Chapter 2: The Secret Files
The room became completely silent.
Not peaceful silence.
The kind of silence that comes before something breaks.
Vittorio stared at Emma’s phone.
The screen showed a video file.
Multiple videos.
Different dates.
Different times.
His hands tightened around Lucy.
“Emma,” he said quietly.
“Tell me what I’m looking at.””
Emma looked terrified.
“I wanted to tell you sooner.””
“Why didn’t you?””
Her eyes moved toward Bianca.
“Because she threatened me.””
Bianca immediately stepped forward.
“That’s a lie.””
Emma flinched.
Vittorio noticed.
And that reaction told him everything.
“Play it.””
Emma pressed the first video.
The dining room appeared on the screen.
The same dining room.
The same marble floor.
The same bowl.
But Vittorio wasn’t there.
Bianca was.
And Lucy was crying.
The video audio filled the room.
“Please don’t make me.””
Bianca’s voice answered.
“You want your father to keep loving you? Then stop acting like a spoiled princess.””
Lucy’s tiny voice shook.
“I miss Mommy.””
Bianca smiled.
A cold, cruel smile.
“Your mother is gone.””
Vittorio’s jaw clenched.
“And nobody is coming back for you.””
Lucy in his arms started shaking.
“No…”
He turned off the screen.
“Enough.””
Emma lowered the phone.
“I have more.””
Bianca’s face turned red.
“You disgusting traitor.””
Emma looked at her.
“I worked for this family for three years. I loved Lucy like she was my own daughter. I kept hoping you would change.””
“I was teaching discipline.””
“No,” Emma replied.
“You were teaching her fear.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“Everyone needs to calm down.””
Vittorio looked at him.
“You knew?””
Marcus hesitated.
That hesitation was worse than an answer.
“You knew.””
Marcus raised his hands.
“I knew Bianca was strict. I didn’t know it was this bad.””
Vittorio gave a humorless laugh.
“Funny. Everyone always says they didn’t know.””
He looked around the room.
All the people who had been around Lucy.
The staff.
The family.
The people who claimed they cared.
And somehow, a six-year-old child had been suffering right under their eyes.
Bianca walked toward Lucy.
“Come here.””
Lucy immediately grabbed Vittorio tighter.
“No.””
That single word made Bianca freeze.
Vittorio saw it.
Lucy wasn’t just afraid.
She was terrified.
Bianca’s expression shifted.
For one second, the mask slipped.
“You’re choosing him over me?””
Lucy whispered.
“You hurt me.””
The words landed harder than any scream.
Bianca’s eyes narrowed.
“I never hurt you.””
Emma spoke quietly.
“You locked her outside during a storm.””
Marcus looked shocked.
“What?””
Emma continued.
“She stood on the back porch for almost an hour.””
Vittorio looked at Bianca.
“Is that true?””
Bianca looked annoyed.
“She was being punished.””
“She was six years old.””
“She needed boundaries.””
Vittorio stepped closer.
“No child needs to learn that the person taking care of them is the person they should fear.””
Bianca’s confidence started cracking.
“You’re making a mistake.””
“No.””
He looked at Lucy.
“I made a mistake when I trusted you.””
The next morning, Bianca’s lawyers arrived.
They came wearing expensive suits and carrying folders.
They expected Vittorio Moretti to be angry.
They did not expect him to be prepared.
Bianca sat across from him in his office.
“You can’t just take my daughter away.””
Vittorio stared at her.
“Your daughter?””
Bianca smiled slightly.
“There it is. That’s what this is about.””
“What?””
“You never accepted me.””
Vittorio leaned back.
“You abused a child, and somehow you’re making yourself the victim.””
Bianca’s expression changed.
“You think Lucy will choose you forever?””
“She’s six.””
“She’s emotional.””
“No,” Vittorio said.
“She’s honest.””
Bianca leaned closer.
“You don’t understand how custody works.””
Vittorio placed a folder on the desk.
Her smile disappeared.
Inside were copies of recordings, medical reports, witness statements, and security footage.
“You spent months building a perfect image.””
Bianca looked through the papers.
“You investigated me?””
“No.””
Vittorio looked toward the window.
“I trusted you.””
A long silence followed.
Then Bianca whispered:
“You’ll regret humiliating me.””
Vittorio looked back.
“No. You’ll regret hurting her.””
That afternoon, Emma found something else.
Something hidden.
Something Bianca never knew existed.
A second phone.
And inside it were messages that revealed Bianca’s real plan.
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She wasn’t just trying to control Lucy.
She was trying to destroy Vittorio’s entire family.
