Chapter 3 - The Woman Behind the Lie
Dominic's world began to crack three days after I left.
It started with a missing shipment.
Then an audit.
Then a federal inquiry into one of his gambling properties.
Dominic handled the first two problems easily.
The third was different.
An anonymous report had accused Moretti Holdings of moving money through offshore companies.
Dominic walked into the boardroom expecting another routine challenge.
Instead, he saw twelve attorneys.
Three investigators.
And Marco sitting at the end of the table.
“My God,” Dominic said.
Marco stood.
“I'm sorry this happened.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Why are you here?”
“I came to help.”
“You're not on the board.”
Marco smiled.
“Family doesn't need a board position.”
Dominic hated that answer.
He sat.
The lead investigator opened a folder.
“We have financial documents carrying your authorization.”
Dominic glanced at them.
“I didn't sign these.”
Marco leaned forward.
“Maybe you don't remember.”
Dominic's eyes became cold.
“I remember everything.”
“Especially now that Vivian is gone.”
That sentence changed the room.
Dominic looked at him sharply.
“Leave my wife out of this.”
“She's not your wife anymore.”
Dominic said nothing.
Marco smiled.
That was his mistake.
Because Dominic had always been most dangerous when silent.
Meanwhile, I was sitting in an old café with Samuel.
He slid a file toward me.
“Sienna's pregnancy is fake.”
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Sienna entering a private clinic.
A man followed her.
I recognized him.
Daniel Blake.
Her father.
Samuel continued.
“The clinic specializes in forged medical records.”
I looked up.
“She was never pregnant.”
“No.”
“What is the doctor saying?”
“That no pregnancy test was administered.”
I closed my eyes.
Dominic had almost dismantled our marriage for a child that didn't exist.
But there was more.
Samuel handed me another photograph.
This time it showed Sienna meeting Marco.
I stared at it.
“Where?”
“Airport hotel.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before she appeared at Dominic's club.”
I turned the page.
There was a bank transfer.
Thirty million dollars.
From a company controlled by Marco.
Into an account belonging to Sienna.
My stomach tightened.
“What are they planning?”
Samuel shook his head.
“We're missing the central piece.”
I looked at the transfer.
“Then let's find it.”
That night, I went to the Moretti headquarters.
Not the front entrance.
The underground archive.
I still had access.
My fingerprint opened the security door.
Walking through the empty building at midnight felt like walking through my own ghost.
I had once known every corner.
Every employee.
Every sound.
Now security guards watched me differently.
I found the archive room.
The financial records were there.
I searched Marco's company names.
One appeared repeatedly.
Belladonna Logistics.
I had seen it before.
A small shipping company with no meaningful assets.
Yet it received millions from Moretti Holdings.
I kept searching.
Then I found something strange.
Every payment was approved by a senior executive.
Someone inside Dominic's office.
I froze.
The approval name belonged to Dominic's chief financial officer.
Richard Hayes.
I knew Richard.
He had attended our wedding.
He had hugged Dominic like a brother.
He had brought me flowers when my mother died.
I couldn't believe it.
But beneath his approval was something worse.
A series of emails.
Messages between Richard and Marco.
The final one contained a single sentence.
Once Vivian is removed, Dominic will sign whatever Sienna places before him.
I stared at the screen.
They hadn't wanted me dead.
They had wanted me irrelevant.
A wife with no influence.
A wife who left.
A husband isolated.
Then they could control him.
I copied everything.
Before I could leave, I heard footsteps.
I turned off the screen.
The archive room door opened.
Richard walked in.
He saw me.
We stared at each other.
Then he smiled.
“Vivian.”
“Richard.”
“You shouldn't be here.”
“Neither should you.”
His smile disappeared.
“You have no idea what you're involved in.”
“I know enough.”
He stepped closer.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
“You've always wanted the truth.”
“Yes.”
“That's what destroyed your marriage.”
“No.”
I looked directly into his eyes.
“Lies did.”
He laughed softly.
“Do you really think Dominic doesn't know what kind of world he lives in?”
“I know exactly what kind of world he lives in.”
“Then you should know people like him don't get happy endings.”
I stepped past him.
“Perhaps.”
I stopped at the door.
“But people like me can choose when the story ends.”
He grabbed my wrist.
I turned.
Samuel appeared behind him.
Richard froze.
Samuel said quietly, “Let her go.”
Richard released me.
I walked out.
Before I reached the elevator, my phone buzzed.
A message from Dominic.
I need you.
Three words.
For seven years, those words would have made me run back.
This time, I sat inside the elevator and stared at them.
Then I typed:
You need the truth.
Not me.
His reply came immediately.
I need both.
My heart hurt.
But I didn't return.
May you like
Not yet.
Because if Dominic truly needed me, he would have to prove he could choose me without being forced.
