Chapter 11 - What Dominic Failed to See
Dominic did not sleep.
By sunrise, every employee had been separated and interviewed.
Mrs. Hargrove was confined to a guest suite under guard.
Dominic wanted the police.
Mateo advised federal investigators.
Clara wanted only one thing.
"Don't question Noah again."
Dominic looked at her.
"I need to know what happened."
"He's four."
"He's my son."
"Then act like his father before you act like an investigator."
The room became silent.
Mateo looked away.
Dominic stared at Clara.
Two weeks earlier, nobody in the mansion would have dared say those words.
Now Dominic lowered his eyes.
"You're right."
That afternoon, a trauma specialist named Dr. Maya Foster arrived.
Unlike the others, she did not carry a clipboard into Noah's room.
She sat on the floor outside the doorway and played with wooden blocks.
For forty minutes, she did not ask him a question.
Noah eventually sat across from her.
Clara watched from the hall.
Dr. Foster later spoke privately with Dominic.
"Your son doesn't present like a child with unexplained violent behavior."
"What does he present like?"
"A child responding to prolonged coercive trauma."
Dominic flinched.
"Can he recover?"
"Children aren't machines."
She softened her voice.
"He can heal."
"How long?"
"Stop asking for a deadline."
Dominic looked through the glass at Noah.
Dr. Foster continued.
"He needs safety to become predictable."
"I can provide anything."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You can provide money."
"Safety is different."
That night, Dominic entered Noah's playroom without guards.
He sat near the door.
Noah watched him suspiciously.
Dominic placed his phone on the floor.
Then his weapon.
Then the key ring.
Everything that made noise or flashed or felt threatening.
"I'm sorry."
Noah looked away.
Dominic's voice broke slightly.
"I thought you were angry."
Noah stacked two blocks.
"I thought you hated everyone."
Another block.
"I should have seen you were scared."
Noah's hand stopped.
Dominic did not approach.
"I won't make you talk."
A full minute passed.
Then Noah pushed one block across the carpet.
Toward his father.
Dominic picked it up.
On one side was the letter D.
Noah whispered, "Daddy."
Dominic bowed his head.
Clara turned away to give them privacy.
That was when Mateo approached her.
"We searched Hargrove's room."
He handed Clara a photograph.
Elena Vale was in it.
Alive.
May you like
The date printed on the back was six months after her funeral.
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