Chapter 3 - The Child Who Found Chiara’s Cassette Also Knew Where the Missing Evidence Was Hidden—and Valentina Tried to Stop Me From ListeningMia drew a picture.
A house.
A piano.
A woman.
And a small red box beneath the floor.
I asked her where she had seen the box.
"With Auntie Val."
My stomach tightened.
"What did Valentina do with it?"
"She said it was a secret."
"When?"
"Yesterday."
Impossible.
Valentina had been out of the estate.
At least, officially.
I confronted her in the library.
She was sitting by the fireplace reading.
"You lied to me."
She closed the book.
"About what?"
"Chiara."
Her face didn't change.
"Still living in the past?"
I placed the financial records on the table.
"Forty-two million dollars."
She looked at them.
"So?"
"Where did the money go?"
"Investments."
"Children?"
She paused.
That was enough.
"You funded a private facility."
She sighed.
"Dante, there are things you don't understand."
"Then explain."
She stood.
"Chiara was sick."
I froze.
"What?"
"She was mentally unstable."
"Don't."
"She became obsessed with conspiracies."
"She thought you were stealing."
"She thought everyone was stealing."
I stepped closer.
"Did she record that tape?"
"I don't know."
"Liar."
Valentina looked at me.
"You don't know what your wife was capable of."
My heart pounded.
"Then tell me."
She looked toward the piano room.
"You should leave the dead alone."
"Someone disturbed that piano."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"The security footage says you were there."
Her face changed.
Just slightly.
"You accessed the system."
"I did."
"Then you know nothing was recorded."
"Most wasn't."
Silence.
I watched her.
She finally said:
"You're going to regret this."
I answered:
"I already regret believing you."
She walked away.
That night, Marco brought the hidden footage.
Eleven minutes.
Only eleven minutes.
The first seven showed nothing.
Then the image returned.
Valentina entered the ballroom.
She wasn't alone.
A man followed.
I didn't recognize him.
He carried a black case.
They approached the piano.
Valentina looked around.
The man opened the hidden panel.
He removed something.
A small red box.
My heart stopped.
That was the box from Mia's drawing.
Then Valentina looked directly toward the camera.
The footage ended.
I stared.
"Enhance the man's face."
Marco did.
The image sharpened.
I knew him.
Everyone in Chicago knew him.
Dr. Matteo Bellini.
A physician who had disappeared from public life after a scandal.
A doctor accused of illegal research.
A doctor whose patients had vanished.
And a doctor who had once treated Chiara.
I felt sick.
"Find him."
Marco nodded.
Then Mia walked into the room.
She pointed at the screen.
"That's him."
I crouched.
"You know him?"
She nodded.
"He came to Auntie's room."
"When?"
"At night."
"Why?"
"He brought a box."
"What box?"
"The red one."
I asked:
"What was inside?"
Mia shook her head.
"Babies."
My blood went cold.
"Babies?"
She nodded.
"Pictures of babies."
I looked at Marco.
We had just moved from financial fraud to something much darker.
Children.
Medical records.
And Chiara had known.
The next morning, I searched the old hospital records.
Chiara had given birth to no children.
At least, according to official documents.
But there were irregularities.
A maternity ward visit.
One unexplained blood test.
One missing ultrasound.
And one note.
Patient requests confidentiality.
Signed:
Dr. Matteo Bellini.
I looked at the date.
Three months before Chiara died.
The mystery became something else.
Chiara had been investigating children.
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And Valentina had been paying a doctor to hide them.
But why?
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