Chapter 8
Grace requested a private meeting with Raffaele.
He refused.
Sofia agreed to attend with attorneys present.
Grace arrived looking exhausted.
Preston did not come.
That mattered.
Grace spoke carefully.
“Beatrice was destroying Preston.”
Sofia stared at her.
“How?”
“She wanted to leave. She threatened to make accusations.”
“Were they true?”
Grace looked away.
“She exaggerated.”
Sofia laughed once.
Grace continued.
“Preston was difficult. Controlling. Angry. But he loved her.”
Sofia’s face hardened.
“People keep using love like it cancels what comes after it.”
Grace flinched.
Raffaele remained silent.
Grace finally admitted giving Sofia a sedative that night.
She claimed Sofia had already consumed alcohol and was becoming hysterical.
She insisted she did not intend to erase memory.
She wanted Sofia calm.
Then Sofia asked:
“Why did Beatrice say you didn't get to decide what I remembered?”
Grace’s composure cracked.
Only slightly.
“Because Beatrice believed everything was manipulation.”
“What was on the audio card?”
“I don't know.”
Sofia leaned forward.
“You took it.”
“No.”
“Then why is your signature there?”
Grace said nothing.
Sofia stood.
The meeting ended.
Outside the conference room, Raffaele asked:
“Do you believe her?”
“No.”
“Which part?”
Sofia looked toward the closed door.
“The part where she keeps making herself smaller than every decision.”
Raffaele understood.
Grace’s story was always:
I only calmed her down.
I only tried to protect Preston.
I only handled the aftermath.
Never:
May you like
I chose.
Yet every major event passed through her hands.
