Page 166 of Vega

I gave her the phone and allowed her to scroll.

“What am I looking at?” she asked.

“Proof that Roman and Donovan were seen together that night. Those messages came from Donovan’s burner. He told somebody he was meeting his father that night because they needed to settle something.”

She inhaled sharply as she took the phone and opened another file.

“This audio came from a recorder inside Donovan’s office.”

Roman and Cedric’s voice conversation filled the room. Roman and Cedric were discussing how urgent it was to silence Sonnet before everyone found out that Roman killed him. Though the conversation was very coded, she understood the true meaning.

Mrs. Granger looked up from the phone to me. “No,” she whispered in disbelief.

I swiped to the next image. “That’s Roman and Donovan entering the loading area of the medical device and surgical supply company Donovan was killed at that night. My source was able to get stills from a nearby building. This proves they were together that night.”

“Then what proves the rest?”

Sonnet finally spoke. “Me. I saw everything.”

Mrs. Granger stared at her, blinking owlishly. She hesitated to reply, as if she was wondering if she wanted to know what Sonnet saw.

Sonnet took careful steps forward. I watched her until I realized what she was doing. She was closing the space so Mrs. Granger would feel safer and let her guard down.

Sonnet sat on the edge of the massage table, leaving very little between them.

Mrs. Granger stared at her. “You saw my son die?”

Sonnet nodded with sympathy bathing her eyes. “Yes. My name is Sonnet Ellison. I heard and saw everything.”

“I was leaving work through the loading area when I heard Donovan shouting. I had walked up in the middle of their conversation and heard Donovan accusing his father of refusing to let go.”

Mrs. Granger’s fingers curled into the sheet, as she prepared herself for the rest of the details.

“They were standing near one of the trailers,” Sonnet told her. “Donovan said Roman built the organization for the family, and that included him. Roman told him he was forgetting who still ran it. Donovan said he wasn’t forgetting anything. He said he was trying to prove he could help carry it. Roman accused him of making moves behind his back, but Donovan said he made decisions that needed to be made.”

Mrs. Granger looked down at her hands as tears pulled in her eyes.

“Then Roman said Donovan had made people look to him instead of his father. Donovan told him that was the real problem. He said Roman was mad because people listened to him. He was mad because Donovan handled things, and nobody had to run to Roman first.”

“That sounds like my son,” Mrs. Granger whispered.

“Donovan told him he wasn’t a child anymore. He said every time he tried to stand in his place as heir, Roman pushed him back down.”

A tear slipped down Mrs. Granger’s cheek.

“Roman said Donovan was positioning himself to take over before his time. Donovan said his time was coming whether Roman liked it or not. Then he told Donovan he didn’t want an heir. He wanted everybody under his control until he died.”

Mrs. Granger’s expression twisted with pain.

“Roman warned him to watch his mouth. Donovan asked him to admit that he’d never planned to let him lead.”

“What did his father say?”

Sonnet swallowed. “He said no, he hadn’t.”

Mrs. Granger opened her eyes, and the hurt in them made my stomach turn.

“Donovan told him he had been trying to become the man Roman raised him to be. He said he had been making moves, earning respect, and showing the outfit that he wasn’t just Roman’s son standing beside him for decoration.”