Chapter 11 - THE VOICE SHE TRIED TO SILENCE|
The next morning, Oliver refused to let Mr. Buttons leave his sight.
He sat beside me on the sofa in a quiet room at the police facility, holding the teddy bear against his chest.
Luca had stayed awake all night.
Every time Oliver moved, his father looked toward him as though he needed to make certain the little boy was still there.
“Daddy?” Oliver asked.
Luca immediately leaned forward.
“Yes, buddy?”
“Can we go somewhere Vivienne doesn't know?”
Luca's expression softened.
“Yes.”
“Somewhere with no bad people?”
“I'll do everything I can to make it safe.”
Oliver considered this.
“Can Claire come too?”
Luca looked at me.
“Only if she wants to.”
I smiled at the little boy.
“Of course I do.”
Oliver finally relaxed against my shoulder.
For the first time in days, he fell asleep without crying.
An hour later, Detective Shaw invited Luca and me into a private conference room.
A digital copy of the teddy bear's recordings had been made during the initial evidence examination.
The forensic team had discovered that the recording module contained more than one saved audio file.
The paw button had been programmed to play the message Oliver knew.
But a second file had never been assigned to the button.
Until the specialist examined the full copied contents, nobody had realized it existed.
“We're still authenticating everything,” Shaw warned.
“This isn't enough by itself to prove every allegation.”
“But you need to hear what Isabella saved.”
She pressed play.
At first, there was only the sound of footsteps.
Then Isabella spoke.
“Matteo, I know about Sable Holdings.”
A man answered sharply.
“You went through my private accounts?”
“You've taken money from Luca.”
“Money that belongs to this family.”
Matteo laughed.
“Luca doesn't even notice what happens inside his own company.”
“That's because he trusts you.”
“Trust is a weakness, Isabella.”
My stomach tightened.
Luca stared at the speaker.
The recording continued.
A woman's voice interrupted.
“Matteo, we need to leave.”
Vivienne.
Isabella spoke again.
“I'm going to tell him everything.”
“Then you'll regret it,” Vivienne answered.
There was a sharp sound, as though someone had struck a table.
Then Matteo's voice returned.
“Arthur has already handled the car.”
Isabella's breathing changed.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing you can prove.”
“Matteo, what did you do to my car?”
There was a pause.
Then Vivienne whispered something the recorder barely captured.
“She's going to ruin everything.”
Matteo answered coldly.
“Then we make sure she never gets the chance.”
The recording stopped.
I covered my face.
Luca remained motionless.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then he whispered one word.
“Again.”
Detective Shaw replayed it.
The second time, I heard something I hadn't noticed before.
Isabella wasn't begging.
She was terrified, but she was still trying to protect her husband.
“Please don't do this to Luca,” she had said near the beginning.
Even when she knew her own life might be in danger, she was thinking about the family Matteo was destroying.
Luca stood abruptly and walked toward the wall.
He pressed his forehead against it.
I could see his shoulders trembling.
“Luca,” I whispered.
He shook his head.
“She was asking him not to hurt me.”
“And he was planning to kill her.”
I approached slowly.
“I know.”
He turned around.
There were tears in his eyes.
“I married the woman who helped murder my wife.”
“I let her live with Oliver.”
“I let her take Isabella's photographs off the walls.”
His voice broke.
“How am I supposed to forgive myself?”
I looked at him for a long moment.
“Maybe you don't start with forgiveness.”
“Maybe you start with doing the right thing.”
He lowered his head.
Detective Shaw waited until he was ready.
Then she explained that the recording would be compared with other evidence, including financial transfers, witness testimony, and original account documents.
Vivienne had been arrested on charges arising from the kidnapping and warehouse incident.
Investigators were also preparing to question her about Isabella's death.
Bruno had requested an attorney.
And officers were still searching for Matteo.
“What about Arthur Voss?” Luca asked.
“We've identified several possible locations.”
“Finding him is a priority.”
Luca nodded.
Then he removed a small gold ring from his finger.
It was the signet ring his father had given him when he took control of the family business.
I had seen him wear it every day for five years.
He placed it on the conference table.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He looked at the ring.
“This used to mean everything to me.”
“Power.”
“Respect.”
“Loyalty.”
He looked toward the room where Oliver was sleeping.
“But I built a life where my wife couldn't trust me with the truth and my son was afraid to ask me for help.”
He turned toward Detective Shaw.
“I'll give investigators access to the company records.”
“Not just Matteo's accounts.”
“All of them.”
Shaw studied him carefully.
“You understand what that could mean for you?”
Luca nodded.
“Yes.”
“I understand.”
He looked at me.
“Isabella wanted me to choose Oliver over the empire.”
He pushed the ring away.
“I'm finally going to listen.”
Before Detective Shaw could respond, her phone rang.
She listened for several seconds.
Then her expression changed.
“Where?”
She glanced at Luca.
“Are you certain?”
She ended the call.
“We found Arthur Voss.”
Luca straightened.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“At a motel outside Chicago.”
May you like
Shaw paused.
“And he says he has been waiting two years to confess what he did to Isabella's car.”
