Chapter 5: No Body Was Ever Found

Luca never returned to the mansion.

For three straight days, he stood aboard a rescue vessel in the middle of the Atlantic.

Rain soaked his clothes.

Salt burned his eyes.

He refused to leave.

Every few hours another piece of wreckage surfaced.

A seat cushion.

A suitcase.

Part of the wing.

But never Valeria.

Never her body.

His assistant approached cautiously.

“Mr. Moretti... the search teams have recovered everything they could.”

Luca didn't even look at him.

“Keep searching.”

“Sir...”

“I said keep searching.”

Thousands of men joined the operation.

Divers.

Military helicopters.

Private satellites.

Every port along the Atlantic received Valeria's photograph.

The reward for information climbed from ten million dollars...

to fifty million...

then one hundred million.

Still nothing.

Back in the city, Bianca believed everything had finally gone her way.

She arrived at the Moretti mansion with the twins.

She expected Luca to bring her inside as the new Mrs. Moretti.

Instead, the guards blocked the entrance.

“Mr. Moretti's orders.”

“You are never to enter this property again.”

Bianca laughed.

“You must be joking.”

The head guard silently handed her an envelope.

Inside was a bank transfer worth hundreds of millions.

And one sentence.

Never appear before me again.

Bianca's smile disappeared.

She rushed to Luca's office.

He was standing in front of the wall-sized photograph of Valeria.

His beard had grown.

Dark circles surrounded his bloodshot eyes.

He hadn't slept in days.

“Luca...”

He didn't answer.

“The children miss you.”

Still nothing.

Finally he spoke.

“Did you know she was pregnant?”

Bianca froze.

Her silence answered everything.

Luca slowly turned around.

The look in his eyes terrified her.

“Get out.”

“Luca, listen to me—”

“GET OUT!”

His roar echoed through the building.

Guards rushed inside.

Bianca was dragged away despite her screams.

The twins cried after their father.

Luca never looked back.

That same night, he ordered every photograph of Bianca removed from every Moretti property.

Every investment connected to her company was cancelled.

The jewelry brand she had proudly claimed as hers collapsed within weeks.

His own parents tried to intervene.

“She's the mother of your sons,” his father argued.

Luca looked at him without emotion.

“And Valeria was my wife.”

“She carried my daughter... while all of you stood beside the woman who destroyed her.”

His mother burst into tears.

“We never thought she'd leave...”

Luca laughed bitterly.

“Neither did I.”

Late that night, another call came from the investigation team.

“Mr. Moretti... we've completed the final report.”

“What is it?”

“There's something strange.”

“The passenger list confirms Mrs. Moretti boarded the aircraft.”

“But based on the amount of recovered remains...”

“There should have been at least twelve bodies.”

“We only recovered eleven.”

Luca's heartbeat stopped.

“What are you saying?”

The investigator hesitated.

“We're saying...”

“There is still a possibility...”

“...that your wife was never on that plane when it crashed.”