Chapter 3 - The Secret Hidden Inside The Wedding Dress
The photo remained on the phone screen.
I couldn’t look away.
The image showed Rafael and me standing inside the office only moments earlier.
But that wasn’t what terrified me.
It was the reflection in the window behind us.
A person.
Standing in the darkness.
Watching.
My first thought was that it was impossible.
The office had been empty.
The guards had checked every corner.
The door had been locked.
Nobody could have been there.
But the picture proved otherwise.
“Who took this?”
My voice sounded smaller than I wanted.
Rafael didn’t answer immediately.
He stared at the image with the same cold focus he had used when he entered the mansion.
The focus of a man searching for a threat.
Not a man looking at a mystery.
“Everyone leave.”
His voice cut through the room.
The guards moved instantly.
Nobody questioned him.
Within seconds, the office was empty except for the two of us.
I watched him lock the door.
That small action made my heartbeat faster.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure nobody interrupts us.”
The way he said it made me nervous.
Not because I feared him.
Because I realized something.
Rafael Moretti was afraid too.
He walked back to the desk and placed the phone down.
“Look at the picture again.”
I stepped closer.
The person in the reflection was blurry.
Only a silhouette.
But there was something familiar about the shape.
The posture.
The way they stood.
Like they knew they had already won.
“Do you recognize them?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Rafael studied my face.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He remained silent.
I crossed my arms.
“You think I’m lying.”
“I think someone wants us to believe you are.”
That answer confused me.
“Why?”
“Because you are the easiest person to blame.”
The words hurt because they were true.
I was the replacement bride.
The stranger who arrived wearing another woman’s dress.
The woman everyone could point at when things went wrong.
Rafael walked back to the wedding dress.
My eyes followed him.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding out why your sister chose this dress.”
I looked down at the fabric.
“Because it was hers.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Because she wanted you to have it.”
I frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Your sister was not careless.”
I looked at him.
“You knew Serena well?”
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I noticed.
“No.”
A pause.
“But I knew the kind of person she was.”
I didn’t understand what that meant.
Before I could ask, Rafael reached toward the inside seam of the dress.
My body immediately reacted.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
“What?”
I looked at the dress.
“I’ve worn this all day.”
“And?”
“And if Serena hid something there…”
My voice faded.
Because suddenly, I understood.
My sister didn’t disappear randomly.
She planned something.
She knew she might not come back.
And she left me a message.
Rafael carefully examined the dress.
His eyes narrowed.
“There.”
Near the bottom of the inner lining was a small irregular stitch.
Almost invisible.
He took a small knife from his pocket.
I stared.
“You carry a knife at weddings?”
“I don’t attend normal weddings.”
Despite everything happening, I almost smiled.
Almost.
He cut the thread carefully.
A tiny object fell into his hand.
A memory card.
My breath stopped.
Another one.
Just like the hidden evidence Rafael had mentioned earlier.
But this time it was inside the dress I had been forced to wear.
Rafael looked at it.
“Your sister knew someone would search her room.”
I swallowed.
“So she hid it where nobody would look.”
His eyes moved toward me.
“No.”
A pause.
“She hid it where everyone would see it.”
I touched the dress.
My sister had chosen this.
Not Serena.
Me.
“She wanted me to find it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rafael didn’t answer.
Because he didn’t know.
And somehow, that scared me more.
The mafia boss who always had answers didn’t know.
He placed the memory card beside the first one.
Two secrets.
Two pieces of Serena’s disappearance.
And both led back to me.
“Can we watch it?”
“Yes.”
He connected the memory card to a secure laptop.
The screen loaded.
A video file appeared.
No title.
No date.
Just one word.
CLARA.
My heart stopped.
“That’s my name.”
“I know.”
The video opened.
At first, the screen was black.
Then Serena appeared.
She was sitting somewhere dark.
Her hair was messy.
Her face looked exhausted.
But she was alive.
I covered my mouth.
“Serena…”
Rafael watched silently.
My sister looked directly into the camera.
“Clara.”
My eyes filled instantly.
“If you’re watching this, then I failed.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Her voice continued.
“I know you’re probably wearing my dress right now.”
I looked down.
A cold feeling moved through my body.
“How did she know?”
Rafael didn’t answer.
Serena continued.
“I know Dad will tell you that you have to marry Rafael Moretti.”
My hands tightened.
“He will tell you it’s for the family.”
A bitter smile appeared on her face.
“But that was never the truth.”
The room became silent.
“Rafael is dangerous, Clara.”
I looked at him.
For the first time, I saw something in his expression.
Pain.
Not anger.
Pain.
“But he is not the person you should fear.”
The video froze for a second.
Then Serena continued.
“The person who destroyed our family is someone who has been standing beside us the entire time.”
My heart raced.
“Someone we trusted.”
The screen flickered.
Then Serena leaned closer.
“Clara, listen carefully.”
Her voice lowered.
“Do not give the wedding ring to him.”
My eyes moved to Rafael.
“What?”
Serena continued.
“The ring is not a symbol of marriage.”
A pause.
“It is proof.”
The video suddenly ended.
The office remained silent.
I looked at Rafael.
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
He was staring at the wedding ring on my finger.
The ring my father had forced me to wear before I came here.
The ring that belonged to Serena.
“Take it off.”
His voice was serious.
I immediately removed it.
The moment the ring left my finger, something tiny fell onto the desk.
A small metal piece.
Rafael picked it up.
His face changed.
“What is it?”
He examined it carefully.
“A tracking device.”
My blood turned cold.
Someone had been tracking me.
Since the moment I entered the mansion.
Rafael looked toward the door.
Then toward the cameras.
“Your father didn’t send you here to save his company.”
I stared at him.
“Then why?”
His eyes met mine.
“To deliver you.”
The answer made my skin crawl.
“To who?”
Before he could respond, the office phone rang.
Both of us froze.
The same hidden phone.
Rafael picked it up.
No one spoke.
Only breathing.
Then a voice finally came.
A woman’s voice.
A voice I knew.
A voice I hadn’t heard since yesterday.
My entire body went numb.
Because the woman on the other end whispered:
“Clara, don’t trust Rafael.”
I grabbed the phone.
“Serena?”
Silence.
Then she said something that made Rafael’s expression change completely.
“Because he knows exactly why I disappeared…”
The call ended.
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At that exact moment, the office lights turned off again.
And from the hallway outside, someone whispered Rafael’s name.
