Chapter 9 - The Reason Dominic Married Her
Nathan moved between Vivienne and Mia.
Their mother smiled.
“You always wanted him to see you as brave.”
“Let them go.”
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
Mia held the telephone against her ear.
Dominic was still speaking.
“Mia, listen to my voice. There is a service door beside the pantry.”
Vivienne took another step.
“Hang up.”
Dominic continued.
“The door leads beneath the courtyard. Do not go toward the north tunnel.”
Mia looked at Nathan.
He gave the smallest nod.
He had heard.
Vivienne raised the pistol.
“I will count to three.”
Harper crawled out from beneath the island.
“Grandma?”
Vivienne’s expression softened.
“Come here, darling.”
Harper stood.
Mia reached for her.
Nathan whispered, “Wait.”
Harper walked toward Vivienne.
Every instinct in Mia screamed to pull her back.
But Harper’s right hand remained hidden in the folds of her nightdress.
The recorder.
“Did Mommy tell you bad things about me?” Vivienne asked.
Harper nodded.
Vivienne’s mouth tightened.
“What did she say?”
“She said you are afraid of ghosts.”
Vivienne looked at Mia.
Harper stopped three feet away.
“Would you like to hear one?”
She pressed play.
Nathan’s recorded voice filled the kitchen.
“Keep Mia hidden until Dominic signs the estate over to her.”
Vivienne’s attention shifted to the device.
Nathan moved.
He struck the pistol from her hand.
Mia pulled Harper away.
The weapon slid beneath the table.
Vivienne clawed Nathan’s face.
He caught her wrists.
“Go!” he shouted.
Mia ran to the pantry.
She found the narrow service door and opened it.
A stone staircase descended.
Harper looked back.
“Uncle Nathan!”
“He will follow.”
They entered the passage.
Mia closed the door as a gunshot exploded behind them.
She did not know who fired.
Dominic remained on the telephone until the line went dead.
He stood outside Blackthorne’s eastern gate, staring at the manor through the rain.
Lena sat beside him in an unmarked vehicle.
“You heard a shot,” she said.
“Yes.”
“We go in now.”
“Vivienne has armed men.”
“So do we.”
Two police tactical units waited beyond the hill, hidden from the estate’s cameras.
Dominic looked at the restructuring documents on his lap.
A forged replacement deed had been inserted among them.
The signature page appeared identical.
Nathan had warned him just enough to confirm betrayal, but not enough to explain it.
Mia’s question remained inside him.
Did you know who I was before you married me?
The truthful answer was more complicated than yes.
Dominic first saw Mia at a hospital fundraiser.
She wore a simple green dress and argued with a wealthy donor who had insulted a nurse. She had no idea Dominic was the event’s principal sponsor.
He fell in love with her before he knew anything about her adoption.
Three months later, a routine security review found irregularities.
Her birth certificate had been created when she was almost three years old.
Her childhood medical records began suddenly.
The St. Orison Trust had paid her school fees.
Dominic ordered a private investigation.
The investigator disappeared.
A week later, Dominic found an envelope beneath his study door.
Inside was a photograph of his father holding a newborn girl.
The message on the back said:
She was chosen before either of you understood why.
Dominic had shown the photograph to Nathan.
Nathan swore he had never seen the child.
They burned the copy together.
Dominic did not tell Mia because he feared the accusation that would now sound obvious.
That he had married his half sister.
A DNA test could have ended the fear.
Dominic arranged one secretly.
The result showed no sibling relationship.
Mia was not Julian’s biological daughter.
But someone had placed her in the registry as if she were.
Someone wanted her to inherit Blackthorne.
That mystery had haunted Dominic throughout their marriage.
He had tried to restructure the estate so Harper would receive the assets without the covenant.
Nathan opposed him.
Now Dominic knew why.
“What did your father choose Mia for?” Lena asked.
“I do not know.”
“You told her you did.”
“I told her he chose her. I never learned the purpose.”
Lena studied him.
“Secrets are not protection, Dominic.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me everything before we go inside.”
Dominic looked toward the manor’s upper windows.
One light flashed three times.
Pause.
Then twice.
A signal.
He and Nathan used it as boys when Vivienne locked them in separate rooms.
Three flashes meant danger.
Two meant basement.
“Nathan is alive,” Dominic said.
“How do you know?”
“The light.”
“Could be a trap.”
“It probably is.”
Dominic opened the car door.
Lena caught his arm.
“You cannot keep deciding that guilt makes you bulletproof.”
“My daughter is inside.”
“And she needs you alive.”
Dominic took a radio.
“Bring the teams through the western wall. No lights until I reach the basement.”
“You are still planning to enter alone.”
“Vivienne will kill Mia if she sees police first.”
Lena swore.
“Ten minutes. Then we move whether you are ready or not.”
Dominic crossed the field.
The rain had softened the earth. His shoes sank into the mud.
He reached the old drainage tunnel.
The entrance was open.
Inside, he found blood on the stones.
Not much.
A trail leading toward the manor.
Dominic followed.
Halfway through, he saw a figure lying in the water.
Adrian Cross opened his eyes.
“You came,” he whispered.
Dominic aimed his flashlight.
Adrian’s shirt was dark with blood.
“Who are you?”
May you like
Adrian laughed weakly.
“The brother everyone forgot.”
