“Hang up the phone, Mother,” Dominic’s voice boomed through the speaker.

He sounded distant, but his anger was sharp enough to cut through the static.

“Why should I?” Caterina said.

“Elena is on the line.”

“I want her to hear this.”

I heard the heavy, rhythmic thud of Dominic’s boots on the marble floor.

“It is over,” Dominic said.

There was a loud smack as a thick bundle of papers hit a wooden surface.

“I have the files,” Dominic said.

“Dr. Hale kept every single record.”

“Every forged signature, every paid-off test, every threat you made.”

The line went quiet for a moment.

In the car, Marco glanced at me through the rearview mirror, his brow furrowed.

I pointed to the phone and put it on speaker.

The car cabin filled with the ambient hiss of the Valenti library.

“Dr. Hale is an unstable woman,” Caterina said smoothly.

“Her word means nothing against the resources of this family.”

“And those papers are easily lost, Dominic.”

“Not these,” Dominic said.

“I have already digitalized them.”

“They are sitting in a secure server, ready to go to the federal prosecutor.”