Chapter 2 - THE WEDDING THAT ENDED BEFORE THE VOWS
“Where is he?”
Dominic's voice was so quiet that Clara almost missed it.
She stared at the photograph. The boy's dark curls, solemn eyes, and small scar beneath his chin were unmistakable.
“His name is Leo,” she whispered.
Dominic closed his eyes.
For twenty-three days, he had believed his sister's son was dead.
Sofia Castiglione Bell had been killed when her car exploded near the Chicago River. Investigators recovered her body, but not Leo's. Dominic had paid divers, detectives, and private investigators to search every mile of shoreline.
Now a bleeding bride stood before him wearing a strip of Sofia's favorite scarf.
“Tell me where you saw him.”
“At the Lakeside Motor Inn. Three weeks ago.”
“Was he injured?”
“His feet were bleeding. He was soaked and freezing.”
Dominic looked at the blue silk.
“He tried to help you.”
Clara nodded.
“After I was shot, he tied it around my leg.”
Behind them, Tommy Higgins cleared his throat.
“Dominic, we should finish the ceremony. We can discuss everything afterward.”
Dominic slowly turned.
“There will be no ceremony.”
The cathedral erupted in whispers.
Tommy went pale.
“But the agreement—”
“What agreement?”
Clara looked between them.
Dominic answered first.
“Your brother told my representative you had agreed to a marriage of convenience. I was told the arrangement was voluntary.”
Clara stared.
“Voluntary?”
Tommy lowered his eyes.
“You told me I was payment for your debt,” she said.
Dominic's expression darkened.
“Thomas, I never demanded your sister as payment.”
Clara felt the world tilt.
The debt was real, but the marriage had been manufactured. Tommy had borrowed against the family's garage and then convinced Clara that becoming Dominic's wife was the only way to save it.
“Why?” she asked her brother.
“I was desperate.”
“You could have told me.”
“You wouldn't have agreed.”
“Exactly.”
The word struck harder than a slap.
Dominic ordered his men to clear the cathedral and summoned medical assistance.
Clara refused his hand when he offered to help her stand.
He withdrew it.
“Would you prefer a wheelchair?”
She hated needing one.
But her knee was swollen, and blood had soaked the inside of her shoe.
“Yes.”
Dominic nodded.
No argument.
No humiliation.
While they waited, Clara described the motel.
Leo had appeared shortly after two in the morning, carrying a broken green dinosaur. He begged her not to call the police. Minutes later, a stranger wearing a silver watch knocked and claimed to be the boy's father.
Clara lied.
The man returned through the bathroom window.
He demanded Leo.
She fought him.
The gun went off.
The boy escaped while Clara collapsed.
Dominic listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he asked for the police report.
His security chief, Matteo Russo, found it within minutes.
The report stated Clara had accidentally discharged a firearm while alone in her motel room.
Clara stared at him.
“That's a lie.”
Dominic read the signature.
Detective Raymond Vale.
His face hardened.
Vale was the same detective who had investigated Sofia's murder.
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Someone had erased Clara's testimony.
And that meant someone knew Leo was alive.
