Buried Alive, I Left the Don My Blood-Written Truth Chapter 05
Margaret sat in the seat of honor. Her expression was grim.
“You’re asking me?”
Adrian lifted his eyes.
“Inside the compound, only you can access the hidden safe in my office.”
Margaret sneered.
“And if it was me?”
The hall went dead quiet. Vivian hurried forward. “Mrs. Moretti, please. Don’t say that out of anger.” Margaret
shook off her hand.
“I’m not angry.”
“Elena poisoned Connor. The evidence was right in front of us.”
“If she had lived, you would have softened the moment you came home.”
“Adrian, you’ve been this way since you were young. You talk about rules, but your heart has always gone
where it shouldn’t.”
The blood drained from Adrian’s face.
“So you falsely issued my order and buried her alive?”
Margaret slammed the rosary onto the table.
“I was saving you.”
“You’re the heir of the Moretti family. I couldn’t let a common-born woman stain your name.”
“Only her death could settle Connor’s case.”
Ava spoke.
“Whose peace are you talking about, Margaret?”
Margaret looked at her.
“You have no place here. Keep your mouth shut.”
Ava unfolded a piece of white cloth.
“Elena had coffin dust in her mouth and nose.”
“There were bloody bite marks inside her throat.”
“The wear on her finger bones was fresh. There were also struggle marks along the coffin planks.”
She looked at Adrian.
“Don Moretti, she woke up in that coffin and suffocated to death.”
Adrian’s hand slammed down on the edge of the table. A thin crack split through the wood.
“How long was she awake?” he asked.
Ava was silent for a moment.
“At least three days.”
I saw Adrian’s eyes turn red. That sentence cut sharper than any blade. Margaret only frowned.
“And that changes what?”
“Once she betrayed the family, pain was part of what she owed.”
Adrian turned to her. For a second, I almost thought he would draw his gun. But he only asked, “Mother, how
do you sleep at night?” Margaret avoided his eyes.
“My conscience is clear.”
Ava took a copper key from my palm.
“Elena was holding this when she died.”
The butler turned pale.
“That’s… the key to the hidden chamber.”
Margaret shot to her feet.
“Who allowed you to touch her hand?”
Ava’s voice was cold.
“There’s nothing left of her but bones. Only now do you remember no one should touch her?”
Adrian took the key.
“Lead the way.”
The hidden chamber was behind the shrine cabinet in Margaret’s private quarters. When the door opened, Vivian took half a step back. I followed them inside and saw a row of small wooden plaques. Each one carried a child’s birth details. The one in the center belonged to Lily. The one beside it belonged to Connor. In front of the plaques sat a bowl of black water. Children’s hair and nail clippings floated inside. Adrian almost stopped breathing. Ava opened the booklet on the altar and read aloud.
“First, drown the girl and break the curse of daughters.”
“Then sacrifice the boy and call forth a male heir.”
“Frame the birth mother, and bury any chance she has of clearing her name.”
The maids in the hall collapsed in terror. Vivian shook her head, crying.
“Adrian, I didn’t know.”
“I only passed a few messages for Mrs. Moretti. I never laid eyes on this.”
Ava looked at her.
“Then who tore away the second half of Elena’s confession?”
Vivian went gray. Margaret laughed.
“Why are all of you staring at me?”
“The Moretti family needs a male heir. Is that wrong?”
“Many powerful families do the same. You just don’t know it.”
“A daughter is born to leave. What use is she to this family?”
Adrian advanced on her, one slow step at a time.
“Lily called you Grandma.”
Margaret lifted her head.
“She should not have.”
“Blood like Elena’s never deserved the Moretti name.”
I almost laughed. So Lily hadn’t died because she had done anything wrong. She died because she was a girl.
Because she had come from me.
