Chapter 15 - THE LINE BETWEEN PROTECTION AND CONTROL|
Alessandro refused the private meeting.
He told the investigators that he would cooperate with any lawful interview, but he would not allow Richard to dictate the conditions. The authorities arranged a secure interview with legal representatives present.
Elena was not required to attend.
She chose to listen to the recording afterward, with her own attorney beside her.
Richard sounded calm at first. He denied knowing anything about the kidnapping and described the payments to Ryan as legitimate investigative expenses. When confronted with the accountant's testimony, he claimed that the records had been altered by someone else.
Then the investigator played a portion of Elena's mother's recording.
Richard's voice changed.
He admitted that he had pressured her to stop asking questions. He claimed that Thomas Vale had threatened the business and that he had been trying to contain the damage.
“Did you order anyone to harm her?” the investigator asked.
“No.”
“Did you know someone planned to interfere with her car?”
Richard hesitated.
“I heard rumors.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
The silence that followed was devastating.
He had known that Elena's mother might be in danger, and he had chosen to protect his position rather than warn her.
The recording did not settle every question about the accident, but it established that Richard had concealed information and participated in the financial scheme.
The investigation continued.
Afterward, Elena walked into the garden behind the mansion. The sky was gray, and the trees moved in the wind. She felt strangely empty.
Alessandro found her beside the stone fountain.
“I listened to it,” she said.
“I know.”
“He didn't even sound sorry.”
“Some people mistake regret for the fear of consequences.”
She looked at him.
“Are you afraid of consequences?”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised her.
“Then why keep cooperating?”
“Because fear doesn't make the truth less necessary.”
She turned toward the garden.
“I don't know what to do with all this. I wanted Ryan to leave me alone. I wanted Sophie to finish school. I wanted my mother to be remembered as someone who loved us, not as a woman caught in someone else's scheme.”
“Then remember her that way.”
“It isn't that easy.”
“No,” he said. “But you don't have to choose between loving her and learning what happened.”
His words broke something open inside her.
Elena began to cry—not the frightened tears she had shed when Ryan threatened her, but the grief she had postponed for years.
Alessandro did not pull her into his arms without asking.
“May I?” he said quietly.
She nodded.
He held her while she cried, his embrace steady and gentle.
When she finally lifted her head, their faces were close.
“I don't know what this is,” she whispered.
“Neither do I.”
“You're my employer.”
“Then we should address that before we ask anything else of each other.”
The answer made her look at him more carefully.
He explained that he would arrange for her employment to be transferred to an independent household services company, with fair wages and no obligation to remain at the mansion. He would not make romantic interest a condition of her work or her safety.
Elena listened, deeply moved.
“You really are trying to do things differently.”
“Trying isn't the same as succeeding.”
“No,” she agreed. “But it matters.”
She reached for his hand.
This time, he did not move first.
They stood together beside the fountain until the cold drove them inside.
Later that night, Elena received a message from an unknown number. It contained a photograph of her mother's old car at the scene of the accident.
May you like
The message read:
RICHARD DIDN'T ORDER IT. ASK GABRIEL WHO DID.
