Chapter 17 - When Every Lie Finally Collapsed
The trial began six months later.
By then, my name had largely disappeared from headlines.
Dominic’s hadn’t.
Neither had Vincent’s.
Samuel Reed pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction, financial crimes, witness tampering, and enough additional charges to ensure his career became something discussed in federal training seminars.
Vincent went to trial.
He seemed almost pleased about it.
Men like Vincent needed audiences.
The courtroom gave him one.
I testified on the third day.
Dominic sat behind the prosecution team as a witness scheduled for later.
Chloe sat farther back.
Caleb had already testified under cooperation terms.
When I took the stand, Vincent stared at me.
I expected fear.
Instead I felt tired.
The prosecutor asked how Caleb entered my life.
I answered.
How my identity had been used.
I answered.
Whether I knew about Bennett Events Consulting.
“No.”
Whether I authorized the transfers.
“No.”
Whether I entered Dominic Vale’s restricted room intentionally.
I almost smiled.
“No.”
“Why did you enter?”
“I caught my fiancé kissing my best friend and ran through the wrong door.”
A few jurors reacted.
The prosecutor nodded.
“And what happened after that?”
I looked at Vincent.
“I found out the door wasn't the problem.”
The courtroom became silent.
“The problem was that people had spent years making decisions about my life without allowing me to know they were decisions.”
Vincent’s attorney objected.
Sustained.
But the jury had heard it.
Later, Dominic testified.
He was infuriatingly calm.
The prosecutor asked about Nicholas.
For the first time, Dominic publicly explained what happened to his brother.
Not every detail.
Enough.
Vincent watched without emotion.
Then prosecutors played Nicholas’s recording.
When Nicholas’s face appeared on the courtroom monitor, Dominic looked down.
I wanted to touch him.
Couldn’t.
So I waited.
Afterward, outside the courthouse, he stood alone beneath stone columns.
I approached.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He looked at me.
“You’re weaponizing my phrase.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
I took his hand.
The jury deliberated nine hours.
Guilty.
All major counts.
Chloe cried.
Ethan hugged her.
Marco closed his eyes.
Dominic didn’t celebrate.
He simply exhaled.
A chapter ended.
Not cleanly.
Not completely.
But enough.
Outside, reporters shouted questions.
“Miss Bennett! Do you forgive Caleb West?”
“Mr. Vale! Were criminal organizations connected to Northstar?”
“Harper, are you and Dominic Vale together?”
That one nearly made me trip.
Dominic leaned toward me.
“You don't have to answer.”
“I know.”
I stopped.
Cameras flashed.
Reporters leaned forward.
I looked directly at them.
“Yes.”
Dominic’s head turned.
I smiled at him.
“We are.”
The cameras went insane.
He whispered, “You realize my public-relations department is going to hate you.”
“I’m comfortable with that.”
The next question came.
“Are you engaged?”
I laughed.
“No.”
Dominic looked offended.
I turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You look offended.”
“I’m not.”
“Dominic.”
He guided me toward the car.
“Harper.”
Marco opened the door.
I stopped.
“Do you secretly have a ring?”
Dominic froze.
Marco made a sound suspiciously similar to choking.
I stared.
“Oh my God.”
Dominic looked at Marco.
“You are fired.”
Marco grinned.
“Again?”
“You have fired him before?”
“Frequently.”
I started laughing.
Dominic put me inside the car.
“This conversation is over.”
“It absolutely is not.”
For twenty minutes, he refused to answer.
Finally we reached my apartment.
He followed me inside.
Winston greeted him by rubbing against his leg.
Ultimate acceptance.
Dominic removed his coat.
I crossed my arms.
“Ring.”
“No.”
“Interesting.”
“No ring.”
“You paused.”
“I breathe between sentences.”
“Suspiciously.”
He caught my waist and pulled me closer.
“You testified in federal court today and this is what occupies your attention?”
“Yes.”
His eyes softened.
“Harper.”
“What?”
“When I ask you something important, you won’t have to discover it through Marco’s inability to keep his face neutral.”
I smiled.
“So there is something.”
He kissed me.
Argument temporarily lost.
Later that night, lying beside him while Chicago glowed beyond the windows, I realized something.
I no longer wondered whether my future would collapse.
Nobody could promise it wouldn’t.
I simply trusted myself to survive if it did.
That was freedom.
Then Dominic’s phone lit on the nightstand.
One message.
He read it.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward me.
A lawyer representing Caleb.
CALEB WEST’S SENTENCING HAS BEEN MOVED FORWARD.
Tomorrow.
My heart tightened.
Dominic watched carefully.
“Do you want to go?”
Six months earlier, someone else might have decided for me.
Now he asked.
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Then we go.”
May you like
And the next morning, I prepared to say goodbye to Caleb West for what might truly be the last time.
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