PART 9 – The Evidence on the Table
The tension in the conference room was so cutting you could hear a pin drop. The airline's chief counsel, an older man with silver glasses and a tired expression, slid Luca's thick dossier toward himself. He opened it and began flipping through the pages. As he read, his eyes widened and his frown deepened.
"This is quite something, Captain Ferri," the lawyer finally said in a hoarse voice. He looked up at Stefano's lawyer, who had now become anxiously silent and was nervously tugging at his cuff. "It says here in black and white that the photos submitted for the divorce case were obtained through illegal surveillance by Marco Moretti—a man on the payroll of Stefano's father-in-law's real estate company. There is evidence of premeditation to compromise the captain and blackmail an innocent mother."
"That... that is slander! Pure speculation!" Stefano's lawyer shouted panicked, though his voice cracked. "This evidence was unlawfully obtained and will be dismissed in court!"
"Unlawfully obtained?" sounded a new voice by the door.
We all turned to look. The federal police inspector sitting at the head of the table pressed a button on his tablet. Immediately, a recorded phone call appeared on the large plasma screen on the wall. The speakers filled the room with the recognizable voice of Stefano himself, laughing as he discussed with Marco Moretti how they could 'nab her on that flight' to manipulate the custody case in their favor.
The lawyer buckled at the knees and slowly let himself drop back into his chair. The color had completely drained from his face. He knew there was no escaping it anymore. This was no longer a civil divorce case; this was a federal criminal case for blackmail, conspiracy, and misuse of personal data.
Luca turned and looked at me. A small, warm smile appeared on his face—a look of pure triumph, but also of deep affection. He placed a hand on my shoulder. It felt so natural again, so familiar, as if we were each other's anchor in this storm of lies.
"You're safe, Elena," he whispered so softly only I could hear. "Nobody is taking your daughter away from you."
The chief counsel cleared his throat and looked straight at the pale lawyer. "I suggest you call your client, sir. And tell him he'd better confess right now, before the police storm his office with an arrest warrant."
But the real blow was yet to come. Because what Stefano didn't know was that the corruption case surrounding his father-in-law's real estate empire was also directly linked to illegal financing of money laundering practices. And that didn't carry community service, but years behind bars.
