Chapter 8 - The Truth in the Missing Recording
Nora woke in a dimly lit room.
Her wrists were secured loosely to the arms of a chair with fabric restraints.
She could hear traffic outside.
A city.
Not the countryside.
Her stomach tightened.
“Lily,” she whispered.
The baby moved.
Relief flooded through her.
A door opened.
Matteo Romano entered.
He looked like an older version of Lorenzo.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
“You're awake.”
Nora stared at him.
“Where's Rachel?”
“Safe.”
“Let me see her.”
“In time.”
Nora forced herself to remain calm.
“What do you want from me?”
Matteo pulled up a chair.
“Your mother was a remarkable woman.”
Nora felt anger rise.
“Don't talk about my mother.”
“She worked for Giovanni many years ago.”
“As what?”
“An accountant.”
Nora frowned.
“My mother was a nurse.”
“She became one later.”
Matteo smiled faintly.
“Before that, she helped my father move money through companies nobody was supposed to know existed.”
Nora stared at him.
“Why would she do that?”
“Because she trusted him.”
“And you?”
Matteo's smile disappeared.
“I trusted him too.”
He leaned forward.
“Then he decided I was a threat.”
Twenty-nine years earlier, Giovanni had secretly acknowledged Matteo as his son.
He gave him money, education, and eventually a position within the family business.
But Matteo wanted more.
He began stealing from the organization.
When Giovanni discovered the theft, he threatened to expose him.
Matteo retaliated by threatening Giovanni's legitimate family.
A violent confrontation followed.
Several people died.
Among them was a woman connected to Nora's mother.
Giovanni helped conceal the circumstances to protect innocent relatives.
But the cover-up created a secret Matteo could exploit.
Nora listened in horror.
“What does that have to do with me?”
Matteo leaned back.
“Your mother kept copies of the financial records.”
“So?”
“She hid them before she died.”
“Then why didn't you ask her?”
“Because she refused to tell me where they were.”
Nora's voice hardened.
“And you think I know?”
“I think your sister does.”
Nora remembered Rachel's envelope.
The photographs.
The names.
“Elena,” she whispered.
Matteo smiled.
“There it is.”
Nora looked up.
“What?”
“The name.”
He stood.
“Elena Romano wasn't your twin sister's real name.”
Nora felt cold.
“Then whose name was it?”
Matteo approached the window.
“My daughter's.”
Meanwhile, Lorenzo had finally recovered the original security recording.
Marcus found it in a redundant backup maintained by the camera manufacturer.
The footage was unedited.
It showed Nora entering Giovanni's room.
She approached his wheelchair.
Giovanni suddenly began choking.
Nora rushed forward.
She supported his head, called for help, and used the emergency response steps she had been trained to perform.
The old man's head jerked as he struggled to breathe.
Nora reached toward his face to clear an obstruction.
Then she carefully repositioned him.
The manipulated version had removed the choking episode and altered the timing of her movements.
The result made a lifesaving intervention resemble an assault.
Lorenzo watched the original recording in silence.
He had accused a pregnant woman of abusing his father.
He had thrown her into a blizzard.
And she had been trying to save Giovanni's life.
Marcus stood beside him.
“Boss?”
Lorenzo didn't answer.
He watched Nora on the screen.
She was crying as she called for help.
Then, when Giovanni began breathing normally, she kissed his forehead.
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
For the first time in years, he felt ashamed of the man he had become.
The police investigation into the kidnapping led to a warehouse near the Hudson River.
Lorenzo insisted on accompanying the officers, though they refused to let him enter during the operation.
Inside, Nora heard shouting.
Then footsteps.
A crash.
Matteo grabbed her arm.
“Get up.”
She struggled.
“Leave me alone!”
He pulled her toward a side door.
Nora stumbled.
A sharp pain tightened across her abdomen.
She gasped.
Matteo stopped.
“What?”
“My baby.”
He stared at her.
Then his expression changed.
For the first time, he seemed frightened.
“Not now.”
Nora leaned against the wall.
“Please.”
The door burst open.
Police officers entered.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Matteo froze.
Then slowly raised his hands.
Nora sank to her knees.
Lorenzo appeared behind the officers moments later.
He stopped when he saw her.
“Nora.”
She looked up.
Her face was pale.
“I need a hospital.”
He knelt beside her.
“Help is coming.”
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Rachel.”
“She's safe. We found her in another room.”
Nora began crying.
Lorenzo gently supported her until the paramedics arrived.
As they lifted her onto the stretcher, she looked at him.
“Your father was right.”
“About what?”
“Matteo wanted something from my mother.”
Lorenzo nodded.
“We'll find it.”
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
She caught his hand.
“Rachel already found it.”
Lorenzo leaned closer.
“Found what?”
Nora whispered:
“The records are inside my mother's old Bible.”
At the hospital, Rachel handed the Bible to investigators.
Hidden inside its damaged binding was a small memory card.
It contained financial records, correspondence, and an audio recording made shortly before Giovanni's stroke.
The recording began with Giovanni's voice.
Then Matteo's.
An argument.
Threats.
And finally a third voice.
A woman's voice.
Lorenzo listened.
His face changed.
Because the woman speaking was someone he had trusted since childhood.
Mrs. Gable.
May you like
And she was saying:
“If we keep Giovanni alive but unable to communicate, nobody will ever know what we did.”
