When Love Finds Its Way Back (Cassienne and Dreston) novel Chapter 382

The silence Alessandro left behind was different from the silence that had filled the room before.

Earlier, his silence had been confidence.

Now, it was calculation.

He sat with his back straight and his hands resting calmly before him, but the certainty in his eyes was no longer there. The recording had ended, the screen had gone black, and yet Alessandro still appeared to be watching something only he could see.

Justice Elena allowed the silence to remain for several more seconds.

She did not rush him. She did not ask what he had recognized in Ethan Rhodes’s recording.

She did not need him to explain it.

Instead, she returned to the interrogation table and opened the file Alessandro had dismissed so easily before.

“Let us continue,” she said.

Alessandro lifted his eyes toward her. His expression was controlled again, but it was no longer effortless.

“I believe I have already answered your questions.”

“You have.”

Justice Elena sat across from him.

“That is precisely why we are going to review your answers.”

A faint tension appeared around his mouth. “I don’t see what purpose that serves.”

“The purpose is clarity.” She folded her hands above the file. “You have relied heavily on the difference between what you said and what other people understood. So let us separate those things carefully.”

Alessandro did not respond.

Justice Elena began calmly. “You did not transfer money to the men who kidnapped Garry Richardson.”

“No. Donatus Richardson did.”

“That is what you claim. That is what the financial records show.”

She continued before he could shift the conversation. “You did not communicate directly with those men.”

“No. Donatus did.”

“Yes. You did not personally arrange for Mrs. Cassienne Tremont to be taken.”

“No. Donatus did.”

“Yes. You did not personally attack Tina Ackley.”

“No.”

“You did not hire anyone to attack her.”

“No.”

“You did not transfer the money used to silence her.”

“No.”

Justice Elena nodded slowly. “Again, Donatus did.”

Alessandro leaned back. “You are repeating the same point.”

“No, Mr. Virelli. I am showing you the pattern.”

He said nothing.

Joseph stood a short distance away, watching him closely.

Steve remained silent beside the investigators. No one interrupted Justice Elena. The room belonged to her now.

She opened another document. “You told Donatus that Tina had become a liability.”

“Yes.”

“You said she was no longer useful.”

“Yes.”

“You said she should be discarded.”

“Yes.”

“But you did not use the word kill.”

“I did not.”

“And because you did not use that word, you believe you cannot be held responsible for the meaning Donatus attached to it.”

Alessandro’s expression hardened slightly. “I cannot be responsible for another man’s interpretation.”

Justice Elena nodded. “Under ordinary circumstances, perhaps.”

She turned one page.

“But this was not an ordinary conversation between two men discussing an employee whose services were no longer required.”

Alessandro remained silent.

“You were speaking to a man who had already committed criminal acts on your behalf.”

“Not on my behalf.”

“Then let us say he committed them while believing he was advancing the cause you had spent years feeding him.”

“I fed him nothing.”

Justice Elena studied him. “You gave him a story.”

“I gave him information.”

“You gave him fragments.”

His eyes sharpened. But she continued before he could answer.

“You told him Joseph Tremont had protected Auralink after his brother’s death.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify