Chapter 3 - The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The man standing at the ballroom entrance smiled.
"Hello, Dominic."
I felt Dominic's hand tighten around mine.
Not enough for anyone else to notice.
But enough for me.
Enough to know that whoever this man was, he had just changed everything.
The ballroom remained frozen.
Hundreds of people stared toward the entrance.
The musicians had stopped playing.
The waiters had stopped moving.
Even Victoria looked different now.
She wasn't confident anymore.
She wasn't enjoying the chaos.
She looked terrified.
And that was the first thing that made my stomach drop.
Because Victoria Montgomery was not afraid of many things.
But she was afraid of him.
Dominic slowly stepped in front of me.
A protective movement.
Automatic.
Like his body reacted before his mind did.
"Stay behind me."
His voice was barely audible.
I looked at him.
"Who is he?"
Dominic didn't answer.
That frightened me more than anything.
Because Dominic always had an answer.
He could read a room within seconds.
He could calculate risks before anyone else even noticed danger.
But now?
Now he looked like a man seeing a ghost.
The stranger walked into the ballroom.
He was older than Dominic.
Late fifties.
Gray hair.
Expensive suit.
A calm smile that didn't match the tension he created.
The kind of smile that belonged to someone who knew exactly how much power he had.
Several of Dominic's security men reached for their weapons.
But Dominic lifted his hand.
A silent command.
Stop.
Nobody moved.
The man looked around the ballroom.
Then his eyes landed on me.
And my entire body went cold.
Because he wasn't looking at Dominic.
He was looking at me.
"She doesn't know, does she?"
The words were directed at Dominic.
Dominic's expression hardened.
"Don't."
The stranger smiled.
"Still protecting her."
My heart started beating faster.
Protecting me from what?
Dominic turned slightly.
"Clara, go with Marco."
One of the guards stepped forward.
I shook my head.
"No."
His eyes met mine.
"Clara."
"No."
I had spent eighteen months watching Dominic control every dangerous situation around me.
But this time, I wasn't leaving.
Not when everyone else knew something I didn't.
Not when the man standing in front of me could erase everything I thought I understood.
The stranger chuckled.
"Interesting."
He looked at Dominic.
"She's stronger than Victoria."
Victoria flinched.
The stranger noticed.
"Don't look so surprised."
Victoria looked away.
And suddenly I understood.
She wasn't the person controlling this.
She was just another piece.
Dominic's voice became colder.
"You should be dead."
The man's smile faded slightly.
"That's what you were told."
A silence followed.
A terrible silence.
I looked at Dominic.
"You thought he was dead?"
Dominic didn't answer.
The stranger walked closer.
"My name is Alessandro Russo."
The last name hit me.
Russo.
Dominic's family.
But I had never heard that name before.
Dominic had told me about his family.
About the people he trusted.
About the people who betrayed him.
But never Alessandro.
Never this man.
"He's my uncle."
Dominic finally spoke.
The room seemed to shift.
His uncle.
The person everyone believed was dead.
The person connected to the secret behind everything.
Alessandro looked at Dominic.
"You didn't tell her about me."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"You don't get to talk to her."
"Why?"
Alessandro tilted his head.
"Because she might finally understand what kind of man you really are?"
The words hung between them.
I felt Dominic tense beside me.
But not because he was angry.
Because there was truth somewhere.
A truth I hadn't found yet.
I hated that feeling.
The feeling of standing in the middle of a story where everyone had read the pages except me.
Alessandro looked at me again.
"Clara Jenkins."
My name sounded strange coming from him.
"I've heard a lot about you."
I didn't respond.
He smiled.
"You're the woman who destroyed the accounts."
My eyebrows pulled together.
"What?"
Dominic looked at him sharply.
"Enough."
But Alessandro continued.
"You found the hidden money trail."
The ballroom became quiet.
"You found the evidence that almost sent half of Dominic's enemies to prison."
I looked at Dominic.
That was true.
But I didn't understand why this man was saying it.
"You weren't protecting him because you loved him."
Alessandro looked at me.
"You were protecting him because you didn't know the entire truth."
My chest tightened.
Dominic stepped forward.
"Leave."
Alessandro laughed softly.
"Still trying to control the ending."
He reached inside his jacket.
Every guard immediately reacted.
But Alessandro only pulled out another photograph.
He held it toward Dominic.
Dominic didn't take it.
He didn't need to.
Because he had already seen it.
His face changed.
Again.
And that scared me.
"What is it?"
No answer.
I walked closer.
"Dominic."
He looked at me.
And for a moment, I saw hesitation.
Not fear.
Regret.
The kind of regret that comes from keeping a promise for too long.
"Clara..."
Before he could continue, Alessandro spoke.
"Tell her."
Dominic's eyes moved back to him.
"Shut up."
"Tell her that the person who attacked her mother wasn't trying to scare her."
My breath stopped.
"My mother?"
Dominic went completely still.
Alessandro watched me carefully.
"Yes."
The ballroom disappeared.
I heard nothing except my own heartbeat.
My mother.
The one person who had always been protected from Dominic's world.
The woman who lived quietly in a care facility because of her declining health.
The woman who had no connection to crime.
No enemies.
No secrets.
At least, that's what I believed.
"What are you saying?"
Alessandro's expression changed.
Almost like sympathy.
"Your mother knew what Dominic's father did."
Dominic's voice exploded.
"Enough!"
The sound shocked everyone.
Because Dominic Russo almost never raised his voice.
Not even when threatening enemies.
Not even when facing danger.
But now?
Now he looked desperate.
I stared at him.
"What did my mother know?"
He didn't answer.
And that was the moment something inside me broke.
Not because I thought Dominic betrayed me.
Because I realized how much pain he had carried alone.
How much he thought he had to hide.
Alessandro stepped closer.
"Your marriage contract was never created because someone wanted to protect you from Dominic's enemies."
He paused.
"It was created because someone wanted to protect you from the truth."
I felt Dominic's hand leave mine.
Slowly.
Like he was afraid touching me would make everything worse.
The man who had faced bullets without blinking.
The man who made powerful people afraid.
Was afraid of my reaction.
"Dominic."
My voice shook.
"Tell me he's lying."
The entire room waited.
Dominic looked at me.
And for the first time since I knew him...
He looked helpless.
"I wanted to tell you."
My eyes filled.
"But you didn't."
"No."
The honesty hurt.
"I didn't."
Victoria watched from across the room.
And I saw something unexpected.
Regret.
Not satisfaction.
Regret.
Because maybe even she didn't know everything.
Alessandro placed the photograph on the table.
"Look at it."
I didn't want to.
But I did.
My fingers picked it up.
The photograph was old.
A younger Dominic.
A younger Victoria.
And another person standing beside them.
Someone I recognized.
Someone I never expected to see.
My mother.
But she wasn't sick.
She wasn't older.
She was young.
Standing beside Dominic's family.
Holding something in her hand.
A small black notebook.
The same notebook I had seen once as a child.
The notebook my mother told me never to touch.
I looked at Dominic.
"What is this?"
Nobody answered.
Then Alessandro whispered:
"The reason your mother disappeared from Dominic's life."
I stared at the photograph.
And then I noticed something written on the back.
A date.
A location.
And one sentence.
My hands began shaking.
Because the location was my childhood home.
And the date was the night my father vanished...
Then Dominic's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
May you like
His face changed instantly.
Because the caller was someone who had been missing for eighteen years...
