Chapter 8 - LUCIA’S ACCIDENT WASN’T AN ACCIDENT
Marco destroyed the transmitter.
Then we made a decision that changed everything.
No more private investigations.
No more family handling family.
Lucia had tried working quietly.
It had cost her too much.
Through our attorneys, we turned the evidence over to outside investigators.
The fraudulent trust changes.
The ultrasound device.
The threats.
The accounts.
Lucia’s recordings.
And the transmitter planted on Carlo.
By afternoon, a retired accident reconstruction specialist who had originally consulted on Lucia’s crash contacted Marco.
He had something he had never been allowed to put in the final report.
“What do you mean allowed?” I demanded.
The specialist looked uncomfortable.
“Mrs. Moretti’s vehicle had been serviced four days before the crash.”
“I know.”
“The electronic brake control module had been replaced.”
Nobody had told me that.
“Was it defective?”
“Not exactly.”
He opened a technical report.
The replacement module had accepted remote diagnostic commands.
That should have been disabled before the vehicle was returned.
It wasn’t.
Investigators at the time had found evidence of an outside connection shortly before Lucia’s car lost stability.
“But the file was closed as weather-related,” he said.
“By whom?”
He hesitated.
“The Moretti family legal representative.”
Carlo stood up.
“Not me.”
The specialist nodded.
“No. Evelyn Mercer.”
For the first time, Carlo looked truly terrified.
The woman hadn’t simply discovered his theft.
She had spent years creating leverage.
Lucia had gotten close enough to expose her.
Then Lucia died.
I had spent eleven months blaming ice.
Now I knew the road had only hidden the truth.
Marco received another message.
Investigators had searched Evelyn’s corporate registrations.
One shell company had paid Rebecca.
Another had purchased the ultrasonic equipment.
A third had been formed seven months before Lucia’s death.
Its name was Northlake Family Advocacy.
“What does it do?” I asked.
Marco turned the screen toward me.
It specialized in expert evaluations for emergency child custody proceedings.
The room went silent.
Then my attorney called.
“Adrien, I need you to listen carefully.”
“What happened?”
“A petition was filed this morning.”
“For what?”
He exhaled.
“To have you temporarily removed as sole guardian of the triplets.”
My blood turned to ice.
“Who filed it?”
“Evelyn Mercer.”
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“And the hearing?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
