Chapter 32: The Weight of Truth

The silence between us was deafening.

Dominic stood at the edge of the rooftop terrace, the city lights flickering behind him like distant stars—untouchable, indifferent. The night air was sharp, cutting through the tension that hung like a noose between us. My fingers clenched the edge of the marble balcony, grounding myself, because if I didn’t hold onto something, I might fall apart.

“I didn’t want you to find out this way,” he said at last, his voice low and rough.

I scoffed. “You mean the truth? That you manipulated every moment of my life to lead me here—to you?”

He turned slowly, eyes dark and unreadable. “You think this is easy for me? Watching you look at me like I’m the monster in your story when I was trying to protect you from a truth worse than anything I’ve done?”

My throat tightened, rage and confusion warring inside me. “Protect me?” I laughed, bitter and sharp. “Dominic, you orchestrated my father’s downfall. You blackmailed me into this engagement. You lied about everything. And now you want to act like this was all for my benefit?”

“No,” he snapped, closing the space between us in three long strides. “I did it because your father had my mother killed. Because he tried to silence her when she wouldn’t play by his rules. I did it because I needed justice—and you were the key.”

His words hit me like a slap. Even though I’d already heard part of this truth, it didn’t make it easier. I wanted to deny it, to defend my father’s memory, but deep down… a part of me had always suspected.

“What proof do you have?” I asked quietly.

He pulled a flash drive from his pocket and held it out. “Everything’s on here. Financial transfers. Phone records. Surveillance footage from twenty years ago. Your father didn’t just orchestrate my mother’s death—he covered it up, paid off officials, and pinned it on a rival.”

I didn’t reach for the drive. I couldn’t. My hands felt too heavy, my heart too full of jagged glass.

“If that’s true…” I started, but the words caught in my throat. “If that’s true, then everything I’ve believed—everything I’ve fought for—has been a lie.”

Dominic stepped closer, so close I could feel the heat of his body, the tension coiling between us like static before a storm.

“I never planned to fall for you, Elena,” he murmured, his voice stripped of all defenses. “You were supposed to be collateral. Leverage. But somewhere along the way, you became the only thing that mattered.”

My eyes searched his, looking for the liar, the manipulator, the man who had once coldly handed me a contract for a marriage I never wanted. But all I saw now was a man drowning in grief, regret, and something terrifyingly close to love.

“You don’t get to say that now,” I whispered. “Not after everything you’ve done.”

“I know,” he said, and his voice broke.

We stood in the silence for a long time, the weight of truth pressing down on both of us. I reached out and finally took the flash drive, feeling the cold plastic against my skin like a detonator waiting to be triggered.

“Where does Liam fit into all this?” I asked suddenly, needing something—anything—to shift the focus from the emotional earthquake that had just leveled me.

Dominic’s jaw clenched. “Liam found out the truth months ago. That’s why he’s been distant. He didn’t agree with my methods. We’ve barely spoken since.”

“He warned me,” I said quietly. “He told me you were dangerous.”

“And he wasn’t wrong,” Dominic admitted. “But he also didn’t understand that this wasn’t just revenge. It was survival. If your father had gotten wind that I knew the truth, he wouldn’t have hesitated to eliminate me too.”

A chill swept through me. This was bigger than I’d imagined. Deeper. Deadlier.

“I need time,” I said, backing away from him.

“I’ll give you whatever you need,” he replied, but his eyes betrayed his fear. He knew that the more distance I put between us, the more likely I was to walk away forever.

I turned and left the terrace, the flash drive clutched in my palm like Pandora’s box.

Back in my suite, I stared at the laptop screen as the contents of the drive unfolded before me. Names. Bank accounts. Confidential emails. Surveillance footage.

And then I saw it—the video file dated twenty-two years ago.

My breath caught as I hit play. The grainy black-and-white footage showed a woman—Dominic’s mother—standing on the steps of a courthouse, flanked by two men. She looked scared. Determined.

A third man approached. Tall. Well-dressed. Familiar.

My father.

He whispered something to her, too low for the camera to pick up, but her reaction was instant. She slapped him across the face.

Less than a minute later, she walked into the street… and was struck by an oncoming car.

It didn’t look like an accident.

Tears stung my eyes as I fast-forwarded. There were payments made to the judge who ruled her death accidental. Large transfers from Sinclair Global to obscure shell companies.

Everything Dominic said—it was all true.

I felt my world collapse around me.

My father wasn’t a hero. He wasn’t a man wronged. He was the architect of it all.

I stared blankly at the screen, my mind reeling. If I exposed this, I’d destroy the Sinclair name. My family. My father’s legacy. But if I didn’t… I’d be complicit in the very corruption I’d spent my life fighting.

A knock at the door jerked me out of my thoughts. I wiped my eyes, slammed the laptop shut, and walked over, expecting a maid or maybe even Dominic.

But it wasn’t him.

It was Thomas.

His smile was all teeth. “Evening, Elena. Hope I’m not interrupting.”

My blood ran cold.

“What do you want?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

“To offer you a choice,” he said smoothly, stepping inside without invitation. “Give me the drive—and I’ll make sure this all goes away. No one has to know. Your father’s name stays clean. Your engagement to Dominic? Dissolved.”

I stared at him, horrified. “You were watching me?”

“Oh, Elena,” he said, amused. “I’ve been watching both of you for a very long time. And unlike Dominic, I don’t let emotions get in the way of business.”

I backed away slowly, clutching the flash drive behind my back. “And if I don’t give it to you?”

His smile disappeared. “Then you’ll regret it.”

Before I could react, he lunged.