Chapter 17 - THE WOMAN WHO WANTED EVERYTHINGSabina Voss had always believed that wealth was the only reliable form of protection.
She grew up watching powerful people enter expensive hotels while employees rushed to carry their luggage.
Her father worked as a driver.
Her mother cleaned offices.
Sabina remembered waiting in service corridors while wealthy guests walked past without acknowledging her existence.
She had promised herself she would never live that way.
Over time, ambition became resentment.
Resentment became entitlement.
And entitlement convinced her that anything she wanted was something the world owed her.
When she first met Chadworth Prescott, she saw more than a grieving billionaire.
She saw the life she believed she deserved.
The mansion.
The private aircraft.
The social influence.
The enormous company.
And two daughters whose inheritance stood between her and complete control.
Elliott Crane had recognized her ambition long before Chadworth did.
He offered her access, status, and eventually a role in his financial arrangements.
At first, she told herself she was merely helping redirect money within a complicated corporation.
Later, when Evelyn began asking questions, Sabina had a choice.
She could tell the truth.
Or she could protect the future Elliott promised her.
She chose the promise.
Now that decision was closing around her.
The next morning, Sabina entered an attorney's office accompanied by counsel.
Detective Ruiz and an assistant district attorney met them there.
Sabina looked exhausted.
Her expensive coat was wrinkled.
Dark shadows marked the skin beneath her eyes.
For once, her appearance hadn't been carefully arranged.
Her attorney began.
“Ms. Voss is willing to provide information regarding Elliott Crane and several related transactions.”
Ruiz remained composed.
“Then she should tell the truth.”
Sabina folded her arms.
“I want protection.”
“Your attorney can discuss that with the prosecutors. But providing information doesn't erase what you've done.”
Sabina's lips tightened.
“I'm aware.”
Ruiz looked directly at her.
“Did you participate in Lorelai Prescott's abduction?”
Sabina looked away.
Her attorney advised her before she answered.
“I helped arrange the transfer,” she admitted eventually.
“Knowing it was unauthorized?”
“Yes.”
“And knowing the child was frightened?”
Sabina swallowed.
“Yes.”
Ruiz made a note.
“Why?”
“Elliott said the ledger could destroy us. He said if we got it back, everything would go away.”
“Did you believe him?”
Sabina's eyes filled.
“I wanted to.”
Ruiz didn't offer sympathy.
“What happened to Evelyn Prescott?”
Sabina stared at the table.
“I wasn't driving that night.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Sabina remained silent.
Ruiz waited.
Finally, Sabina whispered.
“Elliott wanted the records Evelyn had collected. He arranged a meeting and told Warren to stop her if she tried to leave.”
“Did he order Warren to force her off the road?”
“I heard him say she wasn't supposed to get across the bridge.”
The room went still.
Sabina began crying.
But Ruiz continued taking notes.
Tears were not evidence of innocence.
Sabina had made decisions.
Those decisions had harmed people.
And the people she harmed deserved more than an emotional apology.
“What did you do afterward?” Ruiz asked.
Sabina wiped her face.
“I helped Elliott control what information reached Chadworth.”
“You entered a romantic relationship with him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you do that to influence his access to the records?”
Sabina stared at her hands.
“At first.”
The words hung in the room.
At the mansion, Chadworth received the summary through Cora.
He didn't feel victorious.
He felt hollow.
Sabina had used his grief, his loneliness, and his guilt.
But he could no longer pretend that his own unwillingness to listen had played no role.
That afternoon, he found Rosamund preparing lunch with the girls.
She was helping Gemma shape bread dough into small stars.
Lorelai was reading a recipe aloud.
For a moment, Chadworth remained in the doorway.
The kitchen smelled of cinnamon.
Sunlight warmed the table.
His daughters were laughing.
He realized that everything he had nearly lost was present in that ordinary room.
Rosamund looked up.
“Are you all right?”
He nodded.
“Better than I was.”
Lorelai held up a crooked piece of dough.
“Daddy, look. It's supposed to be Jupiter.”
Gemma giggled.
“It looks like a potato.”
Chadworth smiled.
“Then perhaps we've discovered a new planet.”
For the first time in weeks, he felt something approaching peace.
But the investigation was far from finished.
In the attorney's office, Sabina was explaining where she had hidden the memory card.
She had placed it inside the mansion shortly after moving in.
Not in a safe.
Not behind an expensive painting.
Not inside the master bedroom.
She had chosen a place nobody in the household had touched since Evelyn died.
The grand piano in the formal living room.
Evelyn used to play it every Sunday.
After her funeral, the instrument remained closed.
Chadworth couldn't bear to hear it.
The staff had been instructed only to dust the exterior.
Sabina had hidden the card inside a narrow compartment beneath the music stand.
It was the one place she believed nobody would search.
Ruiz immediately contacted the officers securing the mansion.
They moved into the formal living room.
Chadworth watched from the doorway as the investigators carefully opened the compartment.
A small black envelope lay inside.
Ruiz removed it.
For one moment, everyone was silent.
Then the detective opened the envelope.
Inside was the memory card.
And a photograph.
It showed Evelyn standing beside the piano with Lorelai and Gemma.
Someone had written a message across the back.
Chadworth recognized Sabina's handwriting.
She thought she could save everybody.
He stared at the words.
Then the detective checked the memory card's contents using forensic equipment.
The card was readable.
It contained a video file recorded on the night Evelyn died.
But that wasn't all.
There was a second file.
An audio recording made months afterward.
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When Ruiz examined its creation date, her expression changed.
The second recording appeared to capture Elliott Crane discussing how to make Chadworth Prescott take the blame if the Redwater conspiracy was ever exposed.
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