Chapter 7 - the wife they planned to call insane)
Dominic moved fast.
By sunset, his attorneys had filed documents claiming I was emotionally unstable.
They cited my mother's death.
My fertility treatments.
My resignation from work.
Private therapy records I had never authorized Dominic to obtain.
They included photographs of Jessica on the floor after I punched her.
They included statements from two household employees claiming I had become "volatile" during Victor's illness.
And they claimed I had manipulated a dying man into changing his estate.
The story spread online before I returned to the city.
BILLIONAIRE HEIR ACCUSES WIFE OF EXPLOITING DYING PATRIARCH
Another headline appeared ten minutes later.
FUNERAL BRAWL ERUPTS AS BILLIONAIRE FAMILY FIGHTS OVER ESTATE
By midnight, video of Jessica pouring wine over me had been posted thousands of times.
So had the punch.
Dominic gave no interview.
He did not need to.
His lawyers spoke for him.
I stayed at Victor's estate with Adrian, Mara, and Daniel.
Jessica was allowed to leave after police questioned her about unauthorized entry.
She refused to explain how she knew about the blue room.
Before leaving, she asked to speak to me alone.
Daniel objected.
I agreed.
We stood in the old library.
Jessica looked exhausted.
"You should disappear for a while."
I almost laughed.
"You said the same thing while pouring wine over me."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"Dominic is dangerous when he's cornered."
"Then why did you corner him?"
She looked away.
"I thought we had control."
"We?"
She didn't answer.
"How long?"
"Elena."
"How long have you been sleeping with my husband?"
Her face tightened.
"Eleven months."
I absorbed the number.
Eleven months of lunches.
Eleven months of advice.
Eleven months of her sitting in my home while knowing exactly where Dominic had been.
"Did you enjoy watching me question myself?"
"No."
"Did you enjoy my house?"
"No."
"My trust?"
"No."
"Then what did you enjoy?"
Her eyes filled with anger.
"Thinking I could take something from them."
I understood.
"This was revenge."
"At first."
There were those words again.
"Then what?"
"Then Dominic showed me the accounts."
"Helix."
She went silent.
"You helped him steal."
"He told me Victor had hidden assets offshore for decades. He said the money was already dirty."
"And you believed him?"
"I wanted to."
"Eleven million dollars helped."
Jessica looked ashamed for the first time.
"Yes."
I stepped closer.
"What does my mother have to do with this?"
Her face changed.
"I don't know everything."
"What do you know?"
"Dominic was watching her before the accident."
Cold spread through me.
"What do you mean watching her?"
"He had someone following her."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"You always lie."
Jessica flinched.
I continued.
"Did he kill her?"
"No."
The answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
"You don't know that."
"I know he didn't."
"How?"
Jessica stopped.
That was the moment.
The smallest hesitation.
But I saw it.
"How do you know?"
Her lips parted.
Nothing came out.
I whispered.
"My mother is alive."
Jessica closed her eyes.
My knees weakened.
"No."
I stepped backward.
"No."
Jessica opened her eyes.
"I never saw her."
"Is she alive?"
"I don't know."
"Is she alive?"
"I don't know."
I grabbed her coat.
"Tell me."
Daniel entered immediately.
I released her.
Jessica was crying now.
"I found payments."
"What payments?"
"Dominic has been sending money to a facility in Vermont for years."
"What kind of facility?"
"I don't know."
"Name."
She shook her head.
"Name it."
"Green Hollow."
The room vanished around me.
Green Hollow.
I had never heard the words before.
Jessica wiped her face.
"Dominic told me it was related to a former employee. I didn't believe him."
"How long?"
"Seven years."
The same amount of time my mother had been dead.
I turned toward Daniel.
"Find it."
He was already typing.
Adrian entered carrying one of Victor's journals.
"Elena."
"Not now."
"You need to see this."
He opened the journal.
Victor's handwriting covered the page.
At the top was a date.
Three days after my mother's funeral.
Beneath it, Victor had written:
Rebecca is alive. Dominic knows. I do not yet understand why she is hiding from Elena.
I stared at the sentence until the letters blurred.
Then I read the next line.
If Dominic is protecting her, it may be the first decent thing my son has done in years.
May you like
And beneath that, written six months later:
I was wrong.
