Chapter 10 - THE MURDER BEHIND THE GOLDEN DRESS
The room fell silent.
Sofia stared at the frozen image of Harold Price.
A murder.
She had been three years old when she disappeared.
What could a three-year-old child possibly have witnessed?
Adrien replayed the confession.
Price continued beyond the initial revelation.
“On the night of November 1, 2004, a woman was killed inside the Valmont mansion. Her death was never reported as a homicide.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Adrien stared at her.
“Mother?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know what he's talking about.”
Price's recorded voice continued.
“The victim was a former employee named Margaret Ellis. She had been investigating financial misconduct involving Vesper Holdings.”
Bennett frowned.
“Margaret Ellis.”
He looked toward Adrien.
“Do you remember her?”
Adrien nodded slowly.
“She was our financial controller.”
Sofia leaned forward.
“What happened to her?”
Adrien looked devastated.
“We were told she resigned.”
Bennett searched his notes.
“According to public records, Margaret Ellis died in a house fire in December 2004.”
Sofia felt cold.
One month after her disappearance.
Price continued.
“Margaret discovered that Vivian had diverted millions from the family company. She also found evidence that Claire Valmont was alive.”
Adrien gripped the desk.
“She knew.”
Price nodded in the recording as though answering him.
“Margaret confronted Vivian inside the mansion. The confrontation became violent. Isabella was nearby.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
A memory flashed.
A woman shouting.
Glass breaking.
A dark hallway.
A little girl hiding behind a door.
Then a scream.
Sofia opened her eyes.
“I remember.”
Everyone turned.
She pressed her hands against her temples.
“There was a woman on the floor.”
Adrien moved toward her.
“Sofia?”
“She was wearing a blue dress.”
Eleanor gasped.
Sofia looked at her.
“Do you remember?”
Eleanor began trembling.
“Margaret wore blue that evening.”
Sofia's heart pounded.
The memory grew clearer.
A woman lying beside the staircase.
A broken vase.
A dark stain spreading across the carpet.
And Vivian standing nearby.
Sofia whispered:
“She told me it was paint.”
Adrien closed his eyes.
Price's confession continued.
“Vivian feared Isabella would repeat what she had seen. The child had already told Eleanor that a lady was sleeping on the floor.”
Eleanor began sobbing.
“I remember.”
Sofia turned toward her.
“What?”
Eleanor covered her face.
“You told me a lady had fallen asleep near the stairs. I thought you were playing.”
Sofia felt anger rise.
“You didn't check?”
“I did. There was nothing there when I looked.”
Bennett leaned forward.
“Because the scene had been cleaned.”
Price's recording continued.
“Vivian arranged for Margaret's body to be removed. The house fire was staged weeks later to explain her death.”
Adrien slammed his fist against the table.
“My God.”
Price lowered his head.
“I helped conceal the crime.”
Sofia felt sick.
A woman had died trying to expose Vivian.
And Sofia had been taken because she had seen something.
The kidnapping had not been random.
It had been an attempt to silence a child.
Price continued.
“Vivian originally planned to place Isabella with a private caregiver for several months. But when the child continued talking about the woman on the floor, Vivian decided she could never return.”
Sofia's eyes filled with tears.
She remembered Ruth telling her not to talk about dreams.
Not to mention the lady in blue.
Not to ask why the bad man had carried her away.
She had been punished for remembering.
For years, she had believed those memories were nightmares.
Now she understood they were fragments of a crime.
The video ended with Price saying:
“I know I deserve no forgiveness. I can only hope this confession helps the people I failed.”
Sofia sat motionless.
Adrien reached toward her.
She pulled away gently.
“I need a minute.”
She walked into the hallway.
Her legs felt weak.
She leaned against the wall.
For twenty-two years, she had carried a memory she couldn't explain.
A woman in blue.
A broken vase.
A dark stain.
And the fear that followed.
Now the memory had a name.
Margaret Ellis.
A woman who had tried to do the right thing.
A woman whose death had been hidden.
Sofia began crying.
Not only for herself.
But for Margaret.
For Claire.
For Daniel.
For every person Vivian had hurt.
She whispered:
“She took everything.”
A voice answered behind her.
“Not everything.”
Sofia turned.
Eleanor stood a few feet away.
Her face was pale.
Sofia wiped her eyes.
“Grandmother.”
Eleanor approached slowly.
“Vivian took years from us. She took trust. She took peace.”
Her voice trembled.
“But she didn't take your kindness.”
Sofia looked away.
Eleanor continued.
“She didn't take your courage. And she didn't take your ability to love.”
Sofia began crying harder.
Eleanor stopped.
“I know I don't deserve your forgiveness.”
Sofia looked at her.
“I don't know if I can forgive you.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I understand.”
“But I don't want you to disappear.”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
Sofia continued.
“I spent my whole life losing people. I don't want to lose someone else because we're too afraid to tell the truth.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Sofia stepped closer.
“You have to tell me everything from now on.”
“I will.”
“No more secrets.”
“Never again.”
Sofia embraced her.
It wasn't complete forgiveness.
But it was a beginning.
That afternoon, Bennett's team located Margaret Ellis's surviving daughter.
Her name was Grace Ellis.
She was thirty-six and worked as a public school teacher in Pittsburgh.
When Bennett contacted her, she broke down.
For twenty-two years, she had believed her mother died in an accidental fire.
Now she learned her mother had been murdered.
Sofia asked to speak with her.
Bennett arranged a call.
Grace's voice trembled.
“My mother was trying to protect you?”
Sofia swallowed.
“I think she was trying to protect all of us.”
Grace began crying.
“I was fourteen when she died.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“I'm so sorry.”
Grace took a shaky breath.
“I used to think she abandoned me.”
Sofia felt a painful connection.
“I know what that feels like.”
For several minutes, they talked.
Two women whose lives had been shaped by the same crime.
Before ending the call, Grace whispered:
“Please don't let her get away with it.”
Sofia answered:
“I won't.”
That evening, Bennett received an urgent message.
Investigators had located a storage unit connected to Vivian.
Inside were financial records, surveillance tapes, and documents from Blackwood.
But one item was especially disturbing.
A recent photograph of Sofia.
Taken inside the Valmont mansion.
Bennett stared at it.
The photograph showed Sofia sitting in the nursery.
It had been taken from the hallway.
Through a partially open door.
Someone had been watching her inside the house.
Bennett immediately ordered a security sweep.
They discovered a hidden camera behind a decorative wall panel.
Its transmission signal led to a nearby property.
But before investigators could reach it, the camera activated again.
A red light blinked.
Then Sofia's phone rang.
She answered.
A woman's voice spoke.
Calm.
Elegant.
Familiar.
“Hello, Isabella.”
Sofia froze.
“Vivian.”
The woman laughed softly.
“My goodness. You really have grown.”
Sofia's hands trembled.
“What do you want?”
Vivian's voice turned cold.
“I want you to understand something.”
“What?”
“You think you've uncovered the truth.”
Sofia clenched her jaw.
“Haven't I?”
Vivian laughed again.
“Not even close.”
May you like
Then she whispered:
“Margaret Ellis wasn't the first person who died because of your family. And if you keep digging, your father will be next.”
