Chapter 5: What Sophia Saw
Sophia spoke in a quiet but clear voice, her eyes never leaving the villa as she recounted what she had witnessed over the past few months.
She told Vittorio about the late-night meetings between Isabella and Alessio in the garden. She told him about the times Isabella would sneak out of the villa after Vittorio had gone to bed. She even mentioned seeing them together in the city when Isabella claimed she was visiting her sick aunt.
But the most important thing she revealed was about the money.
“Miss Isabella and that man… they moved a lot of papers,” Sophia said. “Big folders. Sometimes they would burn them in the fireplace after. Papa said they were hiding something.”
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed.
“Did you ever see what was inside those folders?”
Sophia shook her head.
“But one time, I heard Miss Isabella say something about ‘the accounts in Switzerland.’ She said once you were gone, everything would belong to them.”
Vittorio felt his blood boil.
They hadn’t just planned to kill him. They had planned to take everything he had built.
Sophia continued.
“Papa started writing things down after that. He said we needed proof in case something bad happened. That’s why he gave me his old phone. He told me to record everything I heard.”
Vittorio looked at the cracked phone in his hand. The small device suddenly felt much heavier than it should.
He had underestimated everyone.
He had underestimated his wife’s greed.
He had underestimated his brother’s hatred.
And most of all, he had underestimated this quiet little girl who had been watching everything while the adults around her thought she was too young to understand.
Vittorio placed a hand on Sophia’s shoulder.
“You did well,” he said. “Your father would be proud of you.”
Sophia’s eyes filled with tears, but she quickly blinked them away.
“Can we save him?” she asked.
Vittorio nodded.
“We will,” he said. “But first, we need to be smart. They still think I’m going to walk into that car. As long as they believe that, we have the advantage.”
He looked back toward the villa.
Isabella was no longer outside. She had gone back in, probably waiting for the sound of an explosion that would never come.
Vittorio’s mind was already working.
He needed to contact his most loyal men without alerting Isabella or Alessio. He needed to find out where Renzo was being held. And he needed to decide what to do with his wife.
But first, he needed to get Sophia somewhere safe.
He turned to the little girl.
“Listen to me,” he said. “I’m going to take you somewhere safe. Then I’m going to deal with this.”
Sophia shook her head.
“I want to stay with you.”
“No,” Vittorio said firmly. “It’s too dangerous. Your father would never forgive me if something happened to you.”
Sophia looked like she wanted to argue, but in the end, she nodded.
Vittorio looked at her for a moment, then made a decision.
He wasn’t just going to protect this child because of a promise.
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He was going to protect her because she was the only honest person left in his life.
