estate.
Every guard immediately moved.
Weapons drawn.
Voices echoed through hallways.
Doors slammed.
Aria rushed into the corridor.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered.
Then Marco appeared.
Running.
Fast.
Too fast.
"Boss!"
Luca emerged from his office.
"What?"
Marco's face was pale.
"We have a problem."
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"What kind of problem?"
Marco handed him a tablet.
The moment Luca looked at the screen—
All color vanished from his face.
Aria had never seen that happen before.
Ever.
Fear instantly gripped her.
"What is it?"
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Luca turned the screen toward her.
A video played.
The footage showed a woman standing on a beach.
Dark hair.
Elegant posture.
Piercing eyes.
Aria's heart nearly stopped.
Because the woman looked exactly like the photographs.
Exactly like the pictures she had seen her entire life.
Exactly like her mother.
The woman stared directly into the camera.
Then smiled.
And spoke five words.
Five words that changed everything.
"Hello, Aria. It's time."
- Writer
