Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT THE CHILDREN LOST THEIR VOICES
Adrien watched the recording without speaking.
His face had lost all color.
Lily had been barely three when her mother disappeared.
So had Noah and Oliver.
For two years, their father had believed they were unable to speak because of grief.
Now he understood that fear had played a terrible role in their silence.
Evelyn gently touched his sleeve.
“Mr. Belandi?”
He looked at her.
His eyes were wet.
“I failed them.”
“You didn't know what they saw.”
“I should have noticed they were frightened of Matteo.”
Evelyn spoke carefully.
“You can listen to them now. That's what matters.”
Adrien looked toward the children.
They were sitting together on a sofa in a private room, away from the noise.
Evelyn approached them.
“Your dad knows something bad happened,” she said softly. “And you're not in trouble.”
Noah looked up.
“Mommy?”
Adrien dropped to his knees beside them.
“I've been looking for her every day.”
His voice broke.
“I never believed she stopped loving you.”
Lily stared at him.
Then she whispered:
“Uncle said.”
Adrien nodded.
“He said things that weren't true.”
Oliver's eyes filled with tears.
“Daddy mad?”
Adrien shook his head immediately.
“Not at you. Never at you.”
The three children began crying.
Adrien opened his arms but waited.
One by one, they moved toward him.
For the first time in two years, he held all three while they called him Daddy.
Evelyn turned away, wiping her eyes.
But their reunion was interrupted when Detective Hayes entered.
“We found something on the memory card.”
She opened a second file.
An audio recording.
Celeste's voice filled the room.
“If something happens to me, the truth is in the blue ledger. Matteo isn't acting alone. Someone inside the Grand Aurelia has been moving money through the foundation.”
Adrien looked up sharply.
“Victor Sloane.”
Hayes nodded.
“We're investigating him.”
The recording continued.
“Adrien, I tried to tell you. The foundation is paying for something much worse than stolen money.”
A door slammed in the background.
Celeste lowered her voice.
“They're using children.”
Evelyn's stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Before anyone could answer, another message arrived on Detective Hayes's phone.
The Grand Aurelia's former basement had been searched.
Investigators found a hidden passage leading beneath the street.
At the end stood a locked room.
Inside were children's photographs, medical records, and dozens of forged adoption documents.
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And on a cabinet near the door was a photograph labeled:
EVELYN HART — AGE 6.
