Chapter 4 - The Man My Husband Was Trying to Hide
My father looked nothing like the man I remembered.
The father of my childhood had smelled like sawdust and coffee.
This man smelled like expensive cologne and rain.
He had scars along his left jaw.
His hair had turned almost completely silver.
But the eyes were the same.
“Nora.”
I couldn't move.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“No.”
My voice cracked.
“You chose to.”
He looked down.
“I know.”
That answer made me angrier than denial would have.
“You watched me bury an empty coffin.”
“It wasn't empty.”
I stared at him.
“There was a body,” he said. “It was someone who had already died. We used it to protect your mother and you.”
“You mean Mom knew?”
“She knew I was alive.”
I felt dizzy.
“She lied to me.”
“She wanted you safe.”
“And you?”
He looked toward the river.
“I wanted you alive.”
I hated the fact that part of me still wanted to believe him.
“What is the Harbor Project?”
He hesitated.
“A network of development companies.”
“That's all?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“It was built to launder money through legitimate construction.”
My stomach turned.
“Caruso Design?”
“Was one piece.”
“Dominic?”
“He inherited it.”
“He's involved.”
“He was.”
“What does that mean?”
“He tried to get out.”
I remembered Dominic's face.
The guilt.
The exhaustion.
The warning.
“He's trying to dismantle it?”
My father nodded.
“Slowly.”
“Then why did he betray me?”
“Because he believed your designs were the key to exposing it.”
I thought of the flash drive.
My mother's letter.
The forged signature.
Everything began fitting together.
My father continued.
“Four years ago, Dominic discovered that Vanessa was stealing your work.”
“Why didn't he stop her?”
“She was already connected to the network.”
“What network?”
“The people who controlled the Harbor Project.”
I looked at him.
“And you?”
“I helped build it.”
Silence.
The truth was devastating.
My father had built part of the machine.
Dominic had inherited it.
Vanessa had used it.
And I had been standing in the middle of it without knowing.
“Why show yourself now?”
“Because they know you have the original files.”
“The flash drive.”
“Yes.”
He looked toward the road.
“You are in danger.”
“I've been in danger for years.”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“You don't understand.”
A car turned onto the pier.
My father stepped back.
“They found me.”
Two vehicles appeared.
Men got out.
My father grabbed my hand.
“Run.”
We ran.
Gunshots cracked over the water.
I stumbled.
He pulled me behind a concrete barrier.
“Stay down.”
“Who are they?”
“Vanessa's people.”
He reached into his coat.
“Take this.”
A small key.
“What is it?”
“A storage facility.”
“Where?”
“Connecticut.”
“What will I find?”
“Proof that Dominic isn't the villain you think he is.”
I stared at him.
“You expect me to forgive him?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I expect you to understand him before you decide.”
He pushed me toward a side exit.
“Go.”
“What about you?”
“I've been running for eleven years.”
He smiled sadly.
“I'm very good at it.”
I escaped.
By the time I reached the street, the vehicles were gone.
My father was gone too.
I called Evelyn.
Then Dominic.
He answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“With my father.”
Silence.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
“Are you safe?”
“Not really.”
“I knew this would happen.”
“What happened to my father?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you know he was going to contact me?”
“No.”
I believed him.
That frightened me.
“Dominic.”
“Yes?”
“Did you ever love me?”
Long silence.
“Yes.”
“Then why did you let Vanessa into our marriage?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“I know.”
“I'm tired of being protected by lies.”
His voice softened.
“I know.”
I ended the call.
The next morning, Evelyn and I drove to the storage facility.
The key opened a unit containing twenty years of records.
Boxes.
Contracts.
Photographs.
A recording system.
And one handwritten notebook belonging to my mother.
We found the first recording.
My mother sat at a desk.
She looked younger.
Terrified.
“If anything happens to me, there is only one person I trust to protect Nora.”
She named Dominic.
I stared.
The recording continued.
“Dominic does not know I am recording this.”
My mother paused.
“He believes he is protecting our family by serving Matteo Caruso's empire. He doesn't understand the entire structure yet.”
She looked toward the camera.
“But if he ever discovers the truth, I believe he will choose Nora.”
The video ended.
I couldn't speak.
Evelyn touched my shoulder.
Then we found another file.
Dominic, four years earlier.
Sitting in the same room.
Speaking to my mother.
But my mother was already dead.
It was a recording dated weeks after her funeral.
Dominic had been speaking to someone off camera.
“I'll marry Nora.”
I stared at the screen.
Evelyn went still.
Dominic's voice continued.
“I'll stay close to her.”
“Why?”
“Because her father will come back.”
“What if she discovers why?”
“I'll tell her when she's safe.”
The screen froze.
I whispered, “He married me because of my father.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Maybe.”
The rest of the recording remained encrypted.
We needed a password.
Then I remembered something.
The wedding date.
The number of roses.
The phrase Dominic had whispered during our first dance.
I typed it.
The file opened.
And Dominic appeared on screen.
He looked directly at the camera.
“If you're watching this, Nora, I'm sorry.”
I stared.
“My father's empire was never what you thought. Vanessa is not just a designer. She is working with the people who killed your mother.”
I froze.
Then he said something worse.
“I stayed with her because she believed I still loved her.”
He lowered his head.
“I needed her to lead me to the person giving orders.”
The screen went black.
Evelyn looked at me.
“This changes everything.”
“No.”
I looked at the frozen image of Dominic.
“It changes what I knew.”
My phone rang.
Dominic.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Did you find it?”
“Yes.”
“What did you see?”
I stared at the phone.
“Enough.”
He exhaled.
“Nora, please.”
“Tell me one thing.”
“What?”
“Was any of our marriage real?”
His voice broke.
“The parts with you were.”
I closed my eyes.
“Then why does it feel like I've spent five years married to a stranger?”
He whispered.
“Because I was too afraid to tell you the truth.”
Before I could answer, a crash sounded behind us.
The storage facility door slammed open.
Vanessa stood there.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't trembling.
May you like
She was holding a gun.
And she smiled.
