Chapter 13 - Sofia's Last Witness
Daniel Voss was arrested two days after the recordings were authenticated. He was found at a private airfield outside Chicago with a suitcase, two passports, and a phone he had attempted to destroy. Prosecutor Price cautioned everyone against calling the case solved. Arresting a man was not the same as proving his guilt.
For Dominic, the hardest part came when Price played Sofia's final recording in full. A forensic technician had recovered several damaged seconds from the original file. Sofia could be heard accusing Voss of arranging false maintenance reports for vehicles used by the Carlisle network. Voss denied it. Then he told her that she had made herself a danger to the people she loved.
Dominic sat through the recording twice.
He remembered the last breakfast he'd shared with Sofia. Isabella had spilled orange juice. Sofia had kissed their daughter on the forehead, laughed at the mess, and asked Dominic whether he would reconsider suspending the Carlisle contracts. He had told her they would talk later.
There had been no later.
He went to Sofia's grave that evening. The cemetery was quiet, the grass dark from rain. He brought white roses because they had been her favorite, and he stood beside the headstone for a long time before speaking.
“I was wrong,” he said. “I thought providing for you meant I was listening to you. I didn't listen when it mattered.”
He had apologized to her in his thoughts a thousand times. Speaking the words aloud did not change the past, but it ended the lie that grief alone was a form of atonement.
Back at the estate, Isabella was waiting with her music box. Naomi had returned it after technicians completed their examination. The mechanism still played its imperfect tune.
“Did Mommy know you loved her?” Isabella asked.
“Yes,” Dominic said. “And I loved her very much.”
“Can you love someone else too?”
He considered the question carefully. “Love isn't something that runs out. But loving someone new doesn't mean forgetting Mommy.”
Isabella nodded. “I think Emily likes you.”
Dominic laughed softly. “You think so?”
“She gets quiet when you come into a room.”
“Maybe she's just tired of me making terrible pancakes.”
Isabella smiled. Then her expression grew serious. “If Emily doesn't want to marry you, can she still come to my birthday?”
“Of course.”
He meant it. He would never again use his daughter's affection as a reason for Emily to remain in a place she had not chosen.
Meanwhile, Emily received an acceptance letter from a nursing program in Chicago. She read it three times before calling Caleb. Their parents celebrated with takeout pizza and a cake from the grocery store. The tuition would require loans and part-time work, but a community scholarship covered her first semester. Emily was proud that she had applied without asking Dominic to intervene.
She went to tell him herself.
Dominic met her in the conservatory. When she showed him the letter, his face lit with unmistakable pride.
“You did it.”
“I did.”
He embraced her only after she stepped toward him. For a moment she rested her forehead against his shoulder and allowed herself to enjoy being happy.
“I start in January,” she said.
“That's wonderful.”
“It means I'll be busy. Very busy.”
“I know.”
“And I still need to understand whether your world is one I can live near.”
Dominic released her gently. “I'm working to make sure the dangerous parts of that world don't belong to me anymore.”
“Not for me,” she said.
“For Isabella. For the people who work for me. For everyone my decisions affect.” He paused. “And for myself.”
Emily smiled. “That's a better answer.”
The investigation advanced rapidly after Greer's attorney approached Price about a cooperation agreement. Greer admitted that Voss had directed him to suppress evidence from Sofia's crash, including footage showing a second vehicle near the ravine. He provided the name of the driver who had forced Sofia off the road. That man, facing separate charges, later corroborated the account.
The evidence did not bring Sofia back. It did give her family something they had been denied for two years: a documented account of what had happened.
Vanessa's testimony also proved useful. She identified the communications channel her father used to instruct Voss, and she turned over an old phone containing messages about the planned marriage alliance. Price explained that Vanessa's cooperation would be considered alongside her own conduct. Emily was relieved to hear that accountability would not be reduced to a simple bargain for forgiveness.
One afternoon, Emily received a letter from Vanessa. It was short. Vanessa apologized for humiliating her at dinner and acknowledged that she had treated kindness as weakness. She did not ask for a reply.
Emily folded the letter and placed it in a drawer. She was not ready to forgive, but she no longer wanted Vanessa's cruelty to determine the shape of her future.
At the estate, Dominic began meeting employees individually. He raised wages, established a confidential complaint process managed by an outside firm, and told Mrs. Dawson that no guest, relative, or executive would be allowed to threaten a worker's employment. Mrs. Dawson listened without congratulating him.
“Those rules should have existed before Emily was hurt,” she said.
“I agree.”
She gave a small nod. “Then make sure they survive you.”
The next morning, Price called with news. Voss had agreed to discuss a plea, but he wanted one condition before speaking: a private conversation with Dominic.
Price refused the request. “If he has evidence, he can give it through his attorney.”
Dominic agreed. Then Voss's attorney delivered a sealed statement to the prosecutor.
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The statement alleged that a final cache of documents existed, containing the names of victims who had never been located. The cache was hidden inside a storage unit registered under Sofia's maiden name.
For Dominic, the revelation meant the investigation was not finished. For Emily, it meant Sofia had left one last chance to help people whose stories had never been heard.
