Chapter 10 - The Voice That Sounded Like Mine

The recording was distorted.

But the voice sounded like me.

Same rhythm.

Same low tone.

Same habit of pausing before saying someone’s name.

Emily said, “You can’t keep doing this.”

The man answered, “I’m protecting the company.”

My hands went cold.

“That isn’t me.”

Detective Brooks looked at me carefully.

“I didn’t say it was.”

Rachel, pale from blood loss, whispered, “Keep listening.”

Emily’s voice again.

“Ethan will find out.”

The man laughed.

“No. He trusts me.”

Then the recording ended.

I stared at the laptop.

My father had often been mistaken for me on the phone when I was younger.

Same voice.

Same cadence.

I looked at him in my mind.

But he had admitted enough already. Why hide this?

Brooks said, “Could be edited.”

Annabelle nodded.

“Or someone deliberately mimicking him.”

Rachel whispered, “There’s more.”

Paramedics lifted her onto a stretcher.

She grabbed my sleeve.

“Find the old nursery camera.”

“What nursery camera?”

“In your first house. Emily installed one herself.”

“That house was sold.”

Rachel shook her head.

“No. Richard bought it through a shell company.”

Of course he did.

By dawn, Noah was sleeping in a secure hospital room with two officers outside.

I sat beside him.

Celeste called eleven times.

I ignored every one.

Then she texted:

YOU NEED TO COME HOME BEFORE YOUR FATHER DESTROYS EVERYTHING.

I showed Brooks.

She said, “Could be bait.”

“Everything is bait.”

“True.”

I went home with her.

The mansion looked different in daylight.

Less like a home.

More like a crime scene.

Celeste waited in the study.

My father was gone.

My mother too.

“Where are they?”

Celeste poured coffee.

“Your father left thirty minutes ago.”

“To where?”

“The old house.”

I stared.

“How do you know?”

She slid a key across the desk.

“Because he took this from the safe last night.”

I recognized it.

The brass key from our first home.

“How did you get it?”

“I took it back.”

“Why?”

“Because he isn’t going there to find the camera.”

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She met my eyes.

“He’s going there to destroy it.”