Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN WHO LIED ON TELEVISION
Patricia Hale cried beautifully on camera.
That was the first thing I noticed.
Her tears appeared exactly when the anchor asked whether she feared retaliation from the Moretti family.
She pressed a tissue beneath one eye without smearing her mascara.
Then she told the country I had helped Veronica destroy my own marriage.
"Why would she do that?" the anchor asked.
Patricia lowered her voice.
"Money."
I laughed out loud.
Maya muted the television.
"Do not watch this."
"She is talking about me."
"That does not mean you have to absorb it in real time."
Luca stood near the window, rigid with anger.
"My communications team can issue a statement."
"No," Maya and I said together.
He looked offended.
Maya continued.
"Your company responding makes Patricia look credible enough to threaten the CEO."
"She is accusing Nia of fraud."
"Then Nia's counsel will answer if and when necessary."
Luca looked at me.
I shook my head.
"No statement."
He nodded.
Again, he obeyed.
The television continued silently until subtitles appeared.
Patricia claimed I had known about the two-and-a-half-million-dollar account.
She claimed I had agreed to disappear.
She claimed Veronica had tried to protect Luca from scandal.
Then the anchor played audio.
My own voice filled the room.
"I do not want Luca back."
I froze.
Another clip followed.
"He made his choice."
Then another.
"I do not want him to know."
My blood turned cold.
"Where did she get that?"
Luca stared at the television.
The anchor described the recording as a private conversation allegedly made shortly after my divorce.
Patricia's voice came back.
"Nia was not confused. She was deliberate."
I felt sick.
Maya unmuted the television.
The full clip did not play.
Only fragments.
My words.
Cut apart.
Rearranged.
Weaponized.
"I said those things to Ava."
Luca turned toward me.
"When?"
"During my pregnancy."
"Where?"
"Her apartment. My apartment. I do not know."
Maya's face hardened.
"Were you ever aware you were being recorded?"
"No."
"Then we need the source file."
Evelyn arrived ten minutes later carrying her laptop.
She looked angrier than I had ever seen her.
"She has audio of me too."
Luca's face went pale.
"What?"
Evelyn opened a file that had been sent anonymously to her attorney.
Her voice played through the speakers.
"I am tired of trying for a baby."
Then another fragment.
"Sometimes I think Luca would be relieved if we stopped."
Then a third.
"Maybe this family is not meant to have children."
Evelyn shut the laptop.
"Those sentences came from three different conversations over two years."
Maya looked between us.
"Someone has been collecting private audio from both of you."
I felt violated in a way the break-in had not managed.
A stolen document was an object.
A stolen conversation was a piece of your mind.
"The investigators," I whispered.
Luca's face hardened.
"Delaney said he only photographed."
"Maybe Claire recorded."
"Maybe Patricia did."
Evelyn looked at Luca.
"Or maybe your mother had our homes bugged."
The room went silent.
Luca stared at her.
"You think she would do that?"
Evelyn laughed once.
"Three days ago, I would have said no."
"Now?"
"Now I think asking what she would not do is more efficient."
Maya's phone buzzed.
She checked it.
"Ruiz has Claire Benton's preliminary statement through counsel."
We all leaned closer.
"And?"
"Benton admits entering Nia's apartment."
My stomach clenched.
"Why?"
"Patricia told her the paternity test was stolen Moretti property."
I stared at Maya.
"Stolen from whom?"
"She claimed it had been obtained using confidential family genetic material without authorization."
Luca swore.
"That is nonsense."
"Yes," Maya said.
"But it gave Benton a story she could tell herself."
"Did she take anything else?"
"She says no."
"Did she photograph my apartment?"
"Yes."
My skin crawled.
"Did she plant anything?"
Maya paused.
"She denies it."
"That is not an answer."
"Police are rechecking the apartment."
I stood.
"We are not going back there."
"Agreed," Luca said immediately.
I turned on him.
"I was not asking."
"I know."
His restraint made my anger look for another place to land.
Evelyn gave it one.
"I am going on television."
Everyone looked at her.
Luca spoke first.
"No."
Evelyn's eyebrows rose.
He caught himself.
"I think that is a bad idea."
"Better."
"Why would you give this more oxygen?"
"Because Patricia just used my private fertility grief to support a lie about Nia."
"You do not owe anyone your medical history."
"I know."
"Then do not hand it to them."
Evelyn closed the laptop.
"Luca, for four years I let your family name decide what I could say in public."
Her voice was calm.
"I am done."
He looked as if the words struck him physically.
"What are you going to say?"
"The truth."
"Which truth?"
"That my records were altered too."
I stared at her.
"You do not have to do that for me."
"I am not doing it for you."
She looked directly at me.
"I am doing it because women like Patricia survive by making us suspicious of each other."
That silenced the room.
By six that evening, Evelyn sat across from June Keller, the same reporter who had first called Rachel Wynn.
The interview was live-streamed without advance promotion.
Evelyn wore no jewelry except her wedding ring.
June asked whether she believed Nia Carter had hidden Luca's children for money.
Evelyn answered immediately.
"No."
The clip spread online within minutes.
June asked why.
"Because the financial evidence being used against her is tied to the same network of people connected to altered medical records in my own fertility treatment."
Luca watched from the other side of the room.
His face revealed nothing.
June asked whether Evelyn blamed Nia for the crisis in her marriage.
Evelyn paused.
"Nia did not make vows to me."
My throat tightened.
She was repeating Luca's words from the restaurant.
"My husband did."
Luca looked down.
"But I also believe Luca was deceived about facts that shaped both of his marriages."
June leaned forward.
"Are you defending him?"
"No."
Evelyn's answer was sharp.
"Being deceived does not erase responsibility for what you choose to do with the deception."
I looked at Luca.
He did not flinch.
June asked the question everyone wanted.
"Are you and Luca Moretti separating?"
Evelyn looked directly into the camera.
"Yes."
Luca closed his eyes.
I felt no victory.
Only sadness.
The interview ended fifteen minutes later.
Evelyn returned to the condo almost immediately because the studio was nearby.
When she entered, Luca stood.
For several seconds they only looked at each other.
Then he said,
"I am sorry."
Evelyn's face softened slightly.
"I know."
"For all of it."
"I know."
"I did love you."
"I know that too."
Her eyes filled.
"That is what makes this difficult."
Luca swallowed.
"I never wanted you to feel second."
"Intent is a poor substitute for awareness."
He nodded.
She removed her wedding ring.
Then she placed it on the table.
"I do not hate you."
His face broke a little.
"That might be worse."
"Probably."
She walked past him toward the guest room.
I felt like an intruder in a marriage ending ten feet from me.
Luca picked up the ring.
His phone rang.
Michael.
He answered quietly.
"Yes."
A pause.
Then his expression sharpened.
"Say that again."
We all looked at him.
Michael spoke loudly enough that I heard pieces.
Flash drive.
Police custody.
Nine files.
Instruction logs.
Luca put the call on speaker.
"Michael, start over."
"Mercer turned over the drive."
"Is it authentic?"
"Forensic team is verifying it."
"What is on it?"
"Copies of altered reports, payment schedules, and instruction emails from Sloan."
I gripped the back of a chair.
"My file?"
"Yes."
"Evelyn's?"
"Yes."
Michael hesitated.
"And a post-birth monitoring file for Eli and Mara."
My heart stopped.
"Post-birth?"
"Nia, there are reports on the twins from the week they were born."
I could barely breathe.
"How?"
Michael's next words were almost gentle.
"Because Veronica did not just know they existed."
May you like
He paused.
"She went to the hospital."
