Chapter 15 - ELLIOT'S CONFESSION
Elliot Vane spoke for three hours.
Dominic was not permitted inside the interview room.
Neither was Natalie.
But the lead investigator briefed them afterward.
Elliot admitted disabling Michael’s electronic braking system.
Natalie did not cry at first.
She simply stared at the investigator.
“What did Michael do to him?”
“Nothing.”
The answer broke something inside her.
She covered her face.
Dominic stood beside her.
The investigator continued.
“Elliot claims he was told to frighten Michael.”
Natalie looked up.
“By whom?”
“Harrington.”
“Brooke’s father?”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“And Brooke?”
The investigator hesitated.
“Elliot says Brooke knew her father wanted Michael stopped.”
“Did she know Elliot was going to sabotage the vehicle?”
“He claims she did not ask for specifics.”
Natalie laughed bitterly.
“How convenient.”
The investigator continued.
“However, Elliot says Brooke contacted him after the crash.”
Dominic became still.
“What did she say?”
“She asked whether Michael had suffered.”
Natalie’s face went blank.
Dominic looked away.
The investigator was not finished.
“She also asked whether any evidence could connect the crash to the family.”
Natalie whispered.
“And then?”
“Elliot told her the car would look like a malfunction.”
“What did she do?”
“She transferred him fifty thousand dollars.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
That transfer was in the ledger.
Brooke had known enough.
Maybe not before the sabotage.
Certainly afterward.
And she had paid for silence.
Natalie walked away from the conference table.
Dominic followed.
She stopped near the window.
“I lived with her.”
Dominic said nothing.
“I ate breakfast with her.”
“She sat beside Noah at Christmas.”
“She hugged me on Michael’s birthday.”
Her voice shook.
“She knew.”
Dominic put one hand on her shoulder.
Natalie turned on him.
“And you were going to marry her.”
He absorbed it.
He did not defend himself.
Natalie immediately regretted the words.
“Dom.”
“No.”
“You’re right.”
“I brought her into this house.”
“You couldn’t know.”
“I should have.”
Natalie shook her head.
“You trusted someone.”
“That is not the same as causing what she did.”
Dominic looked toward the room where Brooke was being questioned.
“She manipulated my trust to reach everyone around me.”
Natalie wiped her face.
“What happens now?”
Dominic answered.
“Now she tells the truth.”
Brooke did not.
For six hours, she denied knowing how Michael died.
Then investigators showed her Elliot’s statement.
Her attorney requested a break.
When questioning resumed, Brooke finally admitted paying Elliot after Michael’s death.
But she insisted the payment was blackmail.
“He threatened me.”
The investigator asked why Elliot believed she had something to hide.
Brooke had no answer.
Then they showed her a deleted message recovered from her phone.
It had been sent twelve minutes after Michael’s crash was reported.
BROOKE: Is it done?
The room went silent.
May you like
Brooke stopped denying everything.
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