Chapter 3 - The Serrano Family Table
Dominic drove to the family estate with Mara beside him.
Marco followed with security.
Dominic had argued against going.
Mara insisted.
“If somebody manufactured medical records about me, I want to see how far this goes.”
“You don't have to prove anything.”
“I'm not proving it to them.”
She looked at him.
“I'm proving it to myself.”
That ended the argument.
The Serrano dining room was full when they arrived.
Isabella sat at the head of the table.
Celeste was there.
Bianca.
Two uncles.
The family attorney.
And Dr. Adrian Vale, Mara’s physician.
Mara stopped when she saw him.
Dominic noticed.
“Stay beside me.”
“I intend to.”
Isabella smiled as though hosting Sunday dinner.
“Mara.”
“Don't.”
Dominic's single word erased the smile.
He pulled out a chair for Mara but remained standing.
“What do you have?”
Isabella folded her hands.
“I had hoped to handle this privately.”
“You secretly photographed my wife.”
Celeste gasped.
Isabella's expression barely changed.
“I did no such thing.”
“Someone did.”
“And you've decided it was family?”
“I've decided nothing.”
Dominic placed copies of the photographs on the table.
“I’m asking.”
Dr. Vale looked uncomfortable.
Isabella glanced at the photographs.
“Disgusting.”
Mara watched her closely.
The response seemed genuine.
Then Isabella slid a folder toward Dominic.
“Read that.”
Dominic didn't touch it.
Mara did.
Inside were medical records bearing her name.
Anxiety.
Depression.
Medication.
Episodes of paranoia.
None were hers.
“I never received these diagnoses.”
Dr. Vale cleared his throat.
“Mara—”
She turned.
“Did you write this?”
He hesitated.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Answer my wife.”
“No.”
Everyone froze.
Isabella stared at him.
Dr. Vale continued.
“I was asked to sign a summary. I refused.”
“Asked by whom?”
He looked at Celeste.
Celeste stood.
“This is absurd.”
Dr. Vale reached into his briefcase.
“I kept the emails.”
Celeste's face drained.
Isabella looked genuinely shocked now.
Dominic noticed.
“Mother?”
“I knew nothing about this.”
Celeste pushed away from the table.
“I was trying to protect this family.”
“By forging medical documents?”
“You don't understand what she was doing to you!”
Mara stared.
“What was I doing?”
Celeste looked directly at her.
“Changing him.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“That is your defense?”
“You stopped listening to us after you married her.”
“I stopped letting you run my life.”
“You sold properties Grandfather built.”
“They were laundering operations.”
“You fired people loyal to Father.”
“They were criminals.”
“You turned the Serrano name into office buildings and charities.”
Dominic's expression remained calm.
“Yes.”
Celeste pointed at Mara.
“Because of her.”
Dominic looked at his wife.
Mara seemed stunned.
He turned back.
“You're right.”
Celeste froze.
“Mara made me understand that surviving isn't the same as living.”
Mara's eyes filled.
Dominic continued.
“She didn't destroy this family. She helped me stop it from destroying itself.”
Celeste shook her head.
“You don't know what she's cost us.”
“No. I know exactly what you have.”
Dominic placed the fake annulment papers on the table.
Isabella read them.
Her expression changed.
“You forged Mara's signature?”
Celeste said nothing.
Isabella stood.
“I asked you a question.”
Bianca suddenly spoke.
“It wasn't supposed to go this far.”
Every head turned.
Celeste hissed, “Shut up.”
Bianca backed away.
Dominic moved between them.
“What wasn't?”
Bianca looked terrified.
“The dresses.”
Mara's stomach tightened.
“What about them?”
“It started as pressure.”
“Pressure for what?”
“To make you stop attending public events.”
Mara stared at her.
“Why?”
Bianca looked at Dominic.
“Because investors liked her.”
Silence.
Dominic frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if Celeste wanted the board to think Mara was influencing your decisions.”
Dominic's eyes shifted toward his sister.
Bianca continued.
“The plan was to make Mara withdraw socially. Then we would leak stories saying she was unstable. After that came the medical documents.”
“And the annulment?”
“Once Dominic believed she had lied about her mental health, Celeste thought he would sign.”
Mara felt sick.
“You tried to destroy my marriage because of board votes?”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“You think this is just about board votes?”
She looked at Dominic.
“Ask Mother what your father changed before he died.”
Isabella became rigid.
“Celeste.”
“No. He deserves to know.”
Dominic's voice hardened.
“Know what?”
Celeste smiled.
“For twenty years you thought Father left you control because you were his son.”
“Celeste.”
“He didn't.”
Dominic looked at Isabella.
His mother sat slowly.
“What is she talking about?”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“Your father's will contained a private amendment.”
“What amendment?”
“If you married, your wife became beneficiary of a separate trust.”
Mara frowned.
“What trust?”
Isabella looked at her.
“A substantial one.”
“How substantial?”
“Forty-two percent of the family's remaining private assets.”
Mara stared.
“I don't want it.”
“That doesn't matter,” Celeste snapped. “You already have it.”
Dominic turned toward the attorney.
“Is this true?”
The attorney nodded.
“Technically.”
“Why wasn't I told?”
“Your father instructed us not to disclose the trust until the fifth anniversary of your marriage.”
Mara and Dominic exchanged a look.
Their fifth anniversary was in three weeks.
Celeste laughed.
“And there it is.”
Dominic finally understood.
If the marriage ended before the anniversary, Mara lost control of the trust.
The assets reverted to the family.
“To you?” he asked Celeste.
“To all of us.”
“So you humiliated my wife for money.”
“I protected our inheritance.”
Dominic stepped toward her.
Mara caught his hand.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
Celeste looked relieved.
Mara stepped forward instead.
“You could have asked me.”
Celeste blinked.
“I would have signed it away.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I married Dominic when he was trying to leave this life. I didn't marry his money.”
Celeste sneered.
“Everyone marries something.”
Mara looked at her sadly.
“Maybe that's why you couldn't understand us.”
Celeste's confidence cracked.
Dominic squeezed Mara's hand.
Isabella stood.
“Celeste, you will surrender your board seat.”
Celeste stared at her mother.
“What?”
“Immediately.”
“You can't do that.”
“I can.”
“And Bianca?”
“She will cooperate with Dominic's investigation.”
Celeste laughed.
“You think this ends because you remove me from a board?”
Dominic watched her.
“What does that mean?”
Celeste grabbed her handbag.
Marco moved toward the door.
Dominic raised one hand.
Let her go.
Celeste stopped beside Mara.
“You think he saved you.”
Mara met her eyes.
Celeste leaned closer.
“He hasn't even discovered who put the camera in that fitting room.”
Mara's blood chilled.
“You?”
Celeste smiled.
“No.”
She walked out.
Dominic immediately looked at Bianca.
Bianca shook her head.
“I swear. I don't know.”
Marco's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
“Boss.”
Dominic turned.
“We traced the hidden camera.”
“To whom?”
Marco looked toward Dr. Vale.
Then toward Isabella.
“Neither.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
Mara recognized the woman immediately.
Renee.
The boutique stylist.
But Marco shook his head.
“Renee isn't her real name.”
He turned over the photograph.
A different identity was printed beneath it.
Dominic read the surname.
Then looked at his mother.
Isabella's glass slipped from her hand.
Because the woman who had been secretly photographing Mara was the daughter of the man Dominic's father had ordered killed twenty-three years earlier.
May you like
And security had just found her car outside Dominic and Mara’s house.
The front door was open.
