The House Where Nobody Could Tell Them No
Chapter 7
The recording was enough to force an investigation.
Victor was arrested before sunrise.
But the case wasn’t over.
The cassette still contained an unfinished sentence.
Celia had almost named someone.
Adrian became obsessed with finding the missing part.
Elena wasn’t.
She had begun to understand something else.
The girls had changed.
They no longer tested every boundary.
They no longer sabotaged employees.
They asked questions.
They apologized.
They ate dinner at the table.
But one evening, Iris said something that made Elena stop.
“Mom wasn’t talking about Victor.”
“What?”
“When she said Adrian wasn’t the person we should fear.”
June looked at her sister.
Iris continued.
“She meant someone else.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
Elena looked at Adrian.
He had been standing near the window.
“I know.”
Everyone turned.
Adrian held a folder.
“I found the missing recording.”
He placed it on the table.
The audio was damaged, but one sentence was clear.
Celia’s voice said:
“Victor is only the messenger.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“Who was he working for?”
The answer came from another voice.
Not Celia.
A man’s voice.
“We don’t need to know.”
Adrian froze.
He recognized it.
“That’s impossible.”
“Who is it?” Elena asked.
Adrian didn’t answer.
He played the recording again.
The voice said:
“Once Adrian signs the transfer, the company will be ours.”
Elena looked at him.
“Who was that?”
Adrian whispered a name.
“Daniel Vale.”
The twins stared.
“Who?”
“My father.”
Silence.
Adrian explained.
Daniel Vale had supposedly died six years earlier.
He had built the first version of the company.
He had also been legally declared dead after a boating accident.
But the recording had been made four years ago.
Daniel had been alive.
And he had been behind the financial scheme.
Elena asked the obvious question.
“Where is he now?”
Adrian looked toward the windows.
“I don’t know.”
The next morning, Adrian received a letter.
It contained no return address.
Only four words:
You should have listened.
Inside was a photograph.
Daniel Vale stood on a train platform.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken three days earlier.
Adrian immediately called the police.
But before they arrived, another message appeared on his phone.
A video.
Daniel was sitting in a dark room.
He looked older, thinner, but unmistakably alive.
“You always thought I wanted your company,” he said.
Adrian watched in silence.
“I never cared about the company.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“I cared about what Celia discovered.”
The video ended.
Elena looked at Adrian.
“What did she discover?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Iris spoke softly.
“Maybe Mom left something else.”
June looked at the rabbit.
“She did.”
The porcelain rabbit had a tiny crack along its base.
Inside the crack was a folded piece of paper.
And on it was a location.
