CHAPTER THREE:THE FIRST CONSULTATION

LILA

I took my bath that morning with so much heartache that even the hot water couldn't make me feel better. Marcus had been moving around that house as though nothing had happened, as though he hadn't emptied our savings, pushed me out of the guest bedroom, or spent seventy-seven days treating me like I was invisible. How could he? Did he even love me? The questions kept going around in my head, and I couldn't find a single answer that made sense.

I dressed carefully before leaving the house. I didn't know why I bothered. Maybe because dressing well had always been my way of holding myself together when everything else was falling apart. I stood in front of the mirror for a while, looking at myself and wondering how I had become this woman. Ten years of marriage, and suddenly I was walking into a lawyer's office to discuss divorcing the man I had once been certain I'd grow old with. It was almost funny how quickly life could change.

When I arrived at the lawyer's office, I sat in my car for a few minutes, staring at the building. I couldn't believe I was actually doing this. I had spent ten years calling Marcus my husband, ten years imagining our future together, and now I was about to ask another man how to end our marriage.

I finally stepped out of the car and walked inside. The secretary greeted me politely, and I returned her greeting with a small smile.

"Mrs. Harper?"

I nodded.

"Mr. Kane is expecting you."

My stomach twisted at the sound of his name.

I followed her down the hallway and stopped outside his office. When the door opened, the first thing I noticed was the room. Everything about it looked like it had been designed to intimidate anyone who walked through the door. Dark wood, clean lines, shelves filled with law books, a large desk positioned perfectly in the centre of the room. It was expensive, serious and intimidating.

Looking at the man standing behind the desk, I realized the office suited him perfectly.

He looked up when I walked in.

"Mrs. Harper?"

His voice was deep and calm.

"Lila," I corrected softly.

A small smile touched his lips.

"Lila."

He walked toward me and extended his hand.

"Dominic Kane."

I placed my hand in his, and the moment our hands touched, I noticed how large and beautiful his hands were. His grip was firm but gentle, and for some reason, I found myself looking at our hands for half a second longer than necessary.

What the hell was I doing?

I was here to get divorced, not admire a man's hands.

"Please, have a seat."

"Thank you."

I sat down opposite him while he returned to his chair. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then he opened the file in front of him.

"I understand Sophie referred you."

"Yes."

"She gave me a brief idea of the situation, but I'd rather hear everything from you."

I nodded and took a slow breath. I had rehearsed this in my head on the drive over, but now that I was sitting in front of him, everything seemed harder to say. How was I supposed to explain ten years of marriage in a few sentences without making Marcus sound worse than he was or, somehow, making myself sound like a fool for staying?

"My husband hasn't spoken to me in seventy-seven days," I finally said.

Dominic didn't react immediately. He simply watched me.

"I know how that sounds," I continued. "It sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud. But it's not just that he doesn't talk to me. When he does this, he completely withdraws from me. He won't look at me, touch me or acknowledge me. He moves around the house as though I'm a stranger."

"Did he ever tell you?"

I shook my head. "No. That's the worst part. I never knew what I was being punished for."

Dominic's expression remained calm, but his eyes had become more attentive.

"Sometimes I'd try to figure it out myself. I'd go over conversations we'd had, things I'd said, things I'd done. Sometimes I'd find something small and convince myself that must have been it. Other times there was absolutely nothing. He would just... switch."

I looked down at my hands.

"And then, when the silence ended, he'd become my husband again. He'd be loving and affectionate, and I'd be so relieved to have him back that I'd convince myself it wasn't as bad as it felt."

I gave a small, humourless laugh.

"That's probably why I stayed."

Dominic leaned back slightly.

"You didn't stay because you enjoyed being treated that way."

"No." I shook my head quickly. "I stayed because I loved him. And because outside those periods, Marcus could make me feel like the luckiest woman alive."

My voice softened.

"He bought me flowers. He cooked for me. He took me on dates. He loved me in every way I thought a husband was supposed to love his wife. That's why the silence was so confusing. I kept thinking the man who loved me had to be the real Marcus, and the man who ignored me was just... something temporary."

I swallowed.

"But it kept getting worse."

I told him about the money then, because that was the part I needed him to understand.

"He convinced me to quit my job. He told me I didn't need to work because he could provide everything. I trusted him. We had a joint account, and I put my savings into it because I thought we were building something together."

"And now?"

"It's almost empty."

His jaw tightened slightly.

"He moved the money without your knowledge?"

"I didn't know until yesterday."

I hesitated before continuing.

"I found a document too. He told me he wanted to buy a property in my name and only needed my signature. I signed it because I trusted him. Now I'm wondering what exactly I signed."

Dominic's expression changed.

"Do you have a copy of the document?"

"I don't know. I'll have to look."

"We'll find out."

The certainty in his voice made me look at him.

"We?"

"Yes." He held my gaze. "You're not going to figure this out alone."

Something about those words touched me more than it should have.

I looked away quickly.

"I don't even know what belongs to me anymore," I admitted. "That's why I'm here."

Dominic nodded slowly, then closed the file.

"You don't need to convince me that what happened to you was serious, Lila."

My eyes lifted to his.

"I don't have bruises," I whispered.

"You don't need them."

The words settled heavily between us.

For the first time since I had decided to leave Marcus, I didn't feel like I had to defend my decision. I didn't have to prove that my pain was real enough to deserve help.

Dominic simply believed me.

DOMINIC

I couldn't believe who had walked into my office.

Lila Harper.

The Harpers.

I'd learned a long time ago not to be surprised by anything in this line of work, but the divorce wasn't what surprised me. It was her. I'd seen Lila at several events over the years, always beside Marcus Harper, and I'd noticed her before. It was impossible not to.

Lila was a striking woman. She had long dark hair, fair skin and a beautiful figure that was obvious even beneath the simple jeans and blouse she wore today. She was around five-seven, if I remembered correctly, but seeing her sitting across from me now was different. She looked exhausted. Her eyes were swollen, and it was obvious she'd been crying for days.

"Good morning, Mr. Kane," she'd said when she walked in.

"Call me Dominic."

I'd offered my hand, and the moment our hands touched, something unexpected happened. Her eyes met mine, and for one second, I forgot I was her lawyer. It was brief, barely there, but I noticed it.

So did she.

She looked away first.

I cleared my throat and returned to the file.

Business.

This was business.

What she had described wasn't a simple marital disagreement. It was a pattern. Prolonged silence, emotional withdrawal, financial control and complete dependence. Yet the strange thing was that she seemed determined to make it sound smaller than it was.

She kept searching for reasons to excuse Marcus, almost as though she was still protecting the man who had hurt her. She wasn't trying to make him look like a monster. If anything, she was doing the opposite.

That told me more than she probably realized.

Then there was the money.

He had convinced his wife to quit her job, left her financially dependent on him and apparently moved money from their joint account without her knowledge. She had also signed a document she believed was related to a property purchase without knowing what it actually contained.

Men like Marcus weren't difficult to recognize. Control. Isolation. Financial dependence. Emotional punishment.

That wasn't an accident.

And there was something else that bothered me. Marcus had been able to maintain the image of the perfect husband while doing all of this privately.

I knew men like him.

And I knew how good they were at hiding things.

He could be cheating. He could be planning to disappear. He could have another reason entirely. But whatever the reason was, Lila needed protection.

I'd already spoken with Sophie. She had called me before Lila arrived and had made it clear that she wanted her friend protected. She'd also arranged my f*e, which meant I had no doubt she would be watching this case closely.

I looked at Lila again.

I shouldn't have.

But I did.

She was beautiful. Far more beautiful than I'd allowed myself to notice at all those events.

And that irritated me because I didn't need attraction complicating this. She was my client, a woman whose life had just fallen apart. I was supposed to help her.

Nothing more.

Yet every time she tucked her hair behind her ear or looked down at her hands, I found myself watching. I hated that I noticed. I especially hated that I could feel myself becoming protective of her after only one conversation.

That wasn't the attraction I needed.

That was a complication.

"We're going to find out exactly what happened to your money, what assets are involved and what you're entitled to."

I watched her nod slowly.

"And if Marcus has moved anything without your knowledge, we'll deal with that too."

"Thank you."

Our eyes met again.

That same strange pull returned.

This time, neither of us looked away immediately. My expression remained controlled, but I could feel something shift behind my eyes before I finally looked down at the file.

She did the same.

We both knew something had happened in that room.

Something neither of us had expected.

Something neither of us wanted.

She was still married.

I was her lawyer.

And whatever that strange attraction was, it had no place in my office.

But attraction didn't care about timing, circumstances or boundaries.

And that was going to be a problem.