Chapter 7 - RENATA TELLS THE TRUTH
Renata asked to cooperate.
Her attorney arranged it.
No private basement.
No threats.
A conference room.
Counsel present.
Recorded properly.
Renata admitted planting the clock.
She denied wanting Lucia harmed.
I believed that part.
Mostly.
Her purpose was simple:
Get Sofia fired quickly.
Discredit her.
Make sure anything she later said about the ledger sounded like revenge.
Renata had served Vittorio Moretti for fourteen years.
He helped place her in our household after Mateo’s death.
Her job was originally to report:
Who visited my father.
What documents moved.
Whether my mother was speaking to outside attorneys.
After my parents died, Renata remained.
Then the mission changed.
Watch me.
The planned marriage to Bianca would have made surveillance unnecessary.
The Moretti family would be inside openly.
I asked:
“Why frame Sofia?”
Renata looked at the table.
“Because she recognized her brother’s name.”
“That’s all?”
“She photographed two pages.”
Sofia had not mentioned that.
Renata continued.
“I saw her with her phone.”
“Where are the photos?”
“Her phone.”
They still existed.
Cloud backup.
Good.
“You threatened her?”
“Yes.”
“You told Lucia I would throw her mother out?”
Renata hesitated.
“Yes.”
That angered me more than the clock.
“You used my name to terrorize a four-year-old.”
“I wanted the mother frightened.”
“So you frightened the child.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
Then:
“Who told you to remove Sofia?”
Renata’s eyes lifted.
“Vittorio.”
Bianca’s father.
“Did he tell you to plant the clock?”
“No.”
“What did he say?”
“Handle the maid before Lorenzo returns.”
Again.
A system of implication.
People like my father.
People like Vittorio.
They built organizations where explicit orders were unnecessary.
Subordinates learned what results pleased powerful men.
That structure preserved deniability.
Until it didn’t.
Renata agreed to testify regarding shell companies, surveillance, and historic payments.
In return, prosecutors would decide what cooperation meant for her.
Not me.
I did not choose her punishment.
That was deliberate.
May you like
Because power had caused enough damage already.
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