Chapter 10 - Optional
“What does remove mean?”
Alessia asked the question three times.
Nathan gave the same answer.
“I don’t know.”
Investigators questioned him under his cooperation agreement.
Evelyn had never explicitly threatened Alessia’s life.
No murder plot appeared in the evidence.
No weapon.
No plan.
But Nathan admitted Evelyn frequently discussed declaring Alessia mentally unstable if she resisted Garrett after the share transfer.
Medical evaluations.
Emergency board action.
A temporary guardianship petition.
And who might have helped legitimize it?
Judge Thomas Hale.
The plan became clear.
Garrett did not need Alessia dead.
He needed her discredited.
Overwhelmed.
Legally sidelined.
The previous year suddenly made sense.
Garrett had repeatedly told friends Alessia was “not coping well” after Carlo’s death.
Evelyn told Miriam Alessia was working too much.
Garrett encouraged Alessia to see a psychiatrist recommended by his family.
Alessia had gone twice.
Nothing came of it.
But the doctor’s notes described “grief-related anxiety.”
Normal grief.
Potentially useful if someone twisted it.
Alessia sat in Samuel’s office, stunned.
“They were building a story about me.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“At least nine months.”
She remembered arguments where Garrett remained strangely calm while she became frustrated.
Times he secretly recorded conversations “for his own protection.”
Times Evelyn told family friends:
“We’re worried about Alessia.”
Not concerned.
Preparation.
Garrett had been creating a version of Alessia other people could later be persuaded to believe.
Cold.
Unstable.
Obsessive.
Unable to manage her inheritance.
Detective Reese leaned forward.
“The ballroom changed their timeline.”
“How?”
“Miriam found Carlo’s letter. Garrett panicked.”
“So he attacked her.”
“He lost control.”
That mistake destroyed years of patience.
Thirty witnesses saw the assault.
Cameras recorded the hallway.
Police recovered the envelope from Evelyn.
Garrett’s phone revealed the messages.
The conspiracy began unraveling because Garrett could not control himself for thirty seconds.
The same arrogance that made him think Alessia could be manipulated forever made him believe Miriam could be frightened into silence.
Then investigators obtained another warrant.
Garrett’s private cloud storage.
Among thousands of files was a folder containing recordings of Alessia.
Arguments.
Private conversations.
Moments of grief.
Edited clips with labels.
Episode 1.
Episode 2.
Episode 3.
Alessia stared at the screen.
He had already been assembling evidence for the future claim that she was unstable.
But one file was different.
It was not a recording.
It was a draft petition.
Prepared before Carlo died.
Requesting emergency control over Alessia Moretti’s financial affairs.
The petitioner line was blank.
May you like
The proposed supporting witness was not.
Evelyn Hale.
