Chapter 6 - The Child in the Photograph
I confronted Dominic through the only channel available to me.
His attorney arranged a private meeting.
The moment Dominic entered, I placed the photograph on the table.
He froze.
I watched his face.
“Who is the baby?”
He said nothing.
“Dominic.”
He sat down slowly.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
He looked away.
“After the danger passed.”
“There has been seven years of danger.”
“I know.”
“Who is she?”
He looked at me.
“She is a girl.”
My heart clenched.
“Her name?”
“Lily.”
“Where is she?”
He closed his eyes.
“With my sister.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because I thought she was safer there.”
“You have a daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And I didn't know.”
“I wanted to protect you.”
I stood.
“No.”
His eyes lifted.
“You wanted to control what I knew.”
He looked devastated.
“There were people trying to use her against me.”
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
“Did Sienna know?”
“No.”
“Then why did she have this photograph?”
Dominic looked at it.
“I don't know.”
A new thought hit me.
“Maybe she doesn't.”
“What?”
“Maybe Marco does.”
I sat down.
“Your daughter is not part of this because she is your weakness.”
Dominic understood.
“She is leverage.”
Exactly.
The people attacking him had spent years searching for something they could use.
Lily was that something.
And Sienna's fake pregnancy had been designed to make Dominic emotionally dependent on her before they revealed the real child.
I suddenly understood everything.
“She never wanted to become your wife.”
Dominic stared.
“She wanted access.”
“To the family.”
“To Lily.”
“To the company.”
He looked sick.
“Where is my daughter?”
“With my sister in Michigan.”
“Bring her home.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because if they know where she is—”
“They already know she exists.”
Silence.
I reached for his hand.
He looked at me.
“We protect her together.”
“You don't owe me that.”
“I don't owe you anything.”
I held his gaze.
“But Lily didn't do anything wrong.”
He nodded.
Tears appeared in his eyes.
I had never seen Dominic cry.
Not even at his father's funeral.
Now one tear slipped down his cheek.
“I was a terrible husband.”
“Yes.”
“I was a good father.”
“I don't know yet.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
That was the first honest answer he had ever given me.
We arranged for Lily to be moved.
Before she arrived, Samuel uncovered another secret.
Sienna Blake had no child.
But she had once worked as a caregiver.
At a private estate outside Chicago.
For a little girl named Lily Moretti.
I stared at the report.
“She knew my daughter before she met Dominic.”
Samuel nodded.
“And there is more.”
He showed me photographs.
Sienna at the estate.
Sienna carrying Lily.
Sienna speaking to Marco.
This wasn't a random seduction.
It was a long-term operation.
She had been planted near Lily first.
She had studied Dominic's habits.
His family.
His fears.
His weaknesses.
But she had made one mistake.
She had never studied me.
Because she believed I was only the wife.
She didn't know I was the person who had quietly protected the Moretti family for seven years.
I looked at Dominic.
“She underestimated the wrong woman.”
A faint smile appeared.
“I always knew you were dangerous.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You thought I was loyal.”
“I did.”
“I am.”
He stared at me.
“To my family.”
I paused.
“Now we have to decide whether you're still part of it.”
He took a breath.
“What do I have to do?”
I answered simply.
“Tell me everything.”
And this time, he did.
Every secret.
Every illegal business he had inherited.
Every enemy.
Every deal.
Every lie.
Every person who had betrayed him.
By dawn, we knew more than we had known in seven years.
And for the first time, our marriage was built on truth.
Not trust.
Not yet.
May you like
But truth.
Sometimes that was where love had to begin again.
