Chapter 10 - A Mother’s Last Recording
“Put it down.”
The guard froze.
Matteo raised his weapon.
“Now.”
The bottle hit the floor.
Liana rushed toward Nico.
The guard raised his hands.
“I didn't poison him.”
“Your access card opened the nursery.”
“It was stolen.”
“By whom?”
“Mrs. Vale.”
“Elena?”
“Yes.”
Matteo stared.
“Why didn't you report it?”
“Because she returned it before I noticed.”
A crash sounded downstairs.
They found Elena trying to escape.
This time Matteo's men surrounded her.
She didn't resist.
“You found the drive,” she said.
Matteo said nothing.
“Good.”
Liana stared.
“You wanted us to find it?”
“I wanted Sofia to see what her family created.”
“You killed my son.”
Elena's expression changed.
“No.”
“You used him.”
“Yes.”
The admission stunned everyone.
“But I did not kill him.”
“Who did?”
Elena looked toward Sofia.
Sofia shook her head.
“No.”
“Tell her.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Elena smiled sadly.
“Play file forty-seven.”
Aaron opened the drive.
File 47 contained hospital surveillance.
Eli's room.
The night he died.
A figure entered.
Liana couldn't see the face.
The person adjusted Eli's IV.
Then left.
Thirty minutes later, alarms sounded.
The figure reappeared in another camera.
Matteo froze the frame.
Daniel.
Liana turned.
Daniel stood behind them.
His wound had been bandaged.
“You?”
Daniel looked horrified.
“I was removing the compound.”
“Then what killed him?”
“I don't know.”
Evelyn's voice answered from the doorway.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
She was alive.
Barely.
A medic supported her.
“Eli wasn't murdered.”
Liana stared.
“What?”
“He had a severe reaction to the compound. Daniel removed it, but too late.”
“So Elena killed him.”
Evelyn looked at Elena.
“Yes.”
Elena's composure finally broke.
“I didn't know the dose would—”
Liana crossed the room.
She didn't slap her this time.
She simply stared.
“You knew he could suffer.”
Elena cried.
“Yes.”
“And you did it anyway.”
“Yes.”
Liana turned away.
That was worse than any excuse.
Police sirens approached.
Matteo had made a decision no Varric before him would have made.
He had sent the evidence outside the family.
Everything.
Financial crimes.
Bribery.
The study.
Elena's role.
Daniel's involvement.
Even crimes connected to Matteo's own businesses.
Sofia stared at him.
“You could lose everything.”
“Then I lose it.”
Nico slept against Liana.
Matteo looked at his son.
“He doesn't inherit this.”
Before police arrived, Evelyn handed Sofia one final recording.
“It was made the night of your crash.”
Sofia opened it.
Her own voice filled the room.
But Sofia's face changed.
“I never recorded this.”
The woman on screen looked exactly like her.
Then she turned sideways.
A scar appeared behind her ear.
Sofia touched the same place on her own head.
She had no scar.
May you like
Elena whispered:
“That's not Sofia.”
