Chapter 4 - The Accusation That Silenced the Room
Elena stood tall, though her hands were shaking so violently she had to press them against her white apron to steady herself.
"Elena, I am warning you!" Victor barked, his chair screeching against the floor as he stood up, his dark-rimmed glasses sliding slightly down his nose. "Security! Get this lunatic out of here!"
Not a single guard moved. The tension in the room was thicker than concrete.
Luca slowly raised his hand. "Let her speak."
His command was quiet, but it carried an authority that froze every person in the hall. Luca looked up from the dusty VHS, his dark eyes cutting straight into Elena’s tear-filled gaze.
"Who stopped you from giving me this tape eight years ago?" Luca demanded, his voice dropping into a deadly, commanding register.
Elena didn't hesitate. She raised her right arm, tears streaming freely down her cheeks, her finger locking onto the man standing across from Luca.
"He did," Elena cried out, her voice breaking with eight years of suppressed guilt, grief, and terror. "Victor threatened my family if I spoke!"
A collective gasp rippled across the twenty-three family members. Plates clinked as people leaned back in pure shock.
"He told me that if I ever mentioned the basement security backup, my younger brother wouldn't survive his hospital stay," Elena sobbed, pointing directly into Victor’s face. "The night Mrs. Alessandra died, the digital servers didn't catch fire. Victor manually disconnected the main circuit, but he forgot the secondary analog recorder hidden inside the garden generator room! The technician found it, labeled it, and gave it to me before he fled for his life. But Victor cornered me in the cellar... he took my phone... he told me what would happen if I ever brought it to light."
Victor’s mouth fell open, his eyes widening in pure panic. "Luca... she’s lying! You can’t trust a maid over me! She’s an opportunistic thief trying to extort money!"
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