Chapter 15 - DOMINIC FACED HIS SON
Dominic’s trial began three months later.
He pleaded not guilty despite the recordings, financial documents, and toxicology evidence.
His defense claimed Victoria controlled him from childhood.
The trauma was real.
The excuse was not.
A psychologist testified that Dominic had experienced emotional abuse.
The prosecutor asked whether that prevented him from understanding right and wrong.
“No.”
“Did it force him to strike Leo?”
“No.”
“Did it force him to purchase life insurance?”
“No.”
“Did it force him to plan an accidental drowning?”
“No.”
Dominic chose to testify.
He cried while describing pressure from the company.
He said I humiliated him by succeeding.
He said Brooke manipulated him.
He said Victoria made him afraid.
Then the prosecutor played a recording filmed after Victoria left the room.
Dominic stood alone with Leo in the basement.
Leo asked for water.
Dominic replied:
Your mother gets everything.
You get what I decide.
No one had manipulated him in that moment.
He had chosen cruelty because it made him feel powerful.
Leo did not appear in court.
Dr. Ortiz strongly opposed it.
Instead, the judge permitted a brief recorded statement.
Leo sat beside a small table.
His feet touched the floor now.
“Do you remember your father?” the interviewer asked.
Leo nodded.
“What do you remember?”
“He said I was bad.”
“Do you think you were bad?”
Leo looked toward me beyond the camera.
“No.”
“What would you like the judge to know?”
Leo thought carefully.
“Daddy was big.”
“I was little.”
“He knew I couldn’t stop him.”
The recording ended.
Dominic lowered his head.
For the first time, he looked ashamed.
But shame arrived after exposure.
Not before harm.
The jury found him guilty on every major charge.
He received fifty-two years in prison.
Before sentencing, he asked the judge for permission to apologize to Leo.
The judge deferred to me and the child’s medical team.
I refused.
Not forever.
For now.
May you like
Leo was still learning that adults could not demand access merely because they felt sorry.
Dominic’s need to confess did not outrank Leo’s need for peace.
