CHAPTER 13 — The Secret Dominic Never Knew
CHAPTER 13 — The Secret Dominic Never Knew
The room became completely silent.
Not the peaceful silence of understanding.
The kind of silence that comes before something breaks.
Everyone stared at the list.
Five names.
Five people with access.
And one name that changed the entire atmosphere.
Dominic Hayes.
My husband.
The man who had already lost my trust once.
The man who had spent the last few weeks trying to prove he wasn't the person everyone believed him to be.
Now his name was connected to the missing evidence.
To my mother's death.
To the truth we had been chasing.
I looked at him.
And for the first time in days...
I didn't know what to believe.
Dominic looked at the paper like it was written in another language.
"No."
His voice was barely audible.
"No, that isn't possible."
James remained serious.
"The access log doesn't lie."
Dominic shook his head.
"I never accessed Carter files."
My father stepped forward.
"Dominic."
"I swear."
His eyes moved toward me.
"I didn't do this."
I wanted to believe him.
I did.
But trust was fragile.
And mine had already been destroyed once.
"How did Dominic have access?"
My father's voice was cold.
James answered.
"Three years ago, before the wedding, Mr. Hayes was added as an external business partner."
I frowned.
"By who?"
James looked at the records.
"Authorization came from..."
He stopped.
My stomach tightened.
"Who?"
James looked at my father.
"Your account."
The room froze.
My father stared.
"My account?"
"Yes."
"Someone used your credentials."
My father became silent.
And suddenly...
the mystery became more complicated.
Because someone wasn't just hiding evidence.
Someone had been impersonating the people closest to us.
Dominic looked at me.
"Vivienne."
I didn't answer.
"I know what this looks like."
He swallowed.
"But I didn't do this."
I studied his face.
A month ago, I would have defended him without hesitation.
Now...
I needed proof.
Not promises.
Not love.
Not memories.
Proof.
"Where were you the night the footage was deleted?"
The question hurt him.
I saw it.
But he answered.
"I was home."
"Alone?"
A pause.
Then:
"Yes."
My heart sank slightly.
Because an innocent person could still look guilty.
And a guilty person could still look innocent.
That night, Dominic stayed at the estate.
Not because I asked.
Because he refused to run.
"I need to find the truth too."
He said.
"I lost everything because of lies."
I looked at him.
"You're not the only one."
He nodded.
"I know."
For once...
he truly understood.
The next morning, James discovered something unusual.
The deleted files weren't erased completely.
Someone had tried to destroy them.
But they had failed.
A hidden backup remained.
We recovered it.
The video opened.
The date appeared.
Twenty-five years ago.
The same night my mother died.
The camera angle was different.
A parking area.
Near the highway.
My mother's car appeared.
Then another vehicle.
A black sedan.
Victor's vehicle.
But then...
another person arrived.
Someone stepped out.
Someone we never expected.
Someone who had no reason to be there.
I moved closer to the screen.
The image was blurry.
But the figure was clear enough.
My father whispered:
"No..."
Because he recognized the person.
I looked at him.
"Who is it?"
He didn't answer.
The figure turned slightly.
The video froze.
James enhanced the image.
And the identity appeared.
My heart stopped.
Because the person standing beside Victor Lang's car that night...
was not Eleanor.
Was not Thomas.
Was not Dominic.
It was...
My uncle.
Nobody spoke.
My uncle.
My father's younger brother.
The man who had attended every family gathering.
The man who had hugged me as a child.
The man who had always told me:
"Your mother was the greatest woman I ever knew."
I felt sick.
"No."
My father sat down slowly.
"My brother..."
His voice broke.
"I thought he was helping me."
Thomas looked shocked.
"Your brother was involved?"
My father nodded slowly.
"I never suspected him."
"Why?"
"Because he had nothing to gain."
James looked at the documents.
"Actually..."
Everyone turned.
"What?"
James hesitated.
"He did."
The next file appeared.
Corporate records.
Ownership transfers.
Hidden accounts.
A company created twenty-five years ago.
A company that had been quietly growing.
The owner:
My uncle.
And the value...
Billions.
My entire family history changed in one moment.
My uncle wasn't just involved.
He had been building his own empire.
Using secrets.
Using betrayal.
Using us.
Then my phone rang.
I looked at the screen.
The name made everyone freeze.
Uncle David.
I answered.
No one spoke.
"Vivienne."
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"Uncle David."
A small laugh.
"So."
"You finally found out."
My blood turned cold.
"You knew?"
"I knew you would eventually."
"Why?"
A pause.
Then he said:
"Because your mother was smarter than all of us."
My grip tightened.
"What did you do to her?"
Silence.
Then:
"Your mother made one mistake."
"What?"
"She believed family meant loyalty."
My heart raced.
"Did you kill her?"
Another silence.
Longer.
Then he answered:
"No."
Relief almost came.
But then he continued.
"I didn't have to."
My entire body froze.
"What does that mean?"
His voice became colder.
"It means..."
"She died because she discovered the truth too late."
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
The truth was finally appearing.
But every answer created another question.
My uncle had been involved.
Victor had been involved.
Eleanor had lied.
Thomas had betrayed.
My father had hidden things.
And Dominic...
was somehow connected through a mystery he didn't understand.
Then James received another alert.
His face changed.
"What?"
My father asked.
James looked at me.
"Miss Carter..."
"We found the original administrator account."
"The person who deleted the footage."
My heart pounded.
"Who?"
James slowly answered.
"The account was created..."
"Using your name."
I stared at him.
"My name?"
James nodded.
"Someone created a digital identity pretending to be you."
"Twenty-five years ago."
My blood ran cold.
"But I was a child."
Exactly.
Someone had planned this long before I was old enough to understand.
Someone had been using my identity.
My family.
My name.
My life.
As a weapon.
That night, I stood alone in my room.
Looking at old photographs.
My childhood.
My parents.
My family.
Everything I believed was real...
was built on secrets.
Then a message appeared on my phone.
Unknown number.
One sentence.
"Your mother didn't die because she discovered the truth."
Another message followed.
"She died because she was about to reveal who I was."
I stared at the screen.
Then the final message appeared.
May you like
"And now I will finish what she started."
END OF CHAPTER 13
