Chapter 5 - THE SECRET INSIDE ISABELLA’S RABBIT
The USB drive had been sewn into the rabbit.
Isabella had hidden it.
Rosie had carried the evidence around for three years.
I sat in her grandparents’ study with Naomi, an independent attorney named Mara Sloan, and a forensic technician who had no connection to my organization.
No Arthur.
No Moretti systems.
No family employees.
The drive contained four folders.
TRUST.
ARTHUR.
PATRICK.
IF I DIE.
We opened the last one first.
Isabella appeared on video.
She sat in the nursery.
Rosie’s crib behind her.
Jack was probably at preschool.
She looked tired.
“Roman,” she said, “if you are watching this, I need you to do something you are terrible at.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
“Do not get angry first.”
Naomi looked at me.
I ignored her.
Isabella continued.
“Think.”
My smile disappeared.
“I believe Patrick Sloane is using Arthur to move money from the children’s trust.”
Documents appeared.
Transfers.
Fake charities.
Shell companies.
Hundreds of thousands over years.
Not enough to threaten my wealth.
Enough to prove access.
Isabella continued.
“I confronted Arthur.”
I sat forward.
“He told me I misunderstood.”
Then:
“Two days later, someone broke into my car.”
My blood turned cold.
“There was no theft. Nothing missing.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“I think they wanted access.”
To what?
The braking system?
The GPS?
Something else?
The forensic technician opened another file.
Photographs Isabella had taken beneath her car.
A device attached near the wheel well.
Tracker.
Patrick had been following her.
Then a document.
A draft guardianship agreement.
Three years old.
Camille’s name nowhere on it.
Instead:
TEMPORARY GUARDIAN: ARTHUR VELEZ.
I stared.
Arthur had originally intended to control the children himself.
Camille came later.
The technician opened another file.
Audio.
Arthur speaking to someone.
“You don’t need Isabella dead.”
Patrick’s voice answered.
“I need Roman available.”
Arthur:
“He will be, once she’s frightened enough.”
Patrick:
“And if she refuses?”
A pause.
Then Patrick said:
“Accidents happen.”
My hands turned cold.
Naomi looked at me.
“Stay with us.”
I nodded.
The final file contained Isabella’s last note.
Camille knows something.
My chest tightened.
She came to me after the charity dinner.
I looked up.
Camille had spoken to Isabella that night.
She told me not to drink the wine Arthur sent.
I stopped breathing.
Camille had warned her.
Then why had she later helped terrorize my children?
The video continued.
I didn’t listen.
Isabella looked ashamed.
I thought Camille was trying to create trouble between our families.
She drank the wine.
Sedative.
Car crash.
Death.
Then the final line:
If Camille ever enters this house after I’m gone, do not assume she came because she wanted to.
Everything shifted.
Naomi whispered:
“Camille may be part of the plan.”
I looked at the screen.
“Or trapped inside it.”
Then Mara opened Patrick’s current financial records.
One payment repeated every month.
Private medical facility.
Patient:
EVELYN SLOANE.
Camille’s mother.
Officially dead for twelve years.
May you like
Except she wasn’t.
Patrick had been hiding his own wife alive.
