Dominic rose between Vivienne and the boys.

“How did you get into this house?”

Sloane appeared behind her.

“My father gave her the security code.”

Vivienne held out a printed report.

“The laboratory confirmed what I warned you about.”

Miriam took the paper.

“This result arrived too quickly.”

“It came from a facility our family has trusted for twenty years.”

“That is exactly the problem,” Dominic said.

Elena gathered the boys.

“We are leaving Boston tonight.”

Luca looked up at Dominic.

“Did you stop being our father because of the paper?”

Dominic’s face folded.

He turned away, pressed both hands against the table, and could not answer.

Elena crossed the room.

“Look at him, Dominic.”

He forced himself around.

“Children do not understand laboratory chains of custody,” she said.

“They understand whether you step closer or step back.”

Dominic knelt in front of Luca.

“Listen to me.

That paper changes nothing I promised.”

“But it says—”

“It says someone wants me to doubt you.”

Matteo touched Dominic’s crooked cuff.

“You’re still doing the thing with your sleeve.”

Dominic let out a shaking breath.

“Yes.”

Leo pushed his hair back, tilted his head, and reached behind his neck.

“So do we,” he said.

Vivienne made an impatient sound.

“Gestures are not proof.”

Sloane shut and locked the front door.

“Neither is a test your security team delivered.”

Vivienne turned sharply.

“What are you suggesting?”

“The independent courier never reached this house.”

Miriam lifted her phone.

“The legitimate courier was stopped two streets away.

Someone wearing his company uniform collected replacement samples here.”

Vivienne’s eyes moved to the used test kit.

Dominic saw the movement.

“You knew.”

“I knew your judgment was compromised.”

“Mother, did you replace those samples?”

“Prove it.”

Sloane raised her phone.

“You entered my house and presented a report before Miriam told anyone the result.”

Vivienne’s lips parted.

“The email went only to Dominic and Miriam,” Sloane continued.

“How did you have a printed copy?”

Vivienne reached for the door.

Dominic did not move aside.

“Answer her.”

“You are holding me against my will.”

“No one is touching you.”

“My attorney will call this intimidation.”

Elena stepped forward.

“Your husband used the same words before he forced me into a car.”

Vivienne looked at her.

“And yet you accepted the apartment and money.”

“What money?”

Dominic’s voice lowered.

“What apartment?”

Vivienne’s smile returned.

“Ask her.”

“I lived in a church guesthouse for five months,” Elena said.

“Then I worked until the boys were born.”

“Father’s accounts show monthly payments to Elena Rossi,” Dominic said.

“I never received them.”

Miriam opened her tablet.

“Then someone did.”

Vivienne folded her arms.

“Your father handled the arrangement.”

“He had been d3ad for five years when last month’s payment cleared.”

Nobody moved.

Miriam turned the screen toward Dominic.

“The destination account belongs to Rossi Heritage Consulting.”

“That company isn’t mine,” Elena said.

Dominic enlarged the registration record.

“It was formed six years ago by Graham Barrett.”

Sloane’s face emptied.

“My father?”

Vivienne seized the moment.

“Sloane, come with me.

Dominic is trying to destroy both families because a former lover arrived with a story.”

Sloane opened the door.

Vivienne smiled as if she had won.

Then Sloane pointed into the hallway.

“Leave my house.”

“You will regret humiliating me.”

“I regret nearly marrying into your lies.”

Vivienne stepped close to Dominic.

“Choose carefully.

Those boys can have your name, or Elena can keep them.

You will not have both.”

Dominic held her gaze.

“You are not making another choice for me.”

After she left, Sloane sank into a chair.

“My father funded it,” she whispered.

Miriam tapped the old company registration.

“He did more than that.

Rossi Heritage Consulting owns the Vermont building where Elena and the boys live.”

Elena stared at the screen.

“My landlord is a shell company?”

“Yes.”

Dominic’s phone rang.

The caller was an elderly man named Arthur Vale, his father’s former attorney.

“Dominic,” Arthur said, “if Elena Rossi has returned, open the wall behind your father’s portrait before your mother reaches it.”

May you like

I Arrived at My Son’s House on New Year’s Eve and Found My 16-Year-Old G…

I Arrived at My Son’s House on New Year’s Eve and Found My 16-Year-Old Grandson by the Gate, Barefoot and Wearing Only a T-Shirt,…

#Chapter 1: The Girl Who Wasn’t Afraid of Me

#Chapter 1: The Girl Who Wasn’t Afraid of Me

The instant my husband stood up and reached for his coat, the smile on m…

The instant my husband stood up and reached for his coat, the smile on my face disappeared.

A security alarm began ringing at the Moretti conservatory.

Someone was already inside.