Chapter 9 - The Confession Behind the Swan.
.Luca shoved Dr. Voss against the wall before the doctor finished speaking.
"Where is my daughter?"
Voss gasped.
"I don't know the exact location."
Luca tightened his grip.
Anna stepped between them.
"Then tell us what you do know."
Voss looked at her with a mixture of guilt and fear.
He admitted Victor had paid him for years to keep Sofia dependent on medication and to exaggerate the severity of her mobility problems.
The crash had caused real injuries, but follow-up scans showed her spine had healed far better than Luca had been told.
"She still needed therapy," Voss said.
"But she did not need to spend four years believing she would never walk."
Anna's eyes filled with rage.
"You stole her childhood."
Voss lowered his head.
"Yes."
Luca released him only because Anna was standing between them.
Voss explained that Victor needed Sofia to appear fragile because a frightened father was easier to manipulate.
Every crisis made Luca more dependent on Victor for security, doctors, and private arrangements.
Anna asked about herself.
Voss closed his eyes.
"Victor pulled you from the crash before the fire reached the front seat."
For one moment, Anna almost felt relief.
Then Voss continued.
"He saved you because he needed to know what evidence you had copied."
At the private clinic, Victor waited for Anna's memory to return.
When it began returning too quickly, Voss increased the sedatives.
Eventually Victor created the Anna Mercer identity and arranged a transfer to a distant rehabilitation center.
"He assumed you would remain confused forever."
Anna held the silver swan against her chest.
"And the body in the car?"
Voss stared at the floor.
"A morgue theft. Unidentified female remains. Victor planted your jewelry."
Luca turned away, sickened.
Anna opened the music box.
The mechanism played the same lullaby from the banquet.
Beneath the velvet base was a tiny screw.
Luca found a screwdriver in the ruined desk.
They removed the panel.
A microSD card fell into Anna's palm.
Voss whispered, "That is what he has been looking for."
Luca inserted it into a secure laptop.
The files contained banking records, audio clips, photographs, and a video Anna had secretly recorded of Victor discussing payments to corrupt officers and contractors.
The final file showed Victor speaking to Dr. Voss one day before the crash.
"If Elena talks to Luca, everything changes," Victor said on the recording.
"Make sure she doesn't get the chance."
Voss began to shake.
Anna looked at him.
"You knew."
"I thought he meant frighten you."
"You always have an excuse."
A phone rang from inside the music box.
Anna jumped.
Someone had hidden a small tracking device beneath the lining.
A red light blinked once.
Voss stared at it in horror.
"Victor knows we're here."
Engines roared outside.
Luca slammed the laptop shut.
Men surrounded the house.
May you like
Then Victor's voice came through a loudspeaker from the driveway.
"Bring me the card, Elena, and I will let you hear your daughter scream only once."
