Chapter 4 - The Name Hidden Inside The Envelope
The envelope was already open.
That was the first thing Dominic noticed.
Not the phone call.
Not the unknown voice.
Not even the impossible words that still echoed in his mind.
Someone had already opened it.
Someone had been inside the workshop before they arrived.
Dominic stared at the torn edge of the envelope sitting on the table.
His instincts, the same instincts that helped him survive years of business battles, immediately took over.
He stepped in front of Mara.
"Stay behind me."
Mara looked at him.
For a second, she didn't see the powerful businessman everyone feared.
She saw her husband.
The man who was finally choosing her.
Celeste noticed the change too.
And that scared her.
Because Dominic had always protected his family.
Tonight, he was protecting Mara from them.
"Dominic," Celeste said quietly.
"You need to be careful."
He looked at her.
"That's exactly what I should have been doing six months ago."
The words hurt.
Celeste looked away.
Dominic picked up the envelope.
Inside was a single document.
Old paper.
Yellow edges.
A faded company stamp.
Mara moved closer.
"That's my father's signature."
Dominic looked at the bottom of the page.
She was right.
The signature belonged to a man named Elias Voss.
Mara's father.
The same man Dominic had just learned was connected to his own family.
He read the first line.
PRIVATE INVESTMENT AGREEMENT
His eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
A name appeared.
Serrano Holdings.
Dominic felt his chest tighten.
"This was between our families."
Mara nodded.
"I told you."
"No."
Dominic looked at her.
"You told me they destroyed your father's company."
He held up the document.
"But this says they were partners."
Mara's expression changed.
"They were."
"Then what happened?"
Mara looked at the floor.
"My father discovered something."
"What?"
"He discovered that the partnership was never supposed to help him."
Dominic read further.
The agreement described a business acquisition.
A transfer of ownership.
A merger.
Everything looked legal.
Everything looked normal.
Until he saw the final section.
A hidden clause.
A clause that allowed one company to take full control if the other party experienced financial instability.
Dominic understood immediately.
Someone had created a system where Elias Voss could lose everything while believing he was building something.
"Your father signed this?"
Mara nodded.
"He trusted them."
Dominic looked at Celeste.
"Who prepared this?"
Celeste stayed silent.
"Celeste."
Her eyes lifted.
"I don't know."
Dominic laughed once.
A cold, humorless sound.
"You expect me to believe that?"
Celeste stepped closer.
"You think I am the enemy because of a few notes?"
"No."
Dominic pointed at the document.
"I think something happened to Mara's father, and everyone in my family decided I was better off not knowing."
Celeste's face softened.
"Dominic."
"No."
His voice became sharper.
"Not this time."
Mara watched him.
She had spent months hoping he would ask questions.
Now that he finally was, she realized how much damage had already been done.
Dominic turned the page.
There was another signature.
Not his father's.
Not Celeste's.
Someone else.
Someone who had authority over the agreement.
He looked closer.
Then froze.
"What?"
Mara noticed.
"What did you see?"
Dominic didn't answer immediately.
Because the signature belonged to someone he knew.
Someone whose name appeared on family documents for years.
Someone everyone respected.
His father.
Victor Serrano.
Mara saw his face.
"Your father signed it."
Dominic slowly nodded.
"Yes."
The room became silent.
For years, Dominic had believed his father was strict.
Cold.
Difficult.
But honest.
The idea that he could have destroyed someone's life felt impossible.
Yet the evidence was sitting in his hands.
"I need to see the original."
Mara looked confused.
"What?"
"This copy could have been altered."
Celeste immediately said:
"Dominic, stop."
He turned.
"Why?"
"Because you don't know what you're opening."
His expression hardened.
"I think I already opened it."
Celeste looked at Mara.
"You have no idea what happens when old things come back."
Mara answered quietly.
"Maybe they should have never been buried."
Nobody spoke.
The lights suddenly flickered.
Everyone looked toward the entrance.
The workshop door was still locked.
Dominic noticed.
"Did anyone else have access?"
Mara shook her head.
"No."
Celeste looked nervous.
But Dominic saw it.
A small reaction.
A tiny movement.
A brief moment of fear.
"Celeste."
She looked at him.
"You know something."
"No."
"You do."
She looked away.
And that was enough.
Dominic walked toward her.
"Tell me."
Celeste's voice became quieter.
"You don't understand what your father was trying to protect."
"My father?"
"Yes."
"Protect who?"
Celeste didn't answer.
Mara stepped forward.
"Who was he protecting?"
Celeste looked at her.
Then whispered:
"You."
The word changed everything.
Dominic stopped.
"Me?"
Celeste nodded.
"Your father wasn't trying to destroy Mara's family."
Mara frowned.
"Then what was he doing?"
Celeste looked at the old document.
"He was trying to stop someone else from destroying both families."
Dominic stared.
"Who?"
Celeste's hands shook slightly.
"Someone inside the Serrano family."
The silence became unbearable.
Dominic looked at Mara.
Then Celeste.
"Who?"
Before Celeste could answer, the workshop phone rang.
Everyone froze.
The old landline on Mara's desk.
Nobody used it.
Nobody even knew the number.
Mara slowly walked toward it.
Dominic stopped her.
"I'll do it."
He picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then a man's voice spoke.
Older.
Calm.
Familiar.
"Dominic."
His entire body froze.
Because he knew that voice.
He had heard it thousands of times.
At family dinners.
At business meetings.
During childhood.
It was the voice of a man who had been gone for years.
"Dad?"
Mara looked at him.
Celeste covered her mouth.
The voice continued.
"I know what they told you."
Dominic couldn't speak.
"They told you I died believing everything was finished."
A pause.
"But I never died."
Dominic gripped the phone.
"Where are you?"
The voice became quieter.
"Before you ask that, you need to know something."
"What?"
A long silence followed.
Then the man said:
"Mara's father was not the first person they tried to erase."
Dominic felt the room disappear.
"Who was the first?"
The line remained silent.
Then a final sentence came through.
"The first person they erased was..."
May you like
The call suddenly cut off.
At that exact moment, the workshop door behind Mara slowly unlocked from the outside...
