Chapter 3 - THE LETTERS THAT NEVER REACHED HIM
Dominic spent the night reading Anna's letters.
He read them alone.
The first was furious.
Dominic, if you wanted to end things, you could have looked me in the eyes.
The fourth:
The doctor says the baby is healthy. I don't know whether you care, but I thought you should know.
The seventh:
He moved today. At least I think it's a he. It felt like a butterfly under my ribs.
The twelfth:
Your mother says you are engaged to Camille. I wish you had told me yourself.
The seventeenth:
I am not asking for money anymore. I just want you to know your child.
Then number twenty-three.
The handwriting was shaky.
Dominic, I won't write again.
He stopped.
Forced himself onward.
I finally understand silence is an answer too. I will raise our baby without you. I only hope one day, if he asks about his father, I can find something kind to say.
Dominic lowered the letter.
For several minutes he could not move.
Then he cried.
Quietly.
The kind of crying a man learns when he has spent his life believing grief should not make noise.
At sunrise, Anna found him asleep in the chair outside her room.
Twenty-three letters were stacked beside him.
She understood immediately.
“You found them.”
Dominic woke.
“Yes.”
Neither knew what to say.
Finally he stood.
“Anna, I need you to understand something.”
She waited.
“I never received them.”
“I know.”
“I never sent that message ending things.”
Her lips parted.
“I never blocked you.”
Tears appeared.
“And I never believed you were trying to trap me.”
Anna looked away.
Dominic stepped closer but did not touch her.
“May I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“If my mother hadn't interfered... would you have stayed?”
Anna cried.
“I was waiting for you to ask me to.”
That answer nearly destroyed him.
But love could not be repaired simply by identifying the villain.
Too much had happened.
Anna had been abandoned emotionally even if Dominic had not chosen the abandonment.
She had been humiliated inside his home.
He had unknowingly lived in comfort while she worked downstairs carrying his child.
Dominic understood that saying I didn't know did not erase what she survived.
So he did not ask for forgiveness.
He asked:
“What do you need?”
Anna looked surprised.
“A place where your mother cannot reach me.”
“Done.”
“And my own phone.”
“Today.”
“My identification documents.”
His expression hardened.
“She has those?”
Anna nodded.
“Passport. Social Security card. Nursing-school records.”
Dominic's anger returned.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I don't want you deciding everything because you're angry.”
That stopped him.
“Okay.”
“This is my baby too.”
“Yes.”
“And I don't want to become another person in this house who does what you say because you're Dominic Rainer.”
He stared at her.
Then nodded.
“Fair.”
For the first time, Anna saw the man she remembered.
Not the billionaire.
Not the furious son.
Dominic.
“Thank you.”
That afternoon he moved Anna to a private guesthouse on the estate with Dr. Sullivan's approval.
Not because he wanted distance.
Because Anna requested it.
Then Dominic hired independent attorney Rachel Kim to represent Anna—not him.
He paid the initial retainer into a blind legal fund and signed an agreement preventing himself from directing Rachel’s advice.
When Anna heard, she almost smiled.
“You thought of that?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Rachel.”
Anna laughed.
It was the first time Dominic heard her laugh since returning.
He almost cried again.
Meanwhile, White Harbor Consulting became the center of a different investigation.
Dominic's chief financial officer discovered payments totaling $3.8 million over four years.
All approved through Evelyn's discretionary family office.
Camille Ashford received most of it.
Why?
Dominic requested a meeting.
Camille arrived in sunglasses and confidence.
Until she saw the documents.
“What is this?”
“You tell me.”
She read the White Harbor transfer.
Her face changed.
“Dominic—”
“Did you know Anna was pregnant?”
Silence.
“Camille.”
“Yes.”
His stomach turned.
“When?”
“Your mother told me.”
“And the miscarriage?”
Camille looked away.
“She said Anna was leaving.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Camille whispered:
“Yes.”
“You knew the baby lived.”
“Yes.”
Dominic stepped away because rage required distance.
“Why?”
Camille began crying.
“Your mother promised me you would come back to me.”
He laughed once.
“You helped erase my child because you wanted to date me?”
“No!”
“Then explain.”
Camille revealed the truth.
Evelyn had promised her marriage.
Not emotionally.
Strategically.
The Ashford family controlled a shipping insurance consortium crucial to Rainer Maritime.
A Dominic-Camille marriage would merge influence.
Anna ruined that plan.
Camille helped Evelyn create fake messages and process settlement paperwork.
In return, White Harbor received payments disguised as consulting fees.
“But I never hurt Anna.”
Dominic stared.
“You helped convince a pregnant woman that her child's father abandoned her.”
Camille stopped.
“You don't get to define hurt.”
She lowered her head.
Then Dominic asked:
“Who forged my signature?”
Camille went silent.
That silence was different.
Fear.
“Camille.”
“You don't understand.”
“Tell me.”
“It wasn't your mother.”
Dominic froze.
“Who?”
Camille looked toward the door.
Then whispered the name of someone Dominic had trusted since childhood.
May you like
“Your brother.”
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