What Dominic Knew
Chapter 09 - What Dominic Knew
Sofia listened to the recording three times.
Dominic’s voice was younger but unmistakable. There was no confusion in his words, no sign that he was merely present. He understood the threat.
She remembered the nineteen-year-old boy who sat beside her at the hospital after her father died. He had held her hand while she cried. He had told her Daniel’s crash was painless.
Had he known it was not an accident?
Elias urged caution.
“A cruel sentence does not prove he caused the crash.”
“It proves he knew Victor was threatening my father.”
Maya traced the recording date to a board retreat at the lakeside cabin. Dominic attended as an observer. Two days later, Daniel’s brakes failed on the mountain road.
The official investigation blamed maintenance.
The mechanic who inspected the vehicle afterward was employed by a Cross subsidiary. He retired suddenly and moved overseas.
Sofia called Dominic.
He answered immediately.
“Come home,” he said. “We can still fix this.”
“Did you know my father was threatened?”
Silence.
“I was nineteen.”
“That is not an answer.”
“My father said Daniel was stealing company secrets. I believed him.”
“You sat beside me after the funeral.”
“I loved you.”
“Did you know the crash was arranged?”
“No.”
The denial came too quickly.
Sofia played the recording through the phone.
Dominic breathed once, sharply.
“That conversation was taken out of context.”
“What context makes those words acceptable?”
He changed tone.
“If you release that file, you will destroy the company. Thousands of people will lose their jobs.”
It was Victor’s favorite argument: protect the institution by protecting the men who had corrupted it.
Sofia ended the call.
Within an hour, Cross Automotive filed an injunction claiming the memory card contained stolen trade secrets. A judge temporarily barred Sofia from publishing the files.
That same afternoon, police arrived at Elias’s apartment.
They found rare prototype components in his workshop—parts reported stolen from the company years earlier.
Elias stared at the evidence in disbelief.
Someone had entered while they were at the cabin.
He was arrested for industrial theft.
As officers led him down the stairs, television cameras waited outside as though they had been notified in advance.
Victor had turned the witness into the criminal.
Dominic watched the arrest from his office.
On his desk lay Sofia’s engagement ring.
May you like
For the first time, he understood that his father did not intend to save him.
Victor intended to use him until there was nothing left to sacrifice.
