Chapter 10
Beatrice had called Sofia to the foundry because she planned to leave Preston that night.
But leaving was only half the plan.
She had secretly recorded Preston admitting he had threatened her, controlled her finances, and used Grace to pressure her whenever she tried to separate.
The recording was insurance.
Sofia was supposed to take the card and leave through the side gallery.
Beatrice believed Preston would never search Raffaele Santoro’s daughter.
She underestimated how quickly everything would collapse.
Preston discovered the recorder.
Grace entered.
Sofia arrived before Beatrice could get her out.
The confrontation became physical.
Preston grabbed Beatrice.
Grace restrained Sofia and gave her the sedating medication after Sofia began screaming for help.
Then came the memory Sofia had been missing for five years.
Preston moved toward her.
Not Beatrice.
Sofia remembered backing toward the unfinished mezzanine.
Preston shouted:
“Give me the card.”
Sofia did not have it.
Beatrice did.
Preston did not believe them.
He lunged toward Sofia.
Beatrice stepped between them.
The two struggled.
Beatrice went over the temporary railing.
Not because Preston deliberately threw her.
Because he attacked Sofia, and Beatrice intercepted him.
She died saving the woman she had chosen to carry the evidence.
Grace then took control.
She removed the audio card.
She told staff Beatrice had been drinking.
She told doctors Sofia took anxiety medication.
She convinced Preston to say he entered after the argument began.
And Sofia’s concussion plus the sedative left the only surviving witness unable to contradict them.
But the deeper betrayal came afterward.
Three years later, when Sofia began remembering fragments, Preston deliberately entered her life.
At first he only wanted to know how much she remembered.
Then Sofia trusted him.
Then Ava trusted him.
Then the relationship became useful.
Marriage would keep Sofia close.
It would let Preston hear every returning memory before anyone else did.
Sofia stared at him after he admitted it.
“Did you ever love me?”
Preston looked destroyed.
“Yes.”
May you like
Sofia removed the ring from her finger.
“That might be the worst answer you could have given.”
