Chapter 5
Damian recovered quickly.
“You're twisting this.”
Bernadette stared at him.
He turned toward her.
“You forget things when you're stressed. I told you to record instructions so we didn't miss anything.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I don't forget things.”
“Mom.”
The softness in his voice was artificial.
Adriano heard it.
Bernadette did too.
She stopped defending him.
That was new.
Adriano ordered the recorder examined.
The files went back six months.
Most were harmless.
Grocery reminders.
Auction schedules.
Donor names.
Doctor appointments.
Then something changed three weeks earlier.
Damian began appearing in the recordings.
His voice prompting Bernadette.
Repeat that.
Say the date.
Say exactly who handles the car.
Adriano listened without expression.
He was training her to document instructions.
Why?
Outside counsel arrived before midnight.
So did a digital-forensics specialist.
The library remained closed.
Donors had been escorted out after statements were collected.
Only family, security, attorneys, and investigators remained.
One recording stood out.
Bernadette’s voice:
Service elevator after nine. Theo goes downstairs.
Then Damian:
Again.
Bernadette repeated it.
The specialist paused.
“Why would anyone need this?”
Nobody answered.
Adriano looked at Damian.
His shoulders were still square.
His eyes were not.
Then Charlotte entered holding a printed shipping manifest.
“We traced the fake humidity shipment.”
The missing Psalter had been loaded onto a private courier.
Destination:
Providence, Rhode Island.
Adriano’s attention sharpened.
“That’s where the van permit was routed tonight.”
Enzo looked up.
The same vendor network.
The same service road.
The same city.
Theo’s planned disappearance and the stolen book were moving along identical logistics.
Damian finally spoke.
“Coincidence.”
Adriano’s eyes settled on him.
His voice became almost a whisper.
“You're running out of those.”
Then the specialist recovered a deleted audio memo.
Damian’s voice.
No Bernadette.
No one prompting him.
“Once Adriano leaves to find the boy, I get forty minutes.”
A pause.
“That's enough to clear the vault records and trigger the emergency vote.”
Bernadette’s face went white.
She turned toward her son.
“What vote?”
Damian did not answer.
Adriano did not need him to.
May you like
The kidnapping had never been only about silencing Theo.
Damian needed Adriano physically gone.
