Chapter 10 - The Woman on Every Line
The mansion filled with the sound of telephones.
Old landlines rang in abandoned rooms. Staff phones lit up. Security radios produced the same distorted tone.
Then a woman’s voice came through every speaker.
“Alessandro.”
He recognized the rhythm before the first sentence ended.
It sounded like Elena.
Not exactly.
The voice lacked the softness she used with Emma and the warmth that appeared when she said his name.
But it was close enough to make the room feel cold.
“You were told one child died,” the recording continued. “You were told one wife lost control of her car. You were told the family protected you.”
Tomas worked at a laptop, trying to trace the transmission.
The woman continued.
“The pillow was not the deception. It was the signal.”
Alessandro looked toward Vanessa.
She appeared genuinely terrified.
“What signal?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
The voice spoke again.
“When the false heir entered the ballroom, the real search would begin.”
A photograph appeared on every digital screen in the mansion.
It showed two newborn girls sleeping side by side beneath a hospital blanket.
Both wore Moretti identification bracelets.
One bracelet displayed Emma’s name.
The second displayed only Baby B.
The image disappeared.
A final sentence replaced it.
Ask Vittorio what happened in Room 614.
The telephones went silent.
Vittorio walked toward the door.
Tomas blocked him.
“Move.”
“No one leaves.”
Vittorio turned toward Alessandro.
“This performance proves nothing.”
“What happened in Room 614?”
“I don’t remember a hospital room from three years ago.”
Rosa spoke from behind him.
“It wasn’t at Saint Catherine’s.”
Vittorio’s expression changed.
Rosa continued.
“Room 614 was in the Belladonna Hotel, across the street from the hospital.”
Alessandro remembered the property. The Moretti company had owned it briefly before selling it after Elena’s death.
“What was there?”
“An unofficial recovery suite,” Rosa said. “Executives used it when they wanted medical treatment kept outside hospital records.”
Vittorio removed his silver cuff links and placed them in his pocket.
The movement was small.
Emma noticed.
She had returned with a guard and was standing beside Rosa.
“The man in Mommy’s movie had those,” she said.
Everyone looked at Vittorio’s sleeves.
“What movie?” he demanded.
Emma pointed toward the projector.
“The one where Mommy said not to trust the shiny hands.”
Rosa stared at the child.
“Elena showed you another recording?”
Emma nodded.
“In the dollhouse.”
The dollhouse was searched again.
Behind the miniature ballroom mirror, Tomas discovered a memory card.
The recording showed Elena sitting in the hidden nursery six weeks before her death.
Her face was exhausted, but her voice was clear.
“If you are watching this, I failed to bring her home.”
Alessandro sat on the edge of the crib.
Elena continued.
“Vittorio approved the payment that removed our daughter from the hospital. He claims he believed the child had died before the transfer. I do not know whether he is telling the truth.”
Vittorio lowered his head.
“But Vittorio is not the person I fear most,” Elena said. “He follows power. Someone else has been directing him.”
The image distorted.
Then Elena held up a hotel key card.
Room 614.
“The woman who arranged the transfer met Celia in this room. She used my name, my voice, and my accounts. I have not seen her face.”
Elena moved closer to the camera.
“But I know what she wants.”
The recording ended.
The final words were missing.
Vittorio sank into a chair.
“I didn’t know the child was alive,” he said.
Alessandro stared at him.
“But you knew she had been taken.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you stay silent?”
Vittorio looked at Emma.
“Because they promised to return her if Elena stopped investigating.”
“Did they?”
“No.”
“And when Elena died?”
“I understood the promise had never been real.”
Alessandro wanted to strike him, but Emma was watching.
He kept his hands at his sides.
“Who gave the orders?”
Vittorio closed his eyes.
“Celia delivered them.”
“Celia was working for someone else.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I never learned her real name.”
Tomas’s laptop sounded an alarm.
He had traced the broadcast to a vehicle outside the mansion.
Guards rushed toward the gate.
The vehicle was empty.
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On the driver’s seat lay Elena’s missing coat.
Inside its pocket was the recorder from Emma’s purple rabbit.
