Chapter 14 - The Ledger and the Lie|
Clara refused to sleep in the same house as Massimo.
He arranged a separate apartment with a private entrance, two security guards, and no cameras inside. Clara accepted the protection but made it clear that she would leave if anyone tried to control her.
Sophie stayed with her.
For the first time in years, the sisters shared a room.
They talked until dawn about their mother, their childhoods, and the lives they might have had if Margaret had survived.
Clara remembered very little about her early years. Sophie remembered their mother humming while arranging flowers, burning toast, and leaving handwritten notes in lunch bags.
They compared memories like pieces of a broken photograph.
At sunrise, Clara handed Sophie the flash drive.
“There's something on it you need to see.”
The recordings revealed Vittorio discussing the foundation's missing money with Dominic Shaw. Another file showed a meeting between Vittorio and a police official shortly before Margaret's death.
Then came a recording dated six years earlier.
Massimo listened from the next room, his face tightening as Elena's voice emerged from the speakers.
“If you continue moving the money, someone will expose you,” Elena said.
Vittorio answered, “No one will believe a woman who has been stealing from the foundation herself.”
“That's a lie.”
“It's the only kind of truth people remember.”
The recording ended abruptly.
Massimo closed his eyes.
“Elena knew.”
Clara nodded.
“She found the original ledger. She was trying to give it to my father.”
“Daniel?”
“Yes. He planned to meet her the night she died.”
Massimo stood so quickly his chair scraped the floor.
“Then Daniel was in the car.”
“Possibly,” Clara said. “But the police report was falsified. We still don't know what happened after they left the meeting.”
Sophie looked at the recording list.
“There are files marked with dates from after Elena's death.”
Rafael opened the next one.
Vittorio's voice filled the room.
“The girl is still alive. If she ever finds her sister, we lose everything.”
Another voice answered.
“What about the Romano heir?”
“Massimo will do what he always does. He'll choose the family over the truth.”
Massimo looked at Sophie.
The accusation from the recording felt like a challenge.
For years, he had protected the family name, even when doing so meant burying questions about Elena. He had believed the truth would destroy everything his father had built.
Now he understood that silence had protected the people who caused the damage.
He turned to Rafael.
“Send copies to our attorney and an independent investigator. Nothing stays in one place.”
Vittorio's influence had reached police officers, lawyers, and trustees. They needed evidence that could not be quietly erased.
Clara opened a final file.
It contained a photograph of a document bearing Massimo's signature.
The paper authorized a transfer of funds on the night Elena died.
Massimo stared at it.
“I never signed that.”
Dominic's voice came from the recording.
“The signature matches.”
Vittorio replied, “Then no one will question it.”
Sophie looked at Massimo.
“Could someone have forged it?”
“Yes.”
“Could they have used it to make you believe Elena died because of something you did?”
He nodded slowly.
Clara leaned forward.
“There's another copy of that document in the original ledger. If the signature was forged, the paper will show it.”
“Where is the original?” Massimo asked.
Clara hesitated.
“Under the floor of my adoptive parents' old house.”
Sophie stared.
“The house burned down.”
“The cellar survived.”
Rafael checked the property records.
“The site is scheduled for demolition tomorrow.”
Massimo reached for his coat.
“Then we're going tonight.”
Clara stood.
“I'm coming.”
Massimo began to object.
She lifted her chin.
“You said I could judge you by what you do next. Don't start by treating me like a child.”
He stopped.
Then he nodded.
“Stay beside Sophie.”
May you like
Clara gave him a cold smile.
“That's the first sensible thing you've said.”
