Chapter 3 - The Father Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
I didn't cry when I saw the photograph.
I couldn't.
My mind simply refused to accept it.
My father had died when I was sixteen.
I remembered the funeral.
I remembered the coffin.
I remembered my mother's silence afterward.
I remembered the way my life had split into before and after.
Now a photograph showed him standing beside Dominic and Vanessa.
Alive.
Older.
Different hair.
Different clothes.
But unmistakably him.
Evelyn zoomed in.
“There is no question.”
“I know his face.”
“Who sent this?”
“I don't know.”
“Then find out.”
I stared at the message.
The sender had used an encrypted address.
Under the photo was another line.
ASK DOMINIC ABOUT THE HARBOR PROJECT.
I had never heard of the Harbor Project.
Evelyn made calls.
By sunrise, she had a former investigator searching corporate registrations.
The Harbor Project was registered to three entities.
One belonged to Caruso Design.
One belonged to a shell company linked to Vanessa's family.
The third had no obvious owner.
But the financial trail went to a private trust.
The trustee was my father.
I felt physically sick.
“My father is alive.”
Evelyn nodded.
“And whatever Dominic is doing, your father is involved.”
“No.”
“You have the photograph.”
“Then there must be an explanation.”
“There usually is.”
She looked at me.
“But explanations and excuses are not the same thing.”
That afternoon, Dominic came to the house.
Not the estate.
My old townhouse.
The place I had bought before our wedding with money from my first design job.
I had kept it in my name.
He knocked once.
I didn't open.
“I know you're inside.”
Silence.
“Nora.”
I opened the door.
He looked exhausted.
The controlled man from the gala was gone.
His tie was loose.
His eyes were red.
He looked at my face.
The mark was fading.
He looked away.
“I'm sorry.”
I stepped aside.
“Come in.”
He entered carefully.
“You knew about the dress.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I had the original files.”
“Yes.”
“You've been investigating me.”
“I've been protecting myself.”
He looked at the table.
Evelyn's legal documents were still visible.
“I didn't want this.”
“Didn't want what?”
“This.”
He gestured between us.
“You and me fighting.”
I laughed softly.
“You hit me.”
“I know.”
“You defended another woman.”
“I know.”
“And now you want to tell me you didn't want the result?”
He sat down.
“I thought if I could fix the company first…”
“You couldn't.”
He looked up.
“I made mistakes.”
“This is bigger than mistakes.”
He was silent.
I placed the photograph in front of him.
He stared.
His face lost color.
“Where did you get this?”
“That matters less than who he is.”
Dominic said nothing.
“My father.”
His voice was barely audible.
“Your father.”
“Alive.”
He looked toward the window.
“I never told you because…”
“Because?”
“He threatened to kill you.”
The room went silent.
My throat tightened.
“My father?”
Dominic nodded.
“After your mother died, he disappeared.”
“You knew where he was?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Eleven years.”
I stared at him.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father wasn't the man you thought he was.”
I felt something break inside me.
“You don't get to say that.”
“I do if it's true.”
He leaned forward.
“He was involved with a group of investors who used Caruso Design to move money through construction and licensing deals.”
“The Harbor Project?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“Luxury developments.”
“That doesn't explain why he threatened me.”
“Because your father believed your designs gave you legal leverage over the project.”
I shook my head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
He pulled out his phone.
“Look.”
A document appeared.
It contained my original signature.
A licensing agreement.
I hadn't signed it.
My hands shook.
“That's fake.”
“I know.”
“Then why is it there?”
“Because someone forged your signature four years ago.”
“Who?”
Dominic hesitated.
“Vanessa.”
The name hit like another slap.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You let her use my work.”
“I was trying to stop her.”
“By sleeping with her?”
He looked away.
I didn't need him to answer.
His silence was answer enough.
The hurt was different from what I expected.
I had suspected.
Now I knew.
“How long?”
“It wasn't what you think.”
I almost smiled.
Every guilty person in history had said some version of that sentence.
“How long?”
“Months.”
I closed my eyes.
He continued.
“It started as a business arrangement.”
I laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don't expect you to believe anything.”
“At least you're finally honest.”
He stood.
“There is something else.”
I looked at him.
“The night your mother died wasn't an accident.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Your father ordered someone to silence her.”
My chair scraped the floor.
“You knew that too?”
“I found out three years after we married.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know how.”
I stared at the man I had loved for five years.
I suddenly didn't know whether he had lied to protect me or lied to protect himself.
He moved toward the door.
“Nora.”
I said nothing.
“If you expose the Harbor Project, you won't just destroy me.”
“Who else?”
“Everyone who has money in it.”
“And if I don't?”
He looked at me.
“They will destroy you.”
After he left, I sat for almost an hour.
Then my phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
A single text.
You are finally asking the right questions.
Then another.
Meet me at Pier 17 at midnight.
Come alone.
Evelyn wanted me to ignore it.
I didn't.
At midnight, I arrived at the pier.
A black SUV waited near the water.
The door opened.
A man stepped out.
He was older.
He wore a gray coat.
He had my father's eyes.
“Nora.”
I stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
He looked at me for several seconds.
May you like
Then said the words that changed everything.
“Your husband has been trying to save you from me.”
