Chapter 10 - The Voice Recording Inside the Blue Star and the Late Wife's Final Warning
That evening, after Noah had finally fallen asleep in his bed—with his cedar tactile strips firmly in place and his white cane resting against his bedside table—I stayed behind in his room to tidy up his bookshelf.
As I picked up the cane to straighten it against the wall, something small and metallic caught my eye near the peeling blue star sticker.
It was a tiny, recessed seam on the aluminum handle—something I had never noticed before.
"Mr. Moretti," I called out softly as Luca passed the open doorway.
Luca stepped into the room, pausing beside me. "What is it, Hannah?"
"Look at the handle of his cane. Right under the blue star Caroline put there."
Luca leaned down, his brow furrowing. With the tip of a small pocket knife, he carefully pried open a tiny waterproof compartment built into the hollow aluminum tubing.
Inside was a micro-SD memory card wrapped in plastic tape, along with a tiny handwritten note in Caroline Moretti's handwriting:
*“If anything ever happens to me, and someone tries to take my son's voice away, play this in the family library.”*
Ten minutes later, the three of us stood in the dimly lit library. Luca inserted the micro-SD card into the antique gramophone-style digital audio player on his desk.
He pressed play.
The room filled with the soft, clear voice of a woman who had passed away three years ago.
*“My dearest Luca,”* Caroline's voice whispered through the speakers, warm and full of grace. *“If you are listening to this, it means someone is trying to use Noah's blindness against our family. Never let anyone convince you that my son needs to be hidden away or 'normalized.' His cane is his wings. And whoever stands beside you to protect him... hold onto them, because they are the heart of our home.”*
Luca stood motionless in the center of the dark library, a single tear cutting a clean path down his cheek as he listened to his late wife's final words.
He turned slowly, looking across the desk at me.
"She knew," Luca whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "Even before she died, she knew someone would try to take him away."
He stepped around the mahogany desk, walked directly up to me, and took both of my hands in his.
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"Tomorrow morning in that courtroom," Luca said softly, his dark eyes burning with fierce, unstoppable devotion, "we are going to show them who we really are. Together."
**THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME CRAWL UNDER HIS ENGAGEMENT TABLE TO FIND HIS TEN-YEAR-OLD SON'S WHITE CANE—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “HE THREW IT AWAY BECAUSE HE WANTED ATTENTION,” BEFORE HE EVEN ASKED WHY THE BLIND LITTLE BOY WAS ON HIS KNEES, CRYING AND BEGGING ME NOT TO MAKE HIM WALK ALONE AGAIN.**
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