Chapter 8 - THE TRUTH ABOUT LUCIA
Adrian found the missing records in a storage unit registered to one of Raffaele's companies.
They included the letter I had sent, copies of my unanswered calls, and a report written after Lucia's death.
Dominic read the report alone.
When he finally asked me to join him, his face looked older.
“Raffaele didn't just intercept your letter,” he said. “He also hid evidence about Lucia.”
I sat across from him.
“What evidence?”
“Lucia was investigating money being moved through the family's businesses. She believed Raffaele was using our security contracts to hide illegal payments. She planned to give the documents to an attorney.”
“Was that why she died?”
“The official report said it was a car accident. But the vehicle had been tampered with.”
I covered my mouth.
“Dominic…”
“He knew she was close to exposing him. After she died, he told me she had been careless. He told me grief made me weak. He used my anger to keep me under his control.”
His hands tightened around the report.
“And when you became pregnant, he saw another way to control the family. He thought I would reject you if he convinced me you'd betrayed me.”
“But you never got the chance to choose.”
“No.”
He looked at the photograph of Lucia on the shelf.
“She would have loved Sophie.”
I reached across the desk, then stopped.
Dominic noticed.
He turned his palm upward.
I placed my hand in his.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
“I'm not asking you to forgive my family,” he said. “I won't ask you to forgive me for what I didn't know. But I want to tell Sophie about Lucia when she's old enough.”
“Why?”
“Because she deserves to know the people who loved her before she was born. And because I don't want secrets to be the foundation of her life.”
I nodded.
“Then we tell her the truth, in a way she can understand.”
He squeezed my hand once, then released it.
The next afternoon, we took Sophie to the park.
Two guards stayed at a distance. Dominic carried a small bag with snacks, wipes, and a spare sweater. He looked so serious about the contents that I almost laughed.
Sophie ran toward the swings.
“Papa! Push me!”
Dominic glanced at me.
“Do I push?”
“Gently.”
He pushed her.
“Higher!”
“Not too high.”
“Higher!”
I laughed. “She's negotiating.”
Dominic shook his head and pushed a little more.
Sophie squealed with delight.
Then she asked, “Papa, did you have a mommy?”
Dominic slowed the swing.
“Yes. Her name was Lucia.”
“Was she nice?”
“She was the kindest person I knew.”
“Did she hug you?”
His hands paused.
“Every day.”
Sophie looked at him.
“Then you had lots of papa hugs and mommy hugs.”
Dominic swallowed.
“I did.”
“Good. You can have mine now.”
He bent and kissed the top of her head.
“I'd like that.”
From the bench, I watched them.
May you like
For the first time, the future seemed less like a threat and more like something we might build.
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