Chapter 4 - The Locked Archive Held My Father’s Name—and Someone Tried to Destroy It
The archive occupied a room beneath the east staircase.
Marco unlocked the door with visible reluctance.
I followed Alessio down in the elevator. Valentina came behind us, her pearl necklace resting against her throat.
Dust lay along the file cabinets.
Alessio stopped before a shelf marked INDUSTRIAL CLAIMS.
“Open it.”
Marco hesitated.
“Some of those records are confidential.”
“My name is on the building.”
The cabinet opened.
I found Antonio Romano's file between two thick folders.
Inside were photographs of the factory floor, a signed safety complaint, and a handwritten letter.
I knew my father's handwriting.
He always made the capital A too large.
The letter warned that a loading platform had been weakened deliberately.
He had reported the danger two days before it collapsed beneath him.
“Someone knew,” I whispered.
Alessio read over my shoulder.
“Who signed the inspection?”
Marco said nothing.
The name at the bottom was almost illegible.
V. Moretti.
Valentina pressed a hand against the cabinet.
“Vittorio,” she said.
Alessio's uncle.
A man whose portrait hung in the estate's main hall.
I backed away.
“You invited me here knowing this?”
“No,” Valentina said.
I wanted to believe her.
That made me angrier.
Alessio took the file from my shaking hands.
“Make copies. Every page.”
Marco stepped forward.
“Those papers cannot leave this room.”
“Move,” Alessio said.
A sharp smell reached me.
Smoke.
From beneath the far door, a thin gray ribbon crawled across the floor.
The fire alarm sounded.
Marco swore.
I looked at the filing cabinet.
The only original copy of my father's warning lay inside.
“Take the file,” I said.
Alessio grabbed the folder. I pushed his chair toward the elevator, but the doors refused to open.
The emergency light flashed red.
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Above us, something heavy struck the locked stairwell door.
Someone had set the fire while we were inside.
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