Chapter 10
Vanessa tried to bargain.
She offered testimony against Daniel in exchange for reduced charges.
Prosecutors listened.
Then Marcus’s confession and my grandfather’s recordings made her less valuable than she thought.
That enraged her.
At a pretrial hearing, she turned in her seat and stared at me.
“You think this place loves you? They loved your grandfather. You were just the quiet girl hiding upstairs.”
I stood slowly.
The courtroom hushed.
“My quiet kept you comfortable,” I said. “Do not mistake it for absence.”
The judge ordered us both silent.
But Vanessa looked shaken.
Good.
Daniel’s lawyers attacked my mental state.
They called me reclusive.
Traumatized.
Unprepared.
They said the founder badge malfunctioned.
Priya testified that the system worked exactly as designed.
Tomas testified about the chapel compartment.
Celia testified about signing the false witness statement.
She cried through most of it.
When asked why she lied, she said, “I valued image over Elena’s voice.”
That sentence hurt.
But it helped.
I began meeting workers every afternoon.
No cameras.
No executives.
Just people who knew the resort better than any Somor ever had.
They told me about stolen wages.
Unsafe housing.
Vanessa’s insults.
Daniel’s threats.
I listened.
Then I changed policies.
Back pay.
New housing.
Anonymous reporting.
A worker council.
May you like
My grandfather had told me to choose people who protected the house.
So I did.
