Chapter 7
Mercer was alive.
He had been living under another identity in a neighboring county.
The former security chief who had vanished as Thomas Reed hadn't disappeared from the world.
He'd disappeared from Dominic Vale.
And now, after ten years, investigators had found him.
Dominic wanted to confront him immediately.
I could see it in his face.
But his attorney advised against it.
The investigators needed to preserve evidence and interview Mercer without interference.
And Dominic, despite every instinct pushing him toward revenge, agreed.
“I spent ten years doing nothing,” he told me.
“Now I have to stand still again?”
“You're not doing nothing,” I said.
“You're letting the truth become something he can't talk his way out of.”
He stared at me.
Then nodded.
It wasn't forgiveness.
It wasn't patience.
It was restraint.
And for a man accustomed to controlling everything around him, that may have been the hardest decision of all.
***
Two days passed before we learned what Mercer had admitted.
The estate remained under investigation.
Evelyn's financial authority was suspended.
Marcus stepped aside from his duties while his actions were reviewed.
Several staff members were interviewed.
The household accounts were frozen pending examination, leaving ordinary expenses and employee payments to be handled through a separate, verified arrangement.
Dominic barely slept.
He spent hours in Sofia's music room, reading her notes, examining photographs, and listening to the songs he'd forbidden for a decade.
Sometimes I sat with him.
Sometimes I left him alone.
And sometimes I heard the piano late at night.
Not the eerie single notes triggered by a hidden device.
Real music.
Played by human hands.
Uneven.
Uncertain.
But alive.
On the third morning, Dominic received a call from the lead investigator.
Mercer had admitted using Evelyn's access to copy financial records and conceal unauthorized transfers.
He had also admitted arranging to meet Sofia on the night she died.
But his explanation of the crash was different.
He claimed he had gone to the service entrance to convince her to surrender the documents.
Sofia refused.
She drove away.
Mercer followed her.
Then, according to him, she lost control on the wet road.
Dominic listened without speaking.
When the call ended, he set down the phone.
“He admits following her.”
I felt sick.
“Did he admit causing the crash?”
“No.”
“What did he say?”
“That she was driving too fast. That he stayed behind her but never touched her car.”
“Do they believe him?”
“They're checking.”
Dominic looked toward the photographs.
“He followed her while she was terrified.”
I nodded.
“And then he left.”
His voice broke.
“He didn't call me. Didn't tell anyone what happened.”
May you like
I reached for his hand.
This time, he held on.
