Chapter 11 - The Man Inside the Varric House
The recording continued.
The woman who looked like Sofia spoke to someone outside frame.
“Nico cannot remain in the house.”
Then a man's voice answered.
Matteo recognized it.
His father.
Impossible.
His father had been dead for three years.
Aaron checked the file.
The timestamp was genuine.
Matteo stared at Elena.
“Explain.”
She looked genuinely confused.
“I can't.”
Sofia watched the woman again.
Then remembered.
Her half sister wasn't her only hidden sibling.
There had been twins.
Their father had separated them as infants.
One had supposedly died.
“Her name was Victoria.”
Elena's face drained.
“She died.”
“Apparently not.”
The investigation expanded.
Police searched the estate.
A hidden apartment was discovered behind the west wing.
Someone had lived there recently.
Clothing.
Food.
Medical supplies.
Photographs of Nico.
Photographs of Liana.
Photographs of Eli.
And dozens of photographs of Sofia.
Victoria had been studying her sister for years.
Learning her movements.
Voice.
Clothes.
Life.
Matteo found a ledger.
His father's signature appeared throughout it.
He had financed the early medical research.
The family conspiracy was older than any of them realized.
But his father was still dead.
The voice had been an old recording reused to manipulate them.
For once, the mystery had a simple answer.
The next wasn't simple.
Police found Victoria's fingerprints inside Nico's nursery.
She had been the one continuing the poisoning.
Elena had started the scheme.
Victoria had taken control.
“Why?” Liana asked.
Sofia understood.
“Because she wanted my life.”
Matteo looked at her.
“She wanted Nico?”
“She wanted everything.”
A phone rang.
Not Matteo's.
Not Liana's.
A phone hidden inside the apartment wall.
Matteo answered.
Victoria spoke.
“Bring Sofia to St. Catherine's.”
“No.”
“Then the evidence proving who ordered Aaron's accident disappears.”
Aaron looked up.
Matteo tightened his grip.
“You have nothing left.”
Victoria laughed.
“You still think this was about the trust.”
The line disconnected.
A photograph arrived.
It showed Aaron's wrecked car eleven months earlier.
Standing beside it was someone they all knew.
Someone who had been with Liana every day after the accident.
Her own mother.
Liana stared at the photograph.
Then her phone rang.
May you like
The caller ID read:
MOM.
