Chapter 7 - THE FILE THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
Dominic called Daniel before he finished reading the message.
“Secure the study. Nobody enters or leaves until we know what happened to the evidence.”
Daniel rushed in.
“The room was locked, sir.”
“Then someone opened it.”
They checked the study together. The blue jewelry box remained on the desk. Elena's letter was still there. The flash drive, however, had disappeared.
Dominic looked at the security footage.
The camera showed him entering the room, placing the box on the desk, and leaving to answer a call.
Four minutes later, the screen went black.
When the image returned, the box was open.
No one appeared on camera.
Daniel studied the recording.
“This wasn't a simple power interruption. Someone inserted a loop.”
“From inside the system?”
“Yes.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“Whoever did this knows our security.”
Daniel nodded.
“And they know when you're alone.”
Dominic called his attorney and told her the evidence had been compromised. Then he contacted the technician who had recovered Elena's recordings.
The technician arrived within an hour, carrying a laptop and a small case of equipment.
He examined the bear, the box, and the files.
“There's a possibility the flash drive wasn't the only storage device,” he said.
Dominic leaned forward.
“Explain.”
“The recording unit had a separate memory chip. We removed the device, but I made a full forensic image before transferring the audio. If the chip contained anything beyond the recordings, it should be in the image.”
“Can you recover it?”
“I can try.”
They waited in the study while the technician worked.
Hannah brought coffee. Dominic hadn't touched it by the time the technician finally looked up.
“I found something.”
On the laptop was a folder containing a short video file.
The date was the night Elena died.
Dominic felt his pulse quicken.
“Play it.”
The image was grainy, apparently recorded from a camera hidden inside the greenhouse. Elena stood near the rosebush, holding a small envelope.
A figure entered from the far door.
The face remained obscured, but the voice was clear.
“Give me the documents, Elena.”
She shook her head.
“You told me Antonio's death was an accident.”
The figure stepped closer.
“And I told you to leave it alone.”
“You changed his medication.”
A pause.
“You don't know what you're saying.”
“I have the records.”
The figure reached for the envelope.
Elena pulled it away.
Then another voice came from the doorway.
“Stop.”
Dominic sat rigid.
A woman stepped into the light.
Isabella Moretti.
His mother.
Alive.
Older, thinner, but unmistakably her.
Dominic covered his mouth.
For years, he'd imagined the face he had last seen in childhood photographs. He'd remembered the funeral as the final moment of his mother's life.
Now she stood in a video recorded four years ago.
Isabella looked at the first figure.
“If you touch her, I will tell him everything.”
The first figure turned.
“You don't have the courage.”
“I have more courage than you think.”
The image shook.
Elena said something Dominic couldn't hear.
Then Isabella took the envelope and slipped it into her coat.
The figure lunged.
The camera went black.
Dominic sat motionless.
“Can you identify the first person?” he asked.
The technician shook his head.
“Not from this angle.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Then why was this file hidden?”
“Because it appears to have been deliberately concealed. The file name was disguised as a system error.”
Hannah stood near the doorway, her face pale.
“Your mother was alive,” she whispered.
Dominic didn't answer.
He couldn't.
His entire childhood had become a lie in a matter of minutes.
He stood and walked to the window.
Outside, Sophie was in the garden with two guards. She was showing them how to make a daisy chain, smiling as though the world had not just shifted beneath her feet.
Dominic pressed his palm against the glass.
“What did my mother do?” he whispered.
Hannah came to stand beside him.
“Maybe she was trying to save someone.”
He looked at her.
“Or maybe she was part of it.”
“You don't know yet.”
“I thought I knew my family.”
Hannah's voice softened.
“Knowing someone doesn't mean you know every choice they've made.”
Dominic turned away.
“I need to find her.”
The technician cleared his throat.
“There may be another clue. The video file was copied to an external drive at a location outside this house.”
“Where?”
He pointed to a line of metadata.
A storage device had been connected to the recording unit at a private medical office in Chicago.
The office belonged to Dr. Alan Reeves—the psychiatrist whose questionable report had appeared in Vanessa's custody petition.
Dominic called Margaret immediately.
“Find out everything about Reeves. His licenses, his financial records, his connections to Richard Sterling.”
Margaret replied, “I'm already looking. And Dominic, the report isn't his only connection to your family.”
“What else?”
“He signed the death certificate for Isabella Moretti.”
Dominic froze.
“That's impossible. My mother died in a car accident.”
“According to the public record, yes. But Reeves was listed as the attending physician at the hospital.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
His mother had supposedly died when he was seventeen.
The same doctor had certified her death and later prepared a false psychiatric report about Sophie.
Now a hidden recording showed Isabella alive four years ago.
He felt a wave of anger so intense he could barely speak.
“Get me his address.”
Margaret sent it minutes later.
Dominic grabbed his coat.
Daniel blocked the door.
“Sir, you can't go alone.”
“I'm not asking permission.”
“I'm not giving you a choice.”
Dominic glared at him.
Daniel held his ground.
“Sophie needs you alive. Let me do my job.”
For a moment, Dominic looked ready to argue.
Then he nodded.
“Fine. We go together.”
As they left, Hannah called after him.
“Dominic!”
He turned.
She held out Mr. Buttons.
“Sophie wants you to take him. She said her mother might have hidden something else inside.”
Dominic accepted the bear carefully.
“I'll bring him back.”
Hannah looked at him.
“Bring yourself back, too.”
He gave her a brief nod and left.
At Dr. Reeves's office, the waiting room was empty. The receptionist had gone. The lights were on, but the door to the doctor's private office stood open.
Daniel entered first.
Dominic followed.
On the desk lay a photograph of Isabella Moretti.
Beside it was an envelope bearing Dominic's name.
He opened it.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Dominic,
If you've found this, then the people who hid the truth have started to lose control.
Your mother is alive.
But she isn't the person you remember.
Dominic read the last line twice.
Then he heard a sound behind him.
The office door clicked shut.
A man's voice came from the hallway.
“Mr. Moretti, you should never have come here.”
Dominic turned.
May you like
Dr. Alan Reeves stood in the doorway.
He was holding a gun.
