Chapter 4 - THE FILES THEY TRIED TO ERASE
Matteo ran first.
Lorenzo followed, leaving two guards with Celeste, Dean, and Dr. Hale. I stayed in the nursery because Leo had finally settled against me, his breathing soft but steady.
Five minutes later, the estate intercom crackled.
“Server room clear,” Matteo said. “No one inside.”
“Then who is deleting the files?” Lorenzo asked.
“Remote access.”
Dr. Hale stared at the floor.
Lorenzo returned carrying a laptop. Lines of vanished appointments rolled across the screen.
Feeding notes.
Blood tests.
Weight charts.
Every record that might show Leo had not been naturally failing was disappearing.
“Stop it,” Lorenzo ordered.
Matteo opened a backup terminal. “I’m trying.”
A progress bar flashed: 82% DELETED.
I looked at the dates. “Wait.”
Everyone turned.
“The records are being erased from newest to oldest.”
“So?” Celeste snapped.
“So the early records may still be there.”
Matteo changed the search order. A file appeared from Leo’s first week of life.
NORMAL SUCK RESPONSE.
HEALTHY WEIGHT GAIN.
NO FORMULA INTOLERANCE.
Lorenzo read the words without blinking.
“Dr. Hale told me he was born with a feeding disorder.”
Hale lifted both hands. “His condition developed later.”
“On what date?”
The doctor hesitated.
Matteo opened the next file.
A nurse’s note had been attached and then marked void.
INFANT BECOMES LETHARGIC AFTER NIGHT FEEDING. UNUSUAL ODOR IN BOTTLE. REPORTED TO DR. HALE.
The nurse’s name was Rachel Kim.
“Where is she?” Lorenzo asked.
Hale’s voice was barely audible. “She resigned.”
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
“Before or after she wrote this?”
No answer.
Matteo searched the personnel system.
Rachel Kim had not resigned.
She had been terminated for “professional instability,” and a confidentiality payment had been wired to an account that closed the same day.
Lorenzo turned toward Hale.
“You diagnosed my son with a disease he did not have.”
“I treated the symptoms I observed.”
“You created the symptoms.”
“That’s not true.”
Celeste began crying. “I only gave him what the doctor prescribed.”
Hale’s head snapped toward her.
“You said the vials weren’t yours.”
“They weren’t mine. They were yours.”
There it was.
The first crack.
Lorenzo did not raise his voice. “Who ordered this?”
Celeste pressed both hands over her mouth.
Dean laughed from the corner. “You people really think she’s going to say it out loud?”
I looked at him. “You already told us someone placed me here.”
“I didn’t say who.”
“Because you’re afraid.”
“I’m alive because I know when to be afraid.”
I shifted Leo carefully. “My daughter died because you only knew how to protect yourself.”
Dean’s smile vanished.
Before he could answer, the laptop chimed.
The deletion stopped at 91%.
Matteo had saved one hidden folder.
It was labeled S.V.R.
Lorenzo opened it.
Inside were audio recordings made by Sofia Vale Rossi—Lorenzo’s late wife.
The first file began with the sound of a woman breathing hard.
Then Sofia’s voice filled the nursery.
“If Lorenzo is hearing this, it means I was right to be afraid.”
Lorenzo went completely still.
The recording continued.
“Someone in this family is trying to make Leo sick. And I know why.”
A knock sounded downstairs.
Then the front doors opened.
May you like
A woman’s voice echoed through the foyer.
“Lorenzo? It’s Aunt Bianca. I came as soon as I heard there was trouble.”
