Chapter 4 - The Voice on the Tablet
The audio file initialized with a sharp burst of static, followed by the heavy, rhythmic thud of a six-year-old child's panicked heart.
"Mama Vanessa... my throat hurts... I can't breathe," Noah’s small, wheezing voice echoed through the sterile hospital corridor.
Then came a sharp, impatient rustle of silk, followed by Vanessa’s unmistakable, irritated tone. "Stop whining, Noah. I told you not to eat the marzipan from my bag. If your father finds out I let you touch my specialty treats, he’ll cancel the wedding contract. Sit on the grass. I need to take this call from the real estate broker."
The audio continued. The sound of gasping. The terrifying silence of a child suffocating. Then, Vanessa’s voice again, panicked but cold. "Oh my god... Noah? Noah, get up! Damn it, if the paramedics come here, the press will find out... my image... Driver, get the car around! Leave him, we’ll say he wandered off from the fountain! Move!"
The recording cut out with the sound of a luxury car door slamming shut, followed by the distant, heartbreaking cries of a little street girl shouting, "Wake up! Please don't die, pretty boy!"
The silence that followed the recording inside the hospital corridor was absolute.
Daniel Carter looked at Vanessa as if she were a monster crawled out from the depths of hell. The woman who had claimed to love his son had left him like a broken toy on the dirt to protect her social standing.
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"Daniel... it’s an AI fabrication!" Vanessa shrieked, backing away as Daniel stepped toward her, his eyes blazing with the fury of a father who had almost lost his entire world. "That doctor is in league with the street girl! They want our money!"
"Get out of my sight," Daniel whispered, his voice trembling with a rage that shook the glass walls. "Before I do something that ensures you never see the light of day again."
