Chapter 3 - The Marriage That Wasn't What It Seemed
Mave spent the next three days refusing to sign the marriage license.
Dominic didn't pressure her.
That should have made her more suspicious.
Instead of threatening her, he gave her space.
Instead of demanding she behave like his fiancée, he assigned a woman named Rosa to help her navigate the house.
Instead of announcing the engagement publicly, Dominic ordered everyone in his organization to keep Mave's identity confidential.
But the secrets grew every hour.
Mave learned that Dominic had been married once.
To Eleanor.
She learned that Eleanor had disappeared twenty-two years earlier.
She learned that Dominic had never remarried.
She learned that everyone around him believed he had become ruthless because he blamed himself for losing his wife.
And she learned that the Ashcroft family had been involved.
That last part terrified her most.
One evening, Mave found Dominic in the library.
He was reading an old file.
She walked in without knocking.
He looked up.
"You're supposed to be resting."
"I don't want to rest."
He closed the file.
"What do you want?"
"The truth."
Dominic studied her.
"Which part?"
"The part where my mother was your wife."
He said nothing.
Mave placed an old photograph on the desk.
She had found it in a box in Rosa's office.
Her mother was standing beside Dominic.
She was pregnant.
Mave stared at the photograph.
"My mother was happy."
Dominic looked down.
"She was."
"And you loved her."
"Yes."
"Then why did she run?"
His expression hardened.
"Because she believed I was going to get her killed."
"Was she right?"
Dominic took a breath.
"I don't know."
Mave's voice broke.
"Do you know anything?"
"Her last message to me said she was taking you somewhere safe."
"Why didn't you find us?"
"I tried."
"For how long?"
"Twenty-two years."
Mave stared at him.
Something inside her wanted to believe him.
She hated that.
"What happened the night she disappeared?"
Dominic leaned back.
"There was an ambush."
"By who?"
"The Ashcrofts."
Mave's eyes widened.
"No."
"Your grandfather was trying to force a war."
"My grandfather?"
"Gerald's father."
"Why?"
"Power."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"Your mother had proof that several Ashcroft companies were laundering money for politicians, judges, and police officials."
Mave shook her head.
"That sounds impossible."
"It isn't."
"Then why didn't she go to the police?"
"Because half the police were being paid."
Mave looked away.
"What did the evidence prove?"
"That your mother had discovered a ledger."
"A ledger?"
"Names. Accounts. Payments."
"Where is it?"
Dominic's eyes changed.
"That is what everyone is looking for."
Mave stared at him.
"You think I know where it is?"
"I think someone believes you do."
The words chilled her.
"How?"
"Because the attacks started after your identity was discovered."
"What attacks?"
Dominic was silent.
Mave stepped closer.
"What attacks?"
"The driver who brought you here was followed."
Her heart jumped.
"What?"
"We lost the tail."
"Who was following us?"
"We don't know."
"You brought me here knowing someone was after me?"
"Yes."
"And you never told me?"
"I didn't want you to panic."
Mave laughed in disbelief.
"You think that's better?"
Dominic stood.
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
She walked toward the door.
Then stopped.
"How did you recognize the birthmark?"
Dominic went still.
"Your mother told me about it."
"No."
Mave turned.
"You said you saw it at my birth."
"I did."
"My mother wasn't supposed to be there with you."
"She wasn't supposed to deliver the baby at the Vale house."
Mave stared.
"You were there."
"Yes."
"Tell me."
Dominic's eyes darkened.
"Eleanor went into labor during the attack."
Mave listened.
"She refused to go to a hospital. She believed our enemies had hospitals watched. We brought a doctor to the house."
He paused.
"You were born in the basement."
Mave's skin prickled.
"Your mother held you once."
"What happened?"
"Someone broke into the house."
Dominic's voice became quieter.
"We were told there were men coming to kill everyone."
"What did you do?"
"I carried you out."
Mave could barely breathe.
"Where?"
"To Bridget."
"Why her?"
"Because she was Eleanor's sister."
Mave closed her eyes.
"All these years..."
"Your mother wanted you to have an ordinary life."
"And you gave me twenty-two years of not knowing my own family."
"I gave you twenty-two years of being alive."
She looked at him.
Neither spoke.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
He answered.
"Yes."
A pause.
His expression changed.
"Where?"
Another pause.
"Send everyone."
He ended the call.
Mave waited.
"What happened?"
He looked at her.
"Someone broke into the Ashcroft archive."
"So?"
"They were looking for one thing."
"The ledger."
"Yes."
"And?"
"They found it."
Mave's face fell.
"Then it's over."
"No."
Dominic's eyes settled on her.
"They found a photograph."
"Of me?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"Eleanor."
He handed her the photograph.
It showed Mave's mother standing outside a train station.
Alive.
The date was six months after the night she supposedly died.
Mave stared at the image.
Her knees weakened.
"My mother was alive."
May you like
Dominic nodded.
"And someone has spent twenty-two years making sure we never found her."
