Chapter 3 - The Sound No Adult Could Hear
The nursery’s electricity was disconnected.
Nico remained calm for eleven minutes.
Then Matteo carried him across the threshold.
The baby’s body stiffened instantly.
A frightened cry rose in his throat.
Liana rushed forward and took him.
“Take him into the hallway.”
The moment they crossed the doorway, the crying weakened.
Matteo turned slowly toward the room.
“Search everything.”
Dante brought in two security technicians.
They dismantled cameras, examined outlets, opened toys and scanned the walls.
For nearly an hour, they found nothing.
Then Liana noticed the stuffed white fox on the highest shelf.
Every toy in the nursery faced the crib.
The fox faced the door.
She picked it up.
A faint vibration traveled through its body.
“There’s something inside.”
Dante cut the stitching.
A black device fell onto the carpet.
One technician examined it and swore under his breath.
“It’s an ultrasonic transmitter.”
“It produces a frequency most adults can’t hear.”
“A baby can.”
Matteo stared at the device.
“What would it do to him?”
“Headaches.”
“Panic.”
“Disorientation.”
“If it was activated repeatedly, he would start associating this room with pain.”
Matteo’s expression became frighteningly calm.
“Who installed it?”
The technician turned the device over.
“It’s receiving a remote signal.”
“Someone has been switching it on from inside the estate.”
Nico’s weeks of screaming had not been random.
Someone had deliberately tortured a nine-month-old child with sound no adult could hear.
They had watched Matteo carry his son through sleepless nights.
They had watched doctors fail.
They had watched nannies quit.
And they had known exactly why.
Liana pressed her lips to Nico’s hair.
Matteo stepped toward the nursery camera.
“Whoever is watching,” he said, “you made one mistake.”
“You believed grief had made me weak.”
Dante pulled him aside.
“There is another problem.”
He handed Matteo a staff authorization form.
Liana’s photograph was attached to it.
The final approval had not come from the housekeeper.
It had been issued directly by Matteo’s trusted adviser, Luca Bellandi.
Luca had served the Varric family for twenty-three years.
He had arranged Elena’s funeral.
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He had delivered the sealed dental report confirming her death.
And three weeks earlier, he had personally approved the grieving maid whose face matched hers.
