Chapter 7 Seven
Mira didn’t move right away. She just stood there.
The file felt heavier in her hands now.
She had ten hours.
To silent a grieving family.
And protect a man she was almost certain was guilty.
Her jaw tightened.
If she wanted to bring him down… she had to play his game first.
Slowly, she turned and walked out.
The door shut behind her with a quiet click.
The hallway felt colder than before.
Darker.
Like the house approved of what had just been asked.
Antonio was already waiting.
.
“Done?” he asked.
Mira gave a small nod, though nothing was done.
“Is there an office here where I can work? she asked instead.
Antonio studied her for a second, then gestured down the hall.
“This way.”
They walked in silence again.
Mira’s mind wasn’t quiet this time.
It was racing. Planning strategy on how to handle this matter
Names. Dates. His wife name.. her family.
And the Media circling like wolves.
If she shut them down too fast—it would look suspicious.
Too sloppy —and Salvatore would notice.
Too tired sentiment and the story would grow.
Too attacked it aggressively —and she’d cross a line she couldn’t uncross.
She exhaled slowly.
Think, Mira.
They entered a smaller office. Clean. Minimal. A desk, a laptop already set up, files neatly stacked.
Prepared.
Like everything else in this house.
Antonio stopped at the door.
“You have what you need,” he said.
Mira nodded once. “Thanks.”
He didn’t respond.
Just left.
The door closed.
Mira dropped the file onto the desk and opened it again, flipping through faster this time.
Flipping through Elara photos when she was alive..
Before she became a headline.
Mira’s chest tightened briefly—but she pushed it down.
Emotion wouldn’t help her here.
Strategy would.
She pulled the laptop closer and started typing.
Searching for old articles and report.
Every searched turned useless . She couldn’t find anything .
Mentions of the Corvin name buried, erased, like it never happened. .
He really did control everything.
Her fingers paused over the keyboard.
Then..
A plan started forming.
Not to silence them completely. That would be too obvious.
But to redirect. Delay. Shift attention. Buy time.
She picked up her phone.
Anna said to call whenever something came but .
But this…
This needed urgent attention .
Mira hesitated for half a second…
Then dialed anyway.
The phone rang.
Anna picked up almost immediately.
“What now?”
Mira didn’t waste time.
“I need everything we have on Elara Corvin. Full file. Unfiltered. And I need it now.”
A pause.
Then Anna’s voice sharpened.
“What happened?”
“He gave me my first job,” Mira said quietly. “Ten hours to make his first wife’s family… stop talking about her death.”
Silence from the other end of the line.
Then Anna spoke
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Another pause.
Then lower..
“That bastard.. he wants to silent the family.”
Mira’s eyes flicked to the door.
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I know.”
Anna exhaled.
“I’ll send what I have. But Mira… don’t do anything stupid.”
Mira almost laughed.
Too late for that.
“I won’t,” she said.
She ended the call and dropped the phone on the desk.
Then leaned back slightly, staring at the file again.
Elara’s happy smiling face stared back at her.
Mira’s expression hardened.
“I’m not here to bury you,” she murmured quietly. “I’m here to find out what really happened.”
A beat passed.
Then she leaned forward again, fingers moving faster now.
Because the clock was already ticking.
And somewhere in this house..
Salvatore was waiting to see if she would break… or prove to be useful.
Mira worked fast. Faster than she usually allowed herself to work.
Articles from the file Anna had sent opened across her laptop. Old news reports. Archived interviews. Half-erased statements that looked like someone had tried—and mostly succeeded—to scrub them from the internet.
Elara Corvin. The first wife.
The “accidental” death.
Every source said something slightly different, but they all circled the same void.
No clear cause. No solid witnesses.
No answers that held up for long.
Mira leaned closer to the screen, eyes narrowing.
“This isn’t normal…” she muttered under her breath.
Her fingers paused.
Because something was wrong.
Not just the case. The pattern.
Six wives. All dead. The same way.
All news about it surrounded by silence that felt too controlled. Like someone had been managing the story from the start.
She sat back slightly, thinking.
Then a knock came at the door.
Mira’s body tensed instantly.
“Come in,” she said carefully.
The door opened.
Antonio again.
“Time is running,” he said flatly.
Mira closed her laptop a little, not fully.
“I’m aware,” she replied.
His eyes flicked briefly to the screen.
Then away.
“Mr. Corvin does not like delays,” he added.
“I said I’m working on it,” Mira replied, a little sharper than intended.
A pause.
Antonio studied her for a moment.
Then..
“No need to get so worked up Miss Voss,” he said quietly. “Result would show if you’re useful or useless.” He said coldly
Mira held his gaze.
“I’ll give him results,” she said.
Antonio didn’t respond.
Just left again. The door shut.
Mira exhaled slowly.
The pressure was building. Time slipping.
Ten hours suddenly didn’t feel like enough.
She turned back to the laptop and reopened the file.
Then something caught her eye.
A name buried in one of the older reports.
A witness statement that had been redacted halfway through.
House staff—removed from service immediately after incident.
Mira’s eyes sharpened.
“Wait…”
She clicked harder, digging deeper.
There.
A former maid who worked in the Corvin household during Elara’s time.
And then disappeared from all records shortly after the death.
Mira straightened slowly.
“That’s not coincidence,” she whispered.
Her mind started shifting now.
Planning.
Because if Salvatore expected her to silence people then fine
She was going to use this opportunity to dig dirt on him too. By finding the ones who had already been silenced.
She grabbed her phone again and dialed Anna.
It rang once.
Twice.
“Don’t tell me you already failed,” Anna said immediately.
“Not yet,” Mira replied. “I found something.”
A pause.
“What?”
“A missing staff member from the time of Elara Corvin’s death. I need her location. Now.”
Silence on the line.
Then Anna’s voice dropped.
“You’re not supposed to be digging. You’re suppose to shut the family up.”
“I don’t have time for supposed to,” Mira said. “He gave me ten hours. I’m using all of them to milk out whatever information we need.”
Another pause.
Then..
“…Fine,” Anna said reluctantly. “I’ll see what I can pull.”
Mira nodded even though Anna couldn’t see it.
“Make it fast.”
She ended the call again.
Then stood up slowly.
Walking to the window.
Outside, the forest stretched endlessly… quiet, untouched, hiding everything that had ever happened inside this house.
Mira watched it for a moment.
Then whispered to herself…
“If there’s a truth here… I’m going to find it before he sniffs me out .”