Chapter 4: The Voice That Should Have Been Impossible
For several seconds, I couldn’t move.
The phone remained pressed against my ear even though the call had already ended.
The hallway was silent.
Too silent.
I stared at the dark screen, waiting for it to light up again.
Waiting for another call.
Waiting for someone to tell me it was a cruel joke.
But nothing happened.
Because the impossible had already happened.
Isabella had called me.
My dead wife had called me.
“Alessandro?””
Rosalie’s voice pulled me back.
I looked up.
She was standing in the doorway with Livia beside her.
My daughter’s eyes were fixed on my face.
“Daddy,” Livia whispered.
“Who was it?””
I opened my mouth.
No sound came out.
How could I explain something I couldn’t understand myself?
How could I tell my six-year-old daughter that the voice she had been waiting to hear for years had somehow reached us?
Matteo stepped closer.
“Who was on the phone?””
I looked at him.
My expression must have answered before my words did.
His face changed.
“No.””
I swallowed.
“It was Isabella.””
Nobody spoke.
Even the noise from the wedding hall seemed to disappear.
Rosalie covered her mouth.
Matteo stared at me like I had just told him the sky had fallen.
“That’s impossible.””
“I know.””
“Alessandro…”
“I know.””
My voice broke.
“But I heard her.””
Matteo looked at the phone.
“Could it have been a recording?””
I shook my head immediately.
“No.””
“Are you sure?””
“Yes.””
I remembered the way she said my name.
The tiny pause before it.
The emotion hidden beneath her voice.
A recording couldn’t hesitate.
A recording couldn’t sound afraid.
A recording couldn’t say:
*Please don’t marry Bianca.*
“Play it again,” Matteo said.
I looked at him.
“What?””
“Check your call history.””
I unlocked my phone.
The number was there.
Unknown.
No name.
No saved contact.
Just a call lasting eleven seconds.
Matteo leaned closer.
“Can you trace it?””
“I don’t know.””
“Try.””
I pressed the number.
The call didn’t connect.
Straight to voicemail.
Then a message appeared.
*This number is no longer in service.*
My stomach twisted.
“No…”
“What?””
I showed Matteo the screen.
He looked confused.
Then worried.
“Alessandro, someone is playing with you.””
I looked toward the hallway.
Toward Bianca.
She was still standing there.
Watching us.
And suddenly, I wondered if she knew.
If this was part of whatever game she had been playing.
I walked toward her.
Her eyes followed me.
“What happened?”” she asked.
I stopped in front of her.
“You tell me.””
She frowned.
“What?””
“My wife called me.””
For the first time since I met her, Bianca looked genuinely shocked.
“What did you say?””
“You heard me.””
“That’s impossible.””
I studied her reaction.
Was it fear?
Confusion?
Or acting?
“Did you know Isabella was alive?””
The question came out before I could stop it.
Bianca’s face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
Her lips parted.
Then closed.
And that hesitation told me everything.
“You’re insane,” she whispered.
“Answer me.””
“She’s dead.””
“Then why did I hear her voice?””
Bianca looked around.
People were watching.
She lowered her voice.
“Someone is trying to destroy us.””
I laughed once.
A cold, empty laugh.
“Destroy us?””
I pointed toward the bridal room.
“You cut my daughter’s hair.””
Her eyes flashed.
“I told you, it wasn’t like that.””
“You lied about Daniel.””
Silence.
“You know Isabella wrote a letter warning me about you.””
Her expression hardened.
“And now you think I’m the villain?””
“I don’t know what to think.””
That was the truth.
I didn’t know what to think anymore.
The woman I loved was either hiding something terrible or being framed.
My dead wife had left warnings.
My daughter had a secret.
A stranger named Daniel was connected somehow.
Everything I believed was collapsing.
Then Bianca whispered:
“You want the truth?””
I stared at her.
“Yes.””
She looked at Matteo.
Then Rosalie.
Then back at me.
“Fine.””
She stepped closer.
“But if I tell you, you need to understand something.””
“What?””
“Isabella wasn’t protecting you.””
My heart tightened.
“She was protecting herself.””
Before I could respond, she walked away.
Just like that.
Leaving me standing there with more questions than answers.
Twenty minutes later, I found myself sitting in a private office near the venue entrance.
The wedding ceremony had been delayed.
Guests were being told there was a technical issue.
Nobody knew the real reason.
My wedding was falling apart behind closed doors.
And I was starting to wonder if it had been doomed from the beginning.
Matteo placed the flash drive on the desk.
“We need to see what’s on this.””
I nodded.
A laptop sat between us.
My hands felt heavy as I plugged in the drive.
One folder appeared.
No name.
Just a date.
The date Isabella died.
I stared at it.
“No…”
Matteo looked at me.
“Open it.””
I clicked.
Inside was one video file.
Only one.
Created three years ago.
My heart pounded.
“Why would she record something?””
“Maybe she knew she wouldn’t get the chance to tell you.””
I pressed play.
The screen went black.
Then Isabella appeared.
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
She was sitting in our old living room.
The same room where we had celebrated Livia’s birthdays.
The same room where she had held my hand during difficult nights.
She looked tired.
Not sick.
Not weak.
Afraid.
“Alessandro…”
My eyes filled instantly.
Hearing her voice was different from hearing a phone call.
This was real.
This was her.
“If you’re watching this, something happened.””
She looked down.
“I don’t know when you’ll find this. I don’t know who you’ll trust.””
My hands tightened.
Then Isabella said the words that made my blood run cold.
“Please listen carefully.””
She leaned closer to the camera.
“Bianca is not who she says she is.””
I looked at Matteo.
Neither of us moved.
The video continued.
“I met Bianca before she met you.””
My heart stopped.
“What?””
Matteo looked at me.
The same shock was on his face.
Isabella continued.
“She approached me because she wanted information about our family.””
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“She knew about Livia. She knew about my illness. She knew things nobody outside our home should have known.””
I felt sick.
“No…”
On the screen, Isabella wiped her eyes.
“I thought she was dangerous.””
A pause.
Then she whispered:
“But I never imagined she would go this far.””
The video glitched.
For a second, Isabella’s face disappeared.
Then returned.
Her voice became quieter.
“Alessandro, if Bianca is standing beside you when you watch this…”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Run.””
The video suddenly froze.
A loading symbol appeared.
Then the screen went black.
The file ended.
Neither of us spoke.
Because the woman I loved had left me one final warning.
And now I knew one terrifying truth.
Bianca hadn’t entered my life after Isabella died.
She had been there before.
Matteo slowly looked at me.
“Alessandro…”
I couldn’t answer.
Because at that exact moment, someone knocked on the office door.
Three slow knocks.
Then Bianca’s voice came from the other side.
“Alessandro?””
My entire body went still.
“I know what you just watched.””
The door handle moved.
“She told you I was the enemy, didn’t she?””
The door opened slightly.
May you like
And Bianca whispered:
“But she never told you why she was afraid of me.””
