Chapter 30: Tangled in the Truth

The silence that settled between Dominic and me in the car was suffocating.

Not a word passed between us as the engine hummed beneath us, New York’s city lights blurring by in streaks of gold and white. I sat stiffly, arms crossed, trying not to look at him—trying not to acknowledge the heat still coursing through me after what happened at the penthouse. My lips still burned from his kiss. My skin tingled where his fingers had touched me.

But none of that mattered now.

Not after what I’d found. Not after the phone call I’d intercepted.

Because while he might have claimed to love me—might have whispered promises of truth in my ear—Dominic Caldwell was still hiding things. Things that had everything to do with Thomas. With my father. With this damn web of betrayal I couldn’t untangle without bleeding.

“You’re quiet,” Dominic finally said, his voice low but pointed.

I didn’t look at him. “Do I need to fill the silence with lies to keep you comfortable?”

That made him tense. I felt it even if I didn’t turn his way. The slight shift in his posture. The flex of his jaw. The way his hands tightened on the steering wheel.

“I haven’t lied to you, Elena.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “You just conveniently leave things out. Like how Thomas used to work for your father. Like how he’s connected to mine. Like how this entire twisted arrangement is more calculated than you’ll admit.”

Dominic pulled the car into an underground garage beneath one of Caldwell Enterprises’ lesser-known buildings. Not the main headquarters, but a secure property nestled between tech startups and investment firms. Somewhere discreet.

When the car stopped, he turned off the ignition but didn’t move.

“You want the truth?” he said, voice razor-sharp. “Then listen.”

I finally turned to him. “I’m listening.”

He shifted to face me, shadows dancing over his face under the dim garage light. “Thomas was my father’s fixer. Clean-up man. He made problems disappear—people, scandals, anything that could threaten the empire. But he got greedy. Wanted more than what he was given. When my father refused, Thomas set him up—got him investigated for insider trading, leaked files to the Feds. My father died before the truth came out.”

The pieces clicked together with a sickening finality. “So this is about revenge. Again.”

“Yes,” he admitted. “But not just revenge. Justice.”

“And my father?” I whispered. “Where does he come into this?”

Dominic’s jaw flexed. “Your father helped Thomas forge the financial documents. Helped bring my father down.”

My breath caught. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

I shook my head. “My father… he wouldn’t—”

“He did,” Dominic said coldly. “And I have proof. I was going to show you after the wedding, when everything was stable. But you wouldn’t stop digging.”

I stared at him, my heart pounding so hard it hurt.

“You planned this entire marriage,” I whispered. “You let me fall into this mess, knowing it would break me.”

“No.” He leaned forward, his voice suddenly desperate. “I didn’t plan to fall for you. That wasn’t part of the deal. But I did. And now, everything’s more complicated because of it.”

I was shaking. From fury, from fear, from the truth.

“You manipulated me,” I said, blinking back tears. “And I let you.”

“I did what I had to do to protect everything my father built.”

“And what about me?!” I snapped. “What about the family I thought I knew? You let me live a lie, Dominic. You let me trust you—want you—and then you took it all away.”

His gaze flickered with pain. “It was never supposed to go this far.”

I stood from the car and slammed the door shut, the sound echoing like a gunshot through the garage. He followed, quickly falling into step beside me.

“Where are you going?” he demanded.

“To find Thomas.”

“Elena, don’t—”

I spun to face him. “If I can’t trust you, then I’ll find my own answers.”

Before he could stop me, I was already through the door leading to the elevator. Dominic didn’t follow. Maybe he finally realized that chasing me wouldn’t fix anything.

I rode the elevator up to the ground floor, pushing out into the cool night air with fire in my veins. I needed answers. Real ones. Not half-truths or secrets hidden behind Dominic’s tortured eyes.

And I knew exactly where to go.

Thomas had left breadcrumbs—small ones—but enough for a journalist like me to follow. A shell company he used as a cover. An abandoned townhouse in SoHo recently purchased under a fake name. I’d memorized the address the moment I found it.

It was close to midnight when I arrived at the property. The neighborhood was quiet, almost too quiet. A place that screamed expensive silence and whispered danger.

I approached the townhouse slowly, heart pounding. The lights were off, but I knew someone was inside. A faint glow flickered through a window—computer screens.

I tried the front door. Locked.

So I went around back.

The service door was easier to pick—thanks to the lock-picking set hidden in my purse, a remnant of my more reckless investigative days.

The moment I stepped inside, I knew I wasn’t alone.

A voice behind me murmured, “You really are your mother’s daughter.”

I froze.

Thomas stepped from the shadows, his sharp suit traded for something more casual—sweatpants and a black T-shirt. But the menace in his smile was the same.

“You’ve been busy,” he said, circling me like a shark.

“So have you,” I replied, forcing confidence into my voice. “Manipulating the Caldwells and the Sinclairs like we’re your personal chessboard.”

“Oh, but you are,” he said, his grin widening. “You see, Elena, your father and Dominic’s were never enemies by choice. I made them enemies. I fed their fears. Fed their hatred. Because chaos is profitable. And I needed them too distracted to notice what I was really building.”

My stomach turned. “You caused all of this.”

“I did,” he said proudly. “And now that you’re here, I can tie up the last loose end.”

I took a step back.

But it was too late.

I heard the click of the gun just as I reached for my phone. He’d drawn it so fast I hadn’t even seen him move.

“You shouldn’t have come alone,” Thomas said softly. “Now I’ll have to improvise.”

Before I could scream, the door behind me burst open.

Dominic.

Gun raised. Face carved from stone.

“Step away from her,” he said, voice like thunder.

Thomas just smiled.

The standoff had begun.

And this time, there was no room left for secrets.