Chapter 9 - The Money in Rosa’s Name
Rosa stared at the document.
“I have never controlled the foundation.”
“The supplier confirmed your identification was used,” Tomas said. “A passport copy, tax number, and staff verification.”
“My passport is locked in the employee safe.”
Tomas looked toward one of his officers.
The safe had been opened earlier that week.
There were no signs of forced entry.
Vittorio entered the nursery with two attorneys of his own.
“This is what happens when you trust strangers with your child,” he said.
Alessandro turned on him.
“Rosa has protected Emma since the day she came home.”
“She has also lied about her name, her profession, and her relationship with Elena.”
“Because Elena asked her to.”
“Convenient. A dead woman cannot confirm it.”
Rosa stepped toward him.
“Elena recorded everything.”
“Then perhaps you should produce the recordings instead of stories.”
Rosa’s anger vanished.
She looked toward the second crib.
“The doll.”
“What doll?” Alessandro asked.
“Elena gave Emma a stuffed rabbit before the accident. It contains a recorder.”
Emma’s purple rabbit had disappeared two weeks earlier.
Vanessa claimed it had been damaged in the laundry and thrown away.
Alessandro ordered the entire mansion searched.
The toy was found inside Vanessa’s luggage, cut open along the back.
The recorder had been removed.
Vanessa was brought to the nursery.
Without her glittering gown and false stomach, she looked smaller. Less like the future lady of the mansion and more like a frightened participant in a scheme she no longer controlled.
“Where is the recorder?” Alessandro asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You removed it.”
“I found the rabbit in Emma’s room.”
“And cut it open?”
“I was told there were diamonds hidden inside.”
“Who told you?”
Vanessa looked at Vittorio.
He did not react.
Then she looked at Rosa.
“You think she is innocent because she held your child during one party?”
“She has held my child through every fever, nightmare, and birthday since Elena died.”
“She was paid to stay.”
“By me.”
“No. By Elena.”
Vanessa nodded toward Tomas.
“Check Rosa’s accounts.”
The search revealed deposits totaling $400,000 over eighteen months. The funds came from accounts linked to the Elena Moretti Foundation.
Rosa had never spent the money.
“I didn’t know those accounts existed,” she said.
Vittorio gave a cold smile.
“A former financial investigator fails to notice four hundred thousand dollars?”
“The account was opened in my name, but it is not my bank.”
Tomas confirmed it. The money had been deposited into a private institution in Switzerland using copied identity documents.
The account required a spoken code before funds could be withdrawn.
A recording of Rosa’s voice could have been used to create the authorization.
Someone was building a case against her.
False payments.
False access codes.
A fake purchase made in her name.
If the pregnancy scheme failed, Rosa would become the obvious suspect.
Vanessa began to cry.
Not the dramatic tears she used at social events, but silent, frightened tears.
“They said she would take the blame.”
“Who said that?” Alessandro asked.
“I never knew all their names.”
“You knew enough to enter my daughter’s room.”
“I never entered Emma’s room.”
“The woman in Elena’s coat did.”
“That woman wasn’t part of the plan I agreed to.”
“Then what did you agree to?”
Vanessa looked at the locked door.
“I was supposed to announce the pregnancy. You were supposed to recognize the baby before anyone examined me. Then you were supposed to fly to Milan.”
“And after Milan?”
“They said I would become the legal guardian of the new heir.”
“What happened to Emma?”
Vanessa’s face twisted with shame.
“She was supposed to be sent away.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Alessandro leaned closer.
“You signed a document requesting residential placement.”
“Celia brought it to me. She said it was temporary.”
“Who recruited you?”
Vanessa glanced at Vittorio again.
This time, everyone saw it.
Vittorio’s attorneys stepped between them.
Vanessa spoke before they could silence her.
“Your uncle introduced me to Celia two years ago. But neither of them created the plan.”
“Who did?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I only heard her voice.”
“A woman?”
May you like
“She called herself the mother of the missing child.”
Before Alessandro could ask another question, every telephone in the mansion began ringing at once.
