Chapter 5 - The Secret Dominic Had Kept for Fourteen Months
Dominic did not sleep that night.
Cassidy knew because she found him sitting at her kitchen table at four in the morning, Elena’s letter in front of him.
She poured two glasses of water.
“No coffee?”
“I think we’ve had enough life-changing conversations over coffee.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Almost.
Cassidy sat opposite him.
“What did the police say when your mother died?”
“Wet road. Mechanical failure. Her car crossed the median.”
“Was there an investigation?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Nothing suspicious was found.”
Cassidy looked at Laura’s letter.
“Then don’t turn suspicion into fact.”
Dominic’s eyes lifted.
“You’re defending Victor?”
“No. I’m protecting you from deciding what happened before you know.”
He stared at her for several seconds.
“My mother used to say something similar.”
“That sounds inconvenient.”
“She was.”
Cassidy smiled faintly.
By morning, Dominic’s attorney had hired an independent investigator to review Elena’s accident records.
Cassidy focused on Emily.
The home assessment was scheduled for Thursday.
She assembled furniture.
Stocked the refrigerator.
Met the childcare coordinator.
For the first time in more than a year, her life looked as if it might hold together.
And that terrified her.
Because Cassidy had learned that when something looked safe, life usually found the loose thread.
The thread appeared at noon.
Rachel called.
“Vanessa withdrew her guardianship petition.”
Cassidy sat down.
“She did?”
“Yes.”
Relief hit so hard she almost cried.
“But there’s something else.”
There always was.
“Richard has filed instead.”
Cassidy closed her eyes.
Her father.
The man who had abandoned Emily before birth now wanted custody.
“On what grounds?”
“Biological parent.”
“He hasn’t seen her in years.”
“I know.”
“He doesn’t even know her teacher’s name.”
“I know.”
“He didn’t come when Mom died.”
“Cass.”
Cassidy stopped.
Rachel’s voice softened.
“His history matters. A lot.”
“But?”
“He’s her father. The court has to evaluate the petition.”
Cassidy hung up and threw her phone onto the sofa.
Dominic found her there twenty minutes later.
She told him.
His expression became cold.
“I’ll handle Richard.”
“No.”
“Cassidy—”
“No.”
He stopped.
“You do not handle my father.”
“I meant legally.”
“Then say legally.”
Dominic stared.
“You think I’m going to hurt him?”
“I think men with money sometimes forget the difference between solving a problem and controlling it.”
The sentence landed.
Dominic stepped backward.
“You’re right.”
Cassidy had expected an argument.
His immediate acceptance disarmed her.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. Don’t be.”
He removed his coat.
“What do you need?”
Cassidy rubbed her face.
“I need to know why he’s doing this.”
They got the answer that evening.
Richard Miller called Cassidy.
She had not heard his voice in almost three years.
“Cassie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Silence.
“You sound like your mother.”
“You don’t get to talk about Mom.”
“I know you’re angry.”
“That’s not what I am.”
“What are you?”
“Done.”
Richard breathed heavily.
“Victor says you married Dominic Vale.”
Cassidy looked at Dominic across the room.
“Yes.”
“You need to leave him.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know those people.”
“Apparently you know them very well.”
Richard went silent.
Cassidy continued.
“How much do you owe Victor?”
No answer.
“How much?”
“Eight hundred thousand.”
Cassidy nearly dropped the phone.
“How?”
“A business.”
“You don’t have a business.”
“I did.”
“What does Emily have to do with it?”
“Nothing.”
“You filed for custody.”
“Because Victor told me—”
Richard stopped.
Cassidy’s voice hardened.
“Told you what?”
“That if I got Emily away from you, Dominic would end the marriage.”
Cassidy looked at Dominic.
His jaw tightened.
Victor had assumed Dominic married Cassidy only because of Emily.
Remove Emily, remove Cassidy’s reason for needing Dominic.
It was a cruel calculation.
And it had failed because something Victor did not understand had changed.
Cassidy no longer stayed because of the deal.
Neither did Dominic.
Richard continued.
“I don’t actually want custody.”
The words were so ugly Cassidy nearly laughed.
“Emily will be thrilled to hear that.”
“I’m trying to fix this.”
“Then withdraw.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“Victor owns everything I have.”
“Then lose everything.”
Silence.
Cassidy’s voice broke.
“You already lost us.”
She ended the call.
For several seconds she simply stood there.
Then Dominic crossed the room.
He did not touch her.
Not until she stepped toward him.
Cassidy rested her forehead against his chest.
His arms slowly closed around her.
No arrangement.
No contract.
No performance.
Just warmth.
“I hate him,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“I hate that I still wanted him to say he missed us.”
Dominic held her tighter.
“I know.”
“How?”
His answer came quietly.
“Because I spent twelve years wishing my mother would walk through a door I knew she couldn’t.”
Cassidy looked up.
Their faces were close.
Too close.
Neither moved.
Dominic’s eyes dropped briefly to her mouth.
Then returned to her eyes.
Cassidy felt the shift.
So did he.
She stepped back first.
The marriage had rules.
Neither had written this one down.
Do not make it real.
The next morning brought the investigator’s preliminary findings.
Elena’s accident report showed brake failure.
But maintenance records indicated the brakes had been replaced two days earlier.
The mechanic who performed the work had disappeared from Chicago shortly afterward.
No evidence proved sabotage.
But it was enough to reopen questions.
Then the investigator found something else.
A payment.
Twenty-five thousand dollars transferred to the mechanic three days after Elena’s death.
The source was a shell company.
That company had once been controlled by Victor Vale.
Dominic stared at the report.
Cassidy watched the anger rise in him.
“Dominic.”
He stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To see Victor.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Don’t.”
“He may have killed my mother.”
“Then you need evidence, not a confrontation.”
Dominic’s breathing slowed.
She was right.
He hated that she was right.
His phone rang.
Samuel Hart.
Dominic answered.
The conversation lasted thirty seconds.
When he hung up, his expression had changed again.
“What?”
“Victor called an emergency trust meeting.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Why?”
“He’s challenging our marriage.”
Cassidy stared.
“On what grounds?”
“Fraud.”
“Isn’t it technically an arranged six-month marriage?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds inconvenient.”
Dominic almost laughed.
Then his phone vibrated with another message.
He read it.
His face became completely still.
“What now?”
He handed Cassidy the phone.
It was a photograph.
Richard stood outside Emily’s school.
The timestamp was from twenty minutes earlier.
Cassidy’s blood turned cold.
Emily was still under temporary supervised placement.
Richard had no authorization to approach her.
Cassidy called Rachel.
Dominic called the caseworker.
Within minutes, they learned Emily was safe.
Richard had been stopped at reception.
He had left voluntarily.
But before leaving, he had given the receptionist an envelope for Emily.
The caseworker opened it.
Inside was no letter.
Only an old photograph.
Cassidy and Emily as children with their mother.
On the back, Richard had written six words.
Ask Cassidy who paid Mom’s hospital bill.
Cassidy stared.
Their mother’s final hospital expenses had been enormous.
Yet Cassidy remembered something strange.
A week after Laura died, the balance had disappeared.
She had assumed insurance had finally covered it.
Dominic looked at the photograph.
Then at Cassidy.
“What hospital?”
“St. Matthew’s.”
Dominic became pale.
“What?”
He sat down.
“Dominic?”
He looked genuinely shaken.
“I paid it.”
Cassidy stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Fourteen months ago.”
Her voice disappeared.
“You knew who I was?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
And in that instant Cassidy understood the one secret he had never told her.
Their meeting at the Bluebird might have surprised him.
But Cassidy Miller herself had not.
May you like
Dominic had known her name long before 2:17 that rainy morning.
---
