Chapter 9
The forensic review began with boring things.
Badge access.
Camera service logs.
Vendor emails.
Phone records voluntarily provided through civil discovery.
Most of it meant nothing.
Then one timeline emerged.
At 8:41 on the wedding morning, Dominic entered the bridal preparation wing.
He remained there eleven minutes.
At 8:57, he called the security office.
At 9:06, the terrace camera was adjusted.
At 9:14, Dominic left the wing.
Bianca cut Livia’s hair at 10:32.
Claire placed the times on the table.
“We still don’t know what happened during those eleven minutes.”
Alessandro stared at them.
“What does Dominic say?”
“He was checking whether Bianca needed anything.”
“Did he normally do that?”
“No.”
Another document arrived the same afternoon.
Bianca’s litigation firm had not simply opened her file eleven days before the wedding.
The initial consultation had been referred by someone.
The referring contact was listed only as D.R.
Claire did not say the name.
She did not need to.
Alessandro felt anger rising.
Then forced it back down.
“Proof.”
“Yes.”
“I want proof before I confront him.”
“Good.”
That evening Rosalie came by to see Livia.
The child’s hair had been professionally evened into a short asymmetrical cut.
Livia had chosen a blue barrette for the longer side.
Rosalie told her it looked beautiful.
Livia whispered something.
“What?”
“Bianca said Daddy gets mad fast.”
Rosalie glanced toward Alessandro.
“When did she say that?”
“At wedding.”
“Before Daddy came?”
Livia nodded.
“Who was she talking to?”
Livia returned to her blocks.
“Uncle Dom.”
Alessandro said nothing.
A three-year-old’s fragment was not proof.
It was not going to become one simply because he wanted it to.
May you like
But the timeline was tightening.
Part of him already knew what Part 10 would force him to accept.
