Chapter 5 - THE CAMERA SHE WAS NEVER MEANT TO FIND
Clara discovered the hidden camera two weeks later.
She was changing Matteo's bedding when she noticed a tiny reflection inside the smoke detector.
She stopped.
Looked closer.
Then climbed onto a chair and examined the device.
A lens.
Her stomach tightened.
She looked toward the ceiling.
Then toward the bathroom.
The realization made her blood run cold.
She had been watched.
Matteo had been watched.
Their private moments.
His grief.
Her tears.
Everything.
Clara marched into Vincent's office.
He looked up.
“Clara?”
She placed the smoke detector on his desk.
“What is this?”
Vincent went still.
She stared at him.
“You've been watching us.”
He said nothing.
Her voice rose.
“Every conversation?”
“Clara—”
“Every time Matteo cried?”
Vincent stood.
“I installed them for his protection.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Protection?”
Her eyes filled.
“You watched an eight-year-old boy grieve his mother without telling him?”
Vincent looked away.
Clara continued.
“And you watched me talk about my dead daughter?”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
She stepped back.
For the first time, he saw genuine disgust in her eyes.
“That's not protection, Mr. Rossi.”
Her voice trembled.
“That's control.”
She turned toward the door.
Vincent followed one step.
“Clara, please.”
She stopped.
“Remove the cameras from his private spaces.”
He nodded.
“And tell Matteo the truth.”
Vincent swallowed.
Then said:
“I will.”
Clara looked at him.
“Good.”
May you like
She opened the door.
“And until you do, I'm not coming back.”
