Chương 7 - Her Sister’s Voice
Nico brought a laptop with no connection to the house network.
Alina insisted on keeping the card in sight.
Dante sat across from her.
Rosa stood near the door.
The first file opened.
Sofia appeared on-screen, seated in the nursery.
No makeup.
Tired eyes.
One hand resting against the swell of her pregnancy.
“My name is Sofia Valdez,” she said.
“If someone tells you otherwise, they’re lying.”
Alina covered her mouth.
“I was four when a man took me from my mother.
He said she had died.
He said my sister died too.”
Dante leaned forward.
Sofia held up a folded document.
“Vittorio arranged the guardianship.
The family who raised me believed they were protecting me.
When I asked questions, he paid them to stop answering.”
She drew a breath.
“I met Dante as an adult.
I didn’t know he was the man my mother had worked for.
By the time I saw the old foundation files, I was already pregnant.”
Dante closed his eyes.
Alina didn’t let him look away for long.
“Keep watching.”
The next file showed an account ledger.
Dates.
Payments.
Names paired with case numbers.
Several lines were marked with the initials V.B.
A third file contained photographs of signed agreements.
The fourth was audio.
Vittorio’s voice filled the room.
“You can have your old family, or you can keep this one.
You can’t have both.”
Sofia answered.
“I’m not letting you near my baby.”
“Then stop digging.”
The recording ended.
Dante stood abruptly.
His chair hit the wall.
Alina flinched.
He saw it and stopped.
“I’m not angry at you.”
“I know.
That doesn’t make it easier.”
He lowered his hands.
On the screen, a final video waited.
Sofia looked thinner now.
The baby was already born.
“If you’re watching this, check the medication record from the night I was readmitted.
I asked for one doctor.
They sent another.”
She leaned close to the camera.
“And Dante, if you ever loved me, don’t give Leo to your brother.”
Alina turned toward him.
“You have a brother?”
Dante’s expression had gone flat.
May you like
“Carlo.”
From downstairs came the crash of breaking glass.
