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Man in the Suit
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2025-07-30 23:34:54The bookstore looked nothing like itself.
By noon, the quiet charm of Riverside Books had been overtaken by black posters, soft velvet ropes, and gold-trimmed flyers with the words: “The Black Foundation Gala.” Every surface shined. Lush white orchids spilled from crystal vases. A red carpet covered the entrance. And behind the counter, Lena stood perfectly still—heart pounding as she watched the preparations unfold. He’s really coming. Dominic Black is going to walk through those doors. She had debated calling out sick. Taking Eliana and disappearing to the next town for a few days. But something inside her, something stubborn and protective, had held her back. She wouldn’t run. Not again. “Eliana,” she called softly. “Stay near me, okay?” But there was no answer. Her heart dropped. “Eliana?” She looked behind the counter. Under the reading table. Checked the back room. Nothing. “Eliana!” The crowd outside had started to grow—press, staff, socialites arriving early. Panic twisted in Lena’s chest as she rushed out from behind the counter, weaving through decorators and floral designers. And then she saw her. At the far end of the display, sitting cross-legged on the edge of the red carpet, Eliana was happily sketching with a pink crayon. A notebook sat on her lap, her tongue between her teeth in concentration. And standing just a few feet away from her—his back turned—was him. Dominic. Lena stopped breathing. Five years had done nothing to soften him. He still wore power like a second skin. His jet-black hair was slicked neatly back, his suit crisp, his posture effortless. A low voice rolled from his lips as he spoke to his assistant, but Lena barely heard it. Her eyes were on Eliana. And Eliana… was looking at him. With quiet curiosity, she tilted her head and stood. Lena’s body moved before her mind did. She crossed the floor in seconds and scooped Eliana into her arms, just as the little girl opened her mouth to speak. “Mommy!” Eliana giggled, wrapping her arms around Lena’s neck. “I was drawing Daddy!” Lena tensed. Dominic turned slightly at the word, his gaze brushing across them for just a second—no recognition in his eyes. Just disinterest. To him, they were strangers. Lena didn’t wait to see more. She murmured a quick excuse to a nearby staffer and ducked behind a curtain into the staff hallway, heart thudding wildly. Eliana rested her head on her shoulder, unfazed. “That man looked like my picture.” Lena shut her eyes tightly. He did. Because it was him. Lena sat Eliana down on the small sofa in the break room, her pulse still racing. “You can’t run off like that,” she said, kneeling in front of her. “You scared me.” Eliana pouted. “But I didn’t go far. I just wanted to see the man in the shiny shoes.” Lena let out a shaky breath, brushing a loose curl off Eliana’s cheek. “That man isn’t someone we talk to, okay?” “Why not?” Eliana asked, eyes wide with confusion. “He looked nice.” Lena blinked. Nice? That man—Dominic Black—didn’t even notice the daughter standing five feet from him. Didn’t even blink when he looked her way. The same man who had walked out five years ago without ever asking if Lena was telling the truth. “I just need you to listen to me,” Lena said gently, cupping her daughter’s face. “Promise?” “Okay,” Eliana said softly, sensing her mother’s seriousness. “I promise.” Lena hugged her tightly. But outside, Dominic had stopped mid-sentence. He frowned, glancing over his shoulder in the direction of the voices he’d just heard. Something… odd had brushed over him. A child’s laugh. A woman’s voice. And for half a second, he’d thought… He shook his head. Impossible. His assistant, Amanda, handed him a folder. “Here’s the press list for tonight. The mayor’s team wants to arrange a five-minute photo op.” He barely nodded, eyes still scanning the room. “Who’s managing the space?” “The bookstore owner. Ms. Rina Myles.” “No,” he said, eyes narrowing slightly. “The woman who was holding the child. She looked… familiar.” Amanda blinked. “I don’t think she’s on the guest list.” He didn’t respond right away. But a strange chill stirred something deep inside him. He wasn’t a man ruled by instinct—he never had been. But something about that moment… about that child’s face… He turned back to Amanda. “Find out who she is.” ⸻ Back in the break room, Lena was trying to hold it together. Her thoughts spun wildly. What if Dominic had seen them? What if he had recognized her? No. He wouldn’t. Not after all this time. She looked different now. Softer. Her hair was longer. She didn’t wear the sleek designer clothes he used to order for her like she was his pet. She wasn’t the scared girl who had married him out of desperation. She was a mother now. And she’d do anything to protect her child. “Mommy,” Eliana whispered, yawning, “can I take a nap here?” Lena nodded and helped her curl up on the couch. She tucked a blanket over her and kissed her forehead. But inside, dread pressed heavy on her chest. Because if Dominic stayed in Riverside for this gala… If he kept coming back to this bookstore… Sooner or later, the truth would come out.
Latest chapter
The Forgotten wife of the Billionaire 94: The Calm Before
Lena’s POV The gala was over, but the echo of it clung to me like smoke. Back at home, the house was quiet like it never was—no clatter from the kitchen, no low hum of Dominic pacing the hall. Just silence, stretched taut over the three of us. I sat on the edge of our bed, still in the black silk dress, my hair pinned, makeup smudged where I’d cried without meaning to. The clock ticked past midnight, and I kept waiting for the words that wouldn’t come. Dominic leaned against the doorway, his jacket long discarded, his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows. The faint cut across his cheekbone from earlier—where Clara’s manicured nails had nearly caught him in the chaos—was a sharp reminder of how close we’d come to breaking entirely. Neither of us spoke at first. The truce between us was fragile, a thread stretched thin over months of doubt, jealousy, and half-healed wounds. But tonight, for the first time, he’d stood in front of the world and burned every bridge back to Clara. I ex
The Forgotten wife of the Billionaire 93: The Vow
The gala was everything I hated. Especially when Lena and I were still not good. Polished marble floors reflected the golden light of chandeliers, the air buzzing with champagne and shallow laughter. Men in expensive suits shook hands as though they weren’t sharpening knives behind their backs. Women glittered like jewels in designer gowns, but not one of them compared to the quiet, steady beauty of the woman standing across the room. Lena. Her dress was black silk, simple but devastating, her hair swept up, leaving the column of her neck bare. She wasn’t smiling—not tonight. Her posture was proud, but her eyes flicked to me once, cool and cautious. She didn’t trust me fully. Not yet. And that was my fault. I had let Clara’s games wedge doubt between us. But tonight, I would burn every bridge to prove where I stood. “Dominic.” Her voice slid through me like poison before I even turned. Clara. She looked immaculate, red lips curved into a smile that was more threat than charm. “I
The Forgotten wife of the Billionaire 92: Unveiling the Truth
Lena’s POV I didn’t want to sit. I didn’t want to listen. But Dominic was standing in front of me with a flash drive in his hand, his expression carved from stone and desperation, and for once… for once he wasn’t begging. He wasn’t spinning words like honey. He wasn’t reaching for me. He was just—offering. “Please,” he said, his voice low, frayed at the edges. “If you never believe me again after this, fine. But watch first. Just… watch.” I folded my arms across my chest, trying to ignore the way they trembled. My mug of tea sat forgotten, cooling on the table between us. “Fine.” The word tasted bitter. “Show me.” He connected his laptop to the TV, the blue glow filling the quiet living room. Eliana was asleep upstairs. The house was so still it felt like the air itself was waiting to see which way we’d break. The footage began. A hotel lobby. Clara’s sharp silhouette sweeping inside, heels clicking like a countdown. She wasn’t clinging to Dominic—she was alone, though her bod
The Forgotten wife of the Billionaire 91: Finding the Truth
Dominic’s POV The hardest part of betrayal isn’t the wound. It’s the silence that follows. Lena hadn’t screamed. She hadn’t cursed. No—she’d just looked at me with those wide, wounded eyes and told me I smelled like another woman. That cut deeper than any bullet ever could. And it meant one thing: if I didn’t find proof, if I didn’t bury Clara under her own lies, I’d lose Lena forever. So I didn’t sleep. Couldn’t. While the house settled into its nighttime rhythm—Eliana’s soft snores down the hall, Lena’s restless shifting in the bedroom we were no longer sharing—I sat in my study with nothing but a lamp, my laptop, and a promise burning through me. Clara thought she could corner me. Frame me. Drag me back into her orbit like some pathetic puppet. Not this time. ********** First stop: the hotel. I made a call just after midnight. Money talks, and mine screamed. By two a.m., I had a scanned copy of the reservation in my inbox. The name on the file made my stomach tighten. D
The Forgotten wife of the Billionaire 90: Broken Glass
Lena’s POV The house was too quiet. Not peaceful but accusing, the kind of quiet that pressed against my skin and whispered in every silence: you saw what you saw. I hadn’t even realised I was gripping the steering wheel so hard until my hands cramped. When I pulled into the driveway, my knuckles were white, my chest a knot of rage and grief that felt impossible to untangle. I couldn’t even look at the house without remembering Clara’s smile, her voice purring like she owned him, the hotel key glinting in her fingers. Trust. Once cracked, it never shines the same. I sat in the car until my body shook from holding it all in. Then I forced myself inside. ********** Eliana’s laughter floated down the hallway. She’d returned from her playdate, oblivious to the chaos her parents were choking on. For one terrible second, I wanted to collapse against her, to cry into her little pink backpack and tell her Mommy didn’t know how to hold things together anymore. But I couldn’t. She dese
The Forgotten wife of the Billionaire 89: The Trap
Lena’s POV Trust is a strange thing. It can survive storms and betrayals, it can bend without breaking — until suddenly, in one sharp breath, you wonder if you ever had it at all. I kept replaying Dominic’s promise from that night: No more secrets. You’ll know everything. And for a few weeks, he held to it. He told me about the men he assigned to watch Clara’s movements, about the legal letters his lawyers sent, and about every time she tried to call. We were, for the first time in years, fighting side by side. And then the phone rang. It was nearly dusk. Eliana was at the neighbour’s for a playdate, the house so quiet I could hear the clock tick above the stove. I recognised Dominic’s assistant’s number. “Hello?” “Mrs. Black,” the young man’s voice was clipped, nervous. “I think you… I think you should come to the downtown hotel. The Royal Crest. Room 808.” “Why?” My stomach turned. A pause. “Just—come quickly. Before the press does.” The line went dead. For a moment I sto
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