Chapter 6 - Secrets and Skeletons
“You lied to me,” Claire stammered, pointing a shaking finger at the open file on the desk. “You told the entire city—you told me—that Julian stole money and ran away like a coward! He was taken! He’s being tortured by the Valentis!”
Dominic unbuttoned his soaked overcoat, draped it calmly over a leather armchair, and walked to the desk. He closed the file with one deliberate hand, his gaze locking onto hers with piercing intensity.
“Both things are true, Claire,” Dominic said quietly. “Julian ran away because he stole from me. He took three million dollars to pay off his gambling debts to Sal Valenti. But Sal didn't let him walk away. The Valentis ambushed him at Midway Airport before his charter could take off, took the cash, and decided Julian was worth far more as leverage against my shipping docks.”
Claire shook her head, pacing the perimeter of the room. “Then why didn't you pay the ransom? Why did you marry me at that altar instead of calling the police or sending your men to rescue him?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened, a vein pulsing at his temple. “Because if the Valentis knew I cared enough to trade strategic assets for Julian, they would bleed my empire dry and execute him anyway. The Valentis don't honor ransoms, Claire. They take the territory, kill the hostage, and leave the pieces on your doorstep.”
He stepped closer, towering over her with raw authority. “And more importantly, the moment Sal Valenti orchestrated that kidnapping, Julian’s mother’s family would have moved in to seize my board of directors under the guise of an emergency. By marrying you—by securing the Rowan historic zoning rights and presenting a rock-solid, unfazed public front—I stripped the Valentis of their political leverage. They thought Julian's capture would break me. Instead, I showed them he was entirely expendable.”
Claire felt sickened by the cold-blooded calculation. “He is your flesh and blood! How can you treat your own child like a chess piece?”
Dominic suddenly reached out, grabbing her upper arms—not painfully, but with an electric urgency that forced her to stop pacing and look into his eyes.
“Because Julian is not my son!” Dominic rasped, the confession tearing from his throat like torn velvet.
Claire froze, staring at him in utter disbelief. “What?”
Dominic exhaled slowly, the iron mask slipping for the first time since she had met him, revealing years of buried grief and silent fury. “Twenty-eight years ago, my late wife had an affair with Salvatore Valenti’s younger brother. When Julian was born, I knew the truth. I raised him as my own. I gave him my name, my fortune, and every opportunity in this city. And how did he repay me? By selling internal Vance shipping logs to his biological family, trying to hand my father’s legacy to the very monsters who murdered my younger brother twenty years ago.”
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The silence that followed was deafening. Claire looked at Dominic, seeing past the feared billionaire and the underworld titan. Beneath the power was a man who had been betrayed by everyone he had ever loved, carrying the weight of a blood war completely alone.
“I didn't marry you just to save your mother, Claire,” Dominic whispered, his thumb brushing against her jawline with unexpected tenderness. “I married you because you were the only innocent person in that room who understood what it meant to be traded away by the people who were supposed to protect you. And I promised myself I would not let them destroy you too.”
