Chapter 4 - The Unmasking
A heavy, breathless silence smothered the immediate circle. Several socialites and business titans had edged closer, pretending to inspect the floral arrangements while straining to hear every single word. Dominic’s knuckles turned white where he clutched Vanessa’s fingers.
"What are you talking about?" Dominic hissed, lowering his voice in a desperate attempt to contain the scandal. "Evelyn is a schoolteacher’s daughter from Michigan. She has nothing to do with high finance!"
I took a sip of the champagne Richard’s attendant handed me. The vintage was crisp, biting, and utterly sweet.
"My mother was indeed a teacher, Dominic," I said quietly, locking eyes with the man who had discarded me less than three hours ago. "And she was also Richard Mercer’s younger sister."
The revelation detonated like a silent bomb.
Vanessa gasped, her mouth falling open as her eyes darted between Richard’s aristocratic profile and mine. The resemblance was suddenly unmistakable—the high cheekbones, the same piercing, assessing gaze, the identical tilt of the chin.
Dominic staggered backward a half-step. "No... that’s impossible. You have no family. Your maiden name was Vance!"
"Vance was my mother’s married name, you idiot," Richard said, his voice dropping into pure, razor-sharp contempt. "Thirty years ago, my sister chose to live a quiet life away from the Mercer press and the family dynasty. When she passed, she asked me to look after Evelyn from the shadows—to let her find real love, unburdened by vultures who only wanted her trust funds. When Evelyn brought you home eight years ago, she begged me not to interfere. She wanted to believe you loved her for who she was, not who stood behind her."
The room was so still you could hear the distant roar of Lake Michigan’s waves crashing against the shoreline. Dominic’s eyes were frantic, darting wildly as pieces of the last decade clicked into place with horrifying clarity.
"The lakefront pier..." Dominic muttered, his voice trembling. "The state bank loan in 2021... the EPA clearance for the downtown tower..."
"All Evelyn," Richard stated flatly. "Every time your overleveraged, arrogant little firm hit a brick wall, Evelyn came to my office and asked me to quietly clear the path. She traded pieces of her inheritance to keep your pride intact. She made sure you never owed a favor to anyone in this city because she was paying the interest on your incompetence."
Vanessa’s face went crimson. The glamorous narrative she had constructed—stealing the city’s rising billionaire from a boring, plain housewife—was disintegrating before her eyes. She wasn't standing next to a king. She was standing next to an imposter whose throne had been bought and paid for by the woman he had just exiled from his home.
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"Dominic..." Vanessa whimpered, tugging on his sleeve. "Dominic, tell them this is a lie."
Dominic couldn't answer. He was staring at me as if looking at a ghost who had suddenly pulled a dagger from its shroud.
