Chapter 4 - The Mistress Betrayed Us Again—But She Was Secretly Saving the Woman She Had Helped DestroyWe went to the old Vance Hotel.
Dominic wanted me to stay behind.
I refused.
“You are not going alone.”
“You are my wife.”
“Not anymore.”
He looked at me.
“Not officially.”
I took a breath.
“But I am still Clara's mother.”
That ended the argument.
We arrived just before midnight.
The hotel had been abandoned for years.
Its windows were broken.
The lobby smelled of dust and rain.
Richard was waiting on the second floor.
Lila stood beside him.
Dominic immediately raised his weapon.
“Let her go.”
Richard smiled.
“I always wondered when you'd finally grow a spine.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“You are going to answer for everything.”
Richard laughed.
“I built the foundation you inherited.”
“You tried to kill my daughter.”
“Your daughter stands between me and everything your family stole.”
I felt anger rise.
“Nothing was stolen from you.”
Richard looked at me.
“Your father took my company.”
“He beat you in business.”
“He cheated.”
“You lost.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
He looked at Dominic.
“You married his daughter.”
Dominic didn't answer.
“You think I didn't understand why?”
Richard's voice became cold.
“You married her because she had the shares.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“That isn't true.”
“Isn't it?”
Richard looked at me.
“Ask him.”
I looked at Dominic.
He met my eyes.
“I married you because I loved you.”
Richard laughed.
“And then?”
Dominic said nothing.
Richard smiled.
“Exactly.”
I looked away.
The truth was painful because I had asked myself the same question.
Had Dominic married me for love?
Or because my family gave him access to power?
Maybe both.
But somewhere along the way, love had become real.
That was what made everything so complicated.
Richard gestured toward Lila.
“She knows the truth.”
I turned to her.
“Do you?”
Lila nodded.
“I do.”
“Then tell me.”
She looked at Dominic.
“You were never supposed to survive this.”
My heart stopped.
She continued.
“Richard planned to kill Dominic once Clara was born.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“And you?”
“I was supposed to distract him.”
Richard's smile vanished.
Lila stepped away from him.
“I never joined you.”
Richard looked furious.
“You ungrateful little—”
She interrupted.
“You killed my brother.”
“You deserved to lose him.”
Lila's face hardened.
“I was waiting for the right moment.”
She pulled a small device from her pocket.
“My brother recorded everything before he died.”
Richard froze.
The device contained conversations proving Richard had ordered the attacks.
It also contained something worse.
Evidence that several board members had agreed to transfer company assets into a new holding corporation controlled by Richard.
Dominic stared.
“He was going to take the company without even touching the trust.”
Vivian later confirmed the scheme.
Richard had created enough debt that the company could be forced into restructuring.
During the restructuring, the board could vote to dissolve the existing ownership structure.
And because my shares were tied to the holding company, I could be stripped of control.
It was brilliant.
Cruel.
Almost impossible to stop.
But not quite.
Because my father's old lawyers had written one more clause.
If a hostile restructuring was attempted, control would automatically pass to the Mercer family trust.
And since Clara was born, that trust was active.
Richard had spent months trying to remove the one person who stood between him and the company.
He had failed.
The baby had changed everything.
Richard realized it at the same time we did.
He had underestimated her.
“We leave,” I said.
Dominic looked at me.
“Now.”
We ran.
But Richard's men followed.
The hotel became chaos.
Lila grabbed my hand.
“Come with me!”
We ran through a service corridor.
Dominic followed.
A shot rang out.
Lila stumbled.
I caught her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Blood covered her sleeve.
She had been grazed.
Dominic looked at her.
“Why did you help us?”
Lila's eyes filled.
“Because I owe you.”
“To me?”
“To your daughter.”
She looked at me.
“I destroyed your marriage.”
I said nothing.
“I know what people think.”
“You don't know what I think.”
“I know enough.”
She looked down.
“I spent years believing survival meant taking whatever you needed.”
“Lila…”
“But then I met Clara.”
My heart tightened.
“How?”
“Dominic showed me her ultrasound.”
I looked at my husband.
He looked away.
“She had no reason to care.”
“No.”
Lila shook her head.
“But I did.”
She looked at me.
“Because nobody protected me when I was a child.”
Something in her expression changed.
She was no longer the woman I hated.
She was a woman who had survived the same kind of darkness.
The difference was that I had been loved.
She had not.
I reached for her.
“You're bleeding.”
“I'll live.”
“You're coming with us.”
Her eyes widened.
“Why?”
“Because if Richard wants to kill you, I want him to know you chose us.”
She almost smiled.
We escaped through the underground parking garage.
Dominic drove.
I sat beside him.
Lila sat in the back.
For several minutes, none of us spoke.
Then Dominic said quietly:
“I owe you both an apology.”
I looked at him.
“Especially me?”
“No.”
He looked at the road.
“Especially you.”
His voice was low.
“I made every decision alone because I thought being a man meant carrying every burden by yourself.”
I stared ahead.
“You nearly lost everything.”
“Yes.”
“Did you love her?”
He paused.
“Who?”
“Lila.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I believed I did,” he said.
“But?”
“But I loved the feeling of being needed.”
The honesty surprised me.
“By her?”
“By everyone.”
He glanced at me.
“You were the only person who never needed me.”
My eyes stung.
“So you punished me for it.”
“I know.”
We reached the safehouse.
The next morning, Vivian arrived with devastating news.
“Five board members resigned.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because someone threatened to expose their involvement.”
“Richard?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
She put a document on the table.
The sender was anonymous.
But the signature at the bottom was familiar.
Daniel Mercer.
My father.
Impossible.
My father had been dead for twelve years.
I stared.
“Is this real?”
Vivian nodded.
“The signature is authentic.”
“What does it mean?”
She looked at Dominic.
“It means your father may not have written this.”
I frowned.
“Who did?”
Vivian looked at the date.
Three days after my father's funeral.
Then at me.
“Someone accessed the Mercer family archives.”
I looked at Dominic.
We both understood.
There was another player.
Someone had been manipulating both sides.
Someone who wanted us to blame Richard.
Someone who wanted the company.
Someone who had enough access to forge my father's identity.
May you like
And according to Vivian, that person had only one name attached to every hidden account.
Graham Cross.
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