Chapter 7 - SOFIA’S VOICE
Raffaele had not heard his wife’s voice in eight years.
Not clearly.
There were videos.
Old voicemails.
Wedding recordings.
But grief changes memory.
Over time, voices become softer inside your head.
Then Dante pressed play.
And Sofia came back into the room.
“October eighteenth. Eleven-oh-three p.m.”
Raffaele closed his eyes.
Her voice.
Strong.
Controlled.
Angry.
“If anyone finds this, Marcus Vale and Celeste Moretti have been stealing from Raffaele for over two years.”
Celeste covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
“I confronted Marcus tonight. He attacked me.”
Raffaele’s eyes opened.
Marcus shook his head.
“She’s lying.”
Nobody looked at him.
Sofia’s voice sounded shaky now.
“He hit me. He took my keys. Celeste came in after. She kept saying we could fix this.”
A pause.
Breathing.
Then:
“I have enough evidence to prove the transfers. I’m driving straight home.”
Raffaele’s heart hammered.
Another pause.
Then Sofia said something strange.
“Marcus is outside.”
Raffaele looked at Marcus.
“He’s near my car.”
Marcus backed up.
“No.”
The recording continued.
“I don’t know what he’s doing.”
Static.
A door opening.
Then Sofia whispered:
“If something happens to me, it was not an accident.”
The file ended.
Nobody spoke.
Raffaele stared at Marcus.
Marcus looked like a man watching his own grave being dug.
“You cut the brakes.”
“No.”
“You were at the car.”
“I went outside.”
“Why?”
“To talk to her.”
“She said you were near the car.”
“I never touched the brakes.”
Raffaele grabbed him.
“You expect me to believe that?”
Marcus shouted, “Because I didn’t do it!”
Celeste suddenly screamed.
“He didn’t!”
Raffaele turned.
She was standing.
Tears ran down her face.
Marcus looked at her.
“Celeste.”
She shook her head.
“Stop.”
Raffaele’s heartbeat slowed.
There was something in her expression.
Something worse.
“Celeste.”
She whispered, “Marcus didn’t cut the brake line.”
Raffaele stared at her.
“How do you know?”
She shut her eyes.
Marcus whispered, “Don’t.”
Raffaele took one step toward his sister.
“How do you know?”
Celeste opened her eyes.
“Because I did.”
The words entered the room quietly.
But they hit Raffaele like a gunshot.
He stared at her.
His own sister.
Lucy’s aunt.
Sofia’s sister-in-law.
The woman who had held him at the funeral.
The woman who had helped raise his daughter.
“You?”
Celeste nodded once.
Raffaele stepped backward.
For the first time that night, he looked truly lost.
“Why?”
Celeste began sobbing.
“I didn’t mean for her to die.”
Raffaele’s face hardened.
“You cut the brakes.”
“I cut part of the line. I thought she would notice something was wrong before she got far.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“That’s the lie you’re going with?”
Celeste turned on him.
“You told me to stop her!”
“I told you to delay her!”
“You said if she reached Raffaele, we were finished!”
Marcus went silent.
Celeste pointed at him.
“You said, ‘Do whatever it takes.’”
Raffaele looked from one to the other.
May you like
And suddenly there wasn’t one person responsible for Sofia’s death.
There were two.
