The Price of Silence
Chapter 05 - The Price of Silence
Vanessa's first instinct was not to confess. It was to call Mercer and tell him to erase every image he'd taken of Luca and Sofia. Mercer refused. He had preserved the originals because her request to invent a false report worried him. By morning, he had hired his own lawyer.
Vanessa then contacted Olivia's mother, Ruth Hayes, under the pretense of a charitable welfare check. Ruth was fifty-nine, recovering from surgery, and embarrassed by the expense of her physical therapy. Vanessa said she was concerned Olivia had become involved in a family disagreement and suggested that continued financial assistance might depend on everyone remaining cooperative.
Ruth listened, then replied, "My daughter has carried enough for me. If you've hurt her, don't call this house again."
When Olivia heard about the call, her hands began trembling. She'd spent so long trying to shield Ruth from worry that she had forgotten her mother could still protect her. Ruth made her promise to tell the police about the assault, whatever powerful people thought.
The investigating officer took Olivia's statement, obtained her medical documentation through proper channels, and requested the relevant camera footage. Olivia's independent attorney helped her file a formal complaint about the threats regarding assistance. Luca paid for her medical evaluation but did not ask her to sign away any claims.
Across town, Vanessa met her older brother, Adrian Bellini, in the private office of a restaurant he co-owned. He was a financier whose expensive suits concealed a serious problem: his business was carrying debts it could not repay. He had counted on Vanessa's marriage to Luca to provide access to investors and influence over the Moretti Foundation.
"You promised you could handle the maid," he said.
Vanessa slapped her palm on his desk. "She walked in while Mercer was there."
"Then you made the worst possible choice. You hit her on a recorded hallway."
Vanessa turned toward the window. "Luca wouldn't have believed her if he'd never seen that footage."
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Adrian gave a humorless laugh. "That's the trouble with men like Luca. They finally notice one small lie, and then they start examining everything else."
Before leaving, he handed Vanessa a photograph of an old brick warehouse and said, "If Sofia still has the original blue box, we've got three weeks to find it."
