Chapter 5 - THE RECORDING IN THE WRONG HANDSBy midnight, Vincent had moved me to a secure guest suite inside the mansion, with a private nurse and a guard stationed outside—not because he wanted to control me, he explained, but because someone had broken into my apartment and knew I was pregnant.
I hated feeling helpless.
I hated even more that Daniel might have been killed for protecting a child I had never met.
And I couldn't stop thinking about the wooden box.
The recording.
The key.
Richard Sterling had taken the box, but Daniel's note claimed the recording was somewhere else.
I sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing my stomach, when Vincent knocked.
“May I come in?”
I nodded.
He entered carrying two cups of tea.
“I thought you might want something warm.”
“Thank you.”
He set one cup beside me and remained standing until I motioned toward the chair.
For a few minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the question that had been haunting me.
“Do you think Daniel was a bad man?”
Vincent looked surprised.
“No.”
“He lied to me.”
“He may have believed the truth would put you in danger.”
“That doesn't make it easy to forgive.”
“No,” he said quietly. “It doesn't.”
He looked down at his hands.
“I spent four years hating Elena for leaving. I told myself she had chosen a life without me. That story was easier than admitting I had failed to protect her.”
His eyes met mine.
“Sometimes the lies we believe are the ones that hurt us most.”
I thought about Daniel's final call.
Remember that I never chose to leave you.
“I don't know how to grieve someone when I don't know who they really were,” I whispered.
Vincent nodded.
“Then we'll find out together.”
The words surprised us both.
Before I could answer, Daniel entered with a laptop.
“Sir, we recovered part of the message history from Elena's phone. There are encrypted files, but one recording was saved outside the main archive.”
Vincent stood.
“Play it.”
A woman's voice came through the speakers.
Elena.
“If you're hearing this, Richard has already made his move. I don't know whether Vincent will ever hear the truth, but I need someone to know what happened.”
There was a rustle, then Elena continued.
“Richard offered to arrange a private delivery for the baby after I gave birth. He said it was to protect her from the Moretti family's enemies. I refused. I told him Vincent would never allow our child to be taken away.”
A man's voice interrupted.
Richard Sterling.
“You're being unreasonable, Elena. Vincent is dangerous. He has enemies. The child would be safer with people who understand how to keep her hidden.”
Elena's voice trembled.
“You're not protecting her. You're using her.”
A pause.
Then Richard spoke again.
“You should have accepted the agreement.”
The recording ended abruptly.
Vincent stared at the laptop.
“That's not a confession. It's a conversation.”
“But it proves he was involved,” Daniel said.
“Not enough to convict him.”
Vincent's phone rang.
His attorney, James Walker, had been reviewing the company's records. He reported that Richard's firm had processed several transfers from a Moretti trust shortly before Elena disappeared. The transactions had been disguised as security expenses, but the money had gone to a private company that no longer existed.
The company had been registered under the name of a woman who had worked at the clinic.
Margaret Hayes.
Vincent's face hardened.
“Why would her name be on the company?”
Daniel answered before Walker could.
“Because someone may have used her identity.”
Margaret was brought into the room. When she saw the documents, she began shaking her head.
“I never registered a company. I never received any money.”
Vincent looked at her carefully.
“Do you have any idea who could have used your identity?”
Margaret hesitated.
Then she whispered, “Richard had a sister. She died years ago. Her daughter worked at the clinic for a while.”
“Name?”
“Rebecca Sterling.”
Daniel searched the name.
A moment later, he looked up.
“Rebecca Sterling is alive.”
Vincent turned.
“Where?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She's been living under a different name. And she has a daughter who is four years old.”
The room went silent.
Vincent's face went pale.
“Is the child Grace?”
Daniel shook his head.
“We don't know yet.”
Vincent stood and reached for his coat.
“We find Rebecca. We do not approach her aggressively. If she's been hiding a child, she may believe we're a threat.”
As he turned toward the door, my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
Clara, your husband didn't leave the recording in the box.
A second message appeared.
He left it with you.
I stared at the screen.
Then I remembered the tiny silver pendant Daniel had given me on our first anniversary. He had said it contained a photograph, but I'd never found a way to open it.
My hands trembled as I reached beneath my shirt and pulled it out.
Vincent looked at the pendant.
“What is that?”
I whispered, “I think Daniel left me more than a name.”
I opened the clasp.
Inside was a folded strip of paper and a microSD card.
The paper contained four words:
TRUST THE WOMAN IN BLUE.
Before Vincent could respond, Daniel's radio crackled.
“Sir, there's a woman at the front gate. She says her name is Rebecca Sterling.”
A pause.
May you like
Then the guard added:
“She says she's Grace's mother.”
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