Chapter 9 - THE MUSIC THEY STOLE FROM A POOR MAN.
Vanessa admitted visiting Noah after learning his musical talent could promote the foundation.
She told him Julian would lose everything if the truth became public.
“He was a child,” Elena said. “You made him carry an adult man’s inheritance on six-year-old shoulders.”
Vanessa replied that elite families required difficult choices.
Rosa answered, “Only the poor children ever seem to carry them.”
The judge, Eleanor, Vanessa and Daniel were charged with fraud, coercion and unlawful confinement. Daniel cooperated but received no promise of immunity.
Julian surrendered assets tied to worker deductions and accepted review for the policies he had signed.
Then investigators examined Arthur Harrington’s handwritten score.
The melody was copyrighted under another name: Samuel Brooks, a Black hotel pianist who disappeared during the company’s bankruptcy.
Margaret whispered that Samuel had composed every piece credited to Arthur.
Noah played the final measure.
A second compartment opened inside the piano.
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It contained Samuel’s passport and a current photograph.
He was alive—and standing beside Rosa in Vermont.
