Chapter 14 - THE VOICE ON THE DRIVE
Daniel led them through the cottage's rear door.
Mara carried the medical bag. Vivian carried the duffel and the flash drive. They crossed a narrow garden and reached a service road behind the neighboring property.
A gray van waited beneath the trees.
Daniel unlocked it.
“Get in.”
The first vehicle reached the cottage just as they pulled away. Vivian looked back through the rear window and saw two men step onto the porch.
She did not recognize them.
She recognized the way they moved.
They were not police officers.
Daniel drove for twenty minutes before turning into an underground garage beneath a small office building. He parked in a reserved space and led them to a private room on the second floor.
“It's a safe office,” he explained. “A lawyer uses it when clients need privacy.”
Mara checked the locks.
Vivian sat at the table and inserted the flash drive into an old laptop.
There were seven audio files.
The first contained a conversation between Stefan Draven and two accountants.
“Once the transfer clears, Vivian's authorization will be enough,” Stefan said. “If anyone questions it, the records show she approved the holding company.”
A second voice answered, “What if she challenges the signature?”
“Then we show that she had access to the estate office. We have the login history.”
Vivian felt sick.
The next file was dated three weeks earlier.
Stefan's voice again.
“Matteo is distracted. The pregnancy has made him sentimental. Camille can keep him occupied long enough for us to finish.”
Mara looked at Vivian.
“Keep him occupied?”
Vivian pressed play.
A chair scraped. Someone poured a drink.
Then Matteo spoke.
“Camille is not part of the financial arrangement.”
Stefan laughed.
“She's already part of it. She knows what you want.”
“What I want is control of my own company.”
“And what you have is a wife who asks questions.”
There was a pause.
Matteo spoke again.
“Vivian knows nothing about the accounts.”
“Then make sure she stays that way.”
The recording ended.
Vivian sat perfectly still.
It was not proof that Matteo had planned the affair. It was not proof that he had helped steal money. But it showed that he knew Stefan was using Camille to distract him, and he had allowed the arrangement to continue.
Mara closed the laptop halfway.
“You don't have to listen to more.”
“Yes, I do.”
The next file contained a conversation between Camille and Stefan.
“You promised she wouldn't be blamed,” Camille said.
“She won't be if she cooperates.”
“She doesn't know what she's signing.”
“That's the point.”
“And Matteo?”
“Matteo will do what he always does. He'll choose the family.”
Camille's voice shook.
“You don't know him as well as you think.”
“I know exactly what he is.”
A second voice entered.
It was Matteo.
“Get her name off the transfers.”
Stefan answered, “You can't protect everyone.”
“I'm not asking you to.”
“Then stop interfering.”
The recording ended with a sharp noise.
Vivian removed the drive.
“He knew,” she whispered.
Mara nodded slowly.
“He knew Stefan was using your name.”
“And he did nothing until it was almost too late.”
Daniel stood near the door.
“Mrs. Draven, I think you should know that Matteo has ordered every account connected to Northline frozen.”
Vivian looked at him.
“When?”
“About an hour ago.”
“Why?”
“He found the same transfers.”
She stared at the laptop.
May you like
The man she had left was finally looking at the evidence she had been trying to show him for months.
But she was no longer waiting for him to believe her.
