Chapter 8 - THE CHILDREN RICHARD NEVER MENTIONED
“Richard wanted Anthony to help him choose other children?”
Matteo stared at the cassette player.
The room seemed unnaturally quiet after his brother's voice faded.
Margaret Ellis wiped her cheeks.
“He wanted Anthony to identify children who were lonely, frightened, or separated from their families.”
“For what purpose?”
Margaret hesitated.
“To make them easier to control.”
Matteo felt sick.
Richard's network had apparently exploited vulnerable children through false guardianship arrangements.
Some had been moved between institutions.
Others had been placed with adults who paid for influence over their futures.
Margaret insisted she hadn't understood the full operation when she first became involved.
“I thought we were helping children who needed stable homes,” she said. “The paperwork looked legitimate.”
“When did you realize it wasn't?”
“When a little girl told me she had a mother who was looking for her.”
Matteo stared at her.
“What happened to that girl?”
“I helped contact her family.”
“And afterward?”
“I lost my job.”
Margaret's voice trembled.
“Richard's people told me that if I spoke publicly, they would accuse me of mishandling medications.”
Matteo looked at Evelyn.
“Did you know about this?”
“Only pieces. Laura told me she was collecting evidence.”
“Where is that evidence?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I don't know. She never trusted one person with everything.”
Matteo understood why.
Laura had spent fifteen years trying to expose a network protected by influential people.
Her caution had kept her alive.
But it had also kept her separated from Anthony.
Sophie leaned toward Margaret.
“Do you remember the little girl's name?”
Margaret nodded.
“Rebecca Lane.”
Sophie wrote it down.
“Did she go home?”
“Yes. Her mother found her. I followed up years later.”
Matteo felt a small measure of relief.
At least one child had escaped.
But Anthony's recording suggested there had been others.
“Did Anthony actually help Richard identify children?” Matteo asked.
Margaret shook her head firmly.
“No. He refused. That's why Richard moved him.”
“Where?”
“To another clinic. After that, I lost contact.”
Matteo leaned back.
The boy on the recording had been terrified.
But even then, he'd tried to protect other children.
Matteo remembered Anthony giving his lunch to classmates who had forgotten theirs.
He remembered his brother crying when an injured bird died.
That kindness had survived.
Perhaps it still existed in Daniel.
On the drive home, Evelyn sat quietly beside Sophie.
Finally, she whispered, “I should have spoken years ago.”
Sophie looked at her.
“You were frightened.”
“That doesn't make it right.”
“No,” Sophie said gently. “But telling the truth now matters.”
Evelyn stared through the window.
“When Laura first disappeared, I thought she'd been killed.”
“What changed your mind?”
“She sent me a birthday card six years later. There was no return address.”
Sophie smiled faintly.
“She wanted you to know she was alive.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn touched the broken necklace.
“And she asked whether Anthony still had the silver rose.”
Sophie looked at her.
“Did you answer?”
“I couldn't. I didn't know where he was.”
Back at the mansion, Matteo arranged to meet Daniel.
He didn't bring security into the room.
He brought the cassette.
Daniel sat across from him in the library.
“What's that?”
“Something you recorded when you were eleven.”
Daniel looked uncertain.
“Will it upset me?”
“It might.”
“Do I have to listen?”
“No.”
Daniel considered that.
Then he nodded.
“Play it.”
Matteo pressed the button.
Anthony's childhood voice filled the library.
Daniel listened without moving.
When the recording ended, he covered his face.
“That was me?”
“Yes.”
Daniel shook his head slowly.
“I remember being afraid.”
Matteo waited.
“I remember Richard telling me I could help other kids. He said I'd get rewards if I chose the ones nobody visited.”
Matteo's chest tightened.
“Did you?”
Daniel lowered his hands.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I remember a little girl crying. She wanted her mother. Richard told me not to comfort her.”
Daniel's eyes filled.
“I sat beside her anyway.”
Matteo felt his throat close.
“What happened?”
“She gave me a red bracelet. It was made from yarn.”
He stared toward the window.
“I kept it for years.”
“Do you still have it?”
Daniel nodded.
“At home.”
Matteo leaned forward.
“Daniel, Richard told you your parents died. He told you Laura was dangerous. He told you your childhood memories were meaningless.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I know.”
“Your mother is alive. Both women who loved you are alive.”
Daniel began crying.
Quietly.
Without trying to hide it.
“I don't know how to feel about that.”
“You don't have to feel anything specific.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What if they expect me to become Anthony again?”
Matteo shook his head.
“I won't let anyone demand that.”
For the first time, Daniel reached across the table.
He touched the pocket watch.
“Can I keep this for a while?”
Matteo nodded.
“It was always supposed to be yours.”
That evening, Camille returned to the mansion.
She requested to speak with Sophie.
Matteo remained nearby but let Sophie decide whether to meet her.
Camille stood in the sitting room without her engagement ring.
Her eyes were tired.
“I owe you an apology,” she said.
Sophie waited.
“I threatened your job. I used your mother's illness against you. I humiliated Evelyn.”
“Yes,” Sophie replied.
Camille looked down.
“I was cruel.”
Sophie didn't soften the truth.
“You were.”
Camille accepted that.
“I've contacted the dialysis center. My father has no authority over your mother's appointments. I've asked them to send you written confirmation.”
Sophie folded her arms.
“You should never have threatened her in the first place.”
“I know.”
Camille looked toward Matteo.
“And I brought something.”
She placed a leather folder on the table.
Inside were financial records from the Whitmore family office.
“Father kept copies of every guardianship payment. I took these before he could move them.”
Matteo opened the folder.
The records contained names, dates, and account numbers.
But one section had been marked with a red tab.
Project Rosebridge.
Matteo frowned.
“What's this?”
Camille swallowed.
“The original financial arrangement.”
He turned the page.
A familiar signature appeared.
Lorenzo Bellini.
Then another.
Richard Whitmore.
Below them was a third name.
Isabella Bellini.
Matteo stared.
“My mother signed this?”
Camille nodded.
“She was listed as a witness.”
“To what?”
Camille looked devastated.
“To the first guardianship transfer involving Anthony.”
Matteo felt the ground shift beneath him.
He had wanted to believe his mother was only a victim.
But the document suggested she had participated in the arrangement from the beginning.
“Was she forced?” he asked.
Camille shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Matteo turned another page.
There was a photograph attached to the agreement.
It showed eleven-year-old Anthony standing between Richard and Isabella.
Anthony's face was pale.
He held a small blue suitcase.
Matteo stared at his mother's hand resting on the boy's shoulder.
Then he noticed something written beneath the photograph.
Voluntary family placement.
Sophie leaned closer.
“Mr. Bellini, look at the date.”
Matteo did.
The document had been signed one day before the supposed school-trip kidnapping.
May you like
Camille spoke in a broken whisper.
“Matteo, your mother didn't simply help Richard take Anthony. She signed the papers before anyone knew he was missing.”
