Chapter 12 - THE PRICE OF THE VALE EMPIRE
The investigation into Blackwater House expanded.
Eleanor Voss was arrested.
Several former employees and financial associates were charged.
The evidence exposed decades of corruption involving private facilities, fraudulent records, and criminal payments.
Dominic cooperated with investigators.
He turned over records from his father's companies.
The process revealed that some businesses in the Vale empire had been used to facilitate illegal transfers.
Dominic could no longer pretend the family fortune had been built without victims.
He faced difficult choices.
He sold several businesses.
He established independent oversight for the legitimate companies that remained.
He cooperated with authorities examining his own activities.
And he accepted that changing his life would require more than claiming he was different from his father.
One evening, he called me.
“Grace, I need to ask you something.”
I was sitting beside my mother's bed.
“What?”
“Do you think people can change?”
I considered.
“Yes.”
He was silent.
Then asked:
“Even people like me?”
I looked toward the window.
“I think people can make different choices.”
He exhaled.
“That sounds less comforting.”
“It's supposed to.”
He laughed softly.
Then said:
“I want to do something useful with what's left.”
I smiled.
“Then start by listening to the people who were hurt.”
He was quiet.
May you like
Then whispered:
“That's what I'm trying to learn.”
