# CHAPTER 7 — THE SISTER AT THE GATE
Lucia Moretti entered the mansion wearing a cream coat and a controlled expression.
She was seven years younger than Alejandro and one of the few people who could speak to him without lowering her eyes.
She looked at the marks on his neck.
“So the report was wrong.”
“What report?” Alejandro asked.
“A message from your private line.”
“My phone never called you.”
“I know that now.”
Lucia removed her gloves.
“When I answered, a man said you had collapsed. He told me to come before Matteo transferred control to Nico.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“I would never transfer control without confirmation.”
Lucia looked at him.
“You transferred three companies the night our father died.”
“On your father’s signed instructions.”
“Instructions that made you very wealthy.”
Alejandro stepped between them.
“Where were you at four twenty-three?”
“At the Lexington Foundation board meeting.”
“Witnesses?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Did you leave the room?”
Lucia’s stare cooled.
“For six minutes.”
Bruno brought the laptop forward.
Lucia watched the hidden footage.
She saw the black coat.
The Moretti ring.
Teresa’s fear.
The silver cufflink.
When the clip ended, she removed her own ring and placed it on the table.
“Search it.”
Gabriel examined the ring.
The details matched the one in the footage.
Alejandro looked at his sister.
“Who knew about my allergy?”
“You, me, Bruno, Matteo, Reed, and Teresa.”
“Why did you leave your meeting?”
“I received a call from Kiara’s old school.”
Alejandro’s expression changed.
“Kiara has been dead for three years.”
“I know.”
“Then why would her school call you?”
Lucia reached into her purse.
Bruno immediately drew his weapon.
Lucia stopped.
“I’m taking out my phone.”
She placed it on the table.
The call log showed an incoming number at 4:20 p.m.
The contact name read ST. CATHERINE’S ACADEMY.
Alejandro remembered the school.
Kiara had been enrolled there before the crash.
Lucia played the voicemail.
At first, there was only static.
Then a child began humming.
Alejandro gripped the edge of the table.
He knew that melody.
He had sung it to Kiara every night.
After seven seconds, the humming stopped.
A girl whispered one word.
“Papa.”
The message ended.
Lucia looked at Alejandro.
“That is why I left the meeting.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I did. Your line was busy.”
Gabriel checked the mansion phone records.
Alejandro’s private line had been used between 4:20 and 4:26.
The call had originated from inside the study.
Alejandro had been sitting at his desk the entire time.
Someone had remotely accessed his phone.
“Can you trace the call to Lucia?” Bruno asked.
Gabriel typed quickly.
“It was routed through St. Catherine’s old number, but the original signal came from inside the estate.”
“Where?”
Gabriel’s eyes moved across the screen.
“The basement staff corridor.”
Mara looked toward Emma.
That was where the child had been waiting.
Bruno ordered two guards downstairs.
Seconds later, the mansion lights went out.
Emergency lights flickered on.
May you like
A gunshot echoed from the basement.
Then Emma’s rabbit backpack began ringing like a telephone.
