Chapter 5

Samantha’s POV

Was he here because of the twins? The thought struck me like a physical blow, and I gripped the glass in my hand so tightly that it almost shattered. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

Had Dominic found out? My gaze locked onto him, and everything around me blurred into an indistinct haze of panic. He stood near the entrance, exuding authority and undeniable power, and yet I felt stripped bare under his stare, as if he could see right through every carefully constructed lie I had built around my life.

I swallowed hard, trying to push down the terror rising inside me. It’s impossible, I told myself desperately. There was no way he knew. I had gone to such lengths to protect my children—to hide our identities. I had changed my last name, changed their last names, and buried every trace of our past. Even to the twins, Dominic was nothing more than a ghost, a father I had lied about, saying he was dead.

But why was he here? Why now? The meeting was not supposed to include