CHAPTER 5 – THE TRUTH DOMINIC HAD HIDDEN FOR TWO YEARS
CHAPTER 5 – THE TRUTH DOMINIC HAD HIDDEN FOR TWO YEARS
Dominic didn't remember leaving the restaurant.
One moment he was standing beside the table, Audrey's wedding ring resting in his trembling palm.
The next, he was sitting inside a taxi, staring blankly at the Manhattan skyline.
His phone rang again.
Martin Reeves.
He answered immediately.
"Tell me something good."
Silence.
Then Martin spoke.
"I can't."
Dominic closed his eyes.
"What now?"
"The board voted."
"What board?"
"Our board."
"They've called an emergency meeting for six o'clock."
"So?"
"They're discussing whether you should take a temporary leave as CEO."
Dominic nearly shouted.
"I founded this company!"
"You own thirty-eight percent."
Martin corrected him quietly.
"The rest belongs to investors."
Dominic felt his chest tighten.
"They can't remove me."
"They can."
"If they believe you've become a liability."
At exactly six o'clock, the boardroom was full.
Every director had arrived.
So had representatives from the company's largest investors.
Dominic walked in expecting support.
Instead...
No one stood to greet him.
Board Chairman Harold Sinclair folded his hands.
"Please sit."
Dominic remained standing.
"I've been told you're discussing my position."
Harold nodded.
"We are."
"This is absurd."
"Is it?"
Harold slid a thick file across the table.
"We've been reviewing several matters."
Dominic frowned.
"What matters?"
"The way you've been running VanceTech."
Dominic scoffed.
"Our revenue tripled."
"Our valuation increased."
Harold looked directly at him.
"Yes."
"But apparently not because of you."
Dominic's confidence faltered.
"What does that mean?"
Harold opened the file.
"For the last three years..."
"...Brooks Global quietly guaranteed several of our financing rounds."
Dominic laughed nervously.
"No."
"They never invested."
"Correct."
"They guaranteed."
He frowned.
"What's the difference?"
The company's legal counsel answered.
"When banks considered lending money to VanceTech..."
"They were informed that the company had indirect strategic support from the Brooks family."
Dominic stared.
"No."
"They never told me."
"They weren't required to."
Another director leaned forward.
"Without those guarantees..."
"The bank would never have approved your first forty-million-dollar credit facility."
Another document appeared.
"Nor your second."
Another.
"Nor your overseas expansion."
Another.
"Nor your government technology contract."
Each page felt like another punch.
Dominic whispered,
"So..."
"I didn't actually build this company..."
Harold answered without emotion.
"You built part of it."
"The foundation came from trust."
"And that trust came from one person."
He slid the final document across the table.
A confidential memo signed three years earlier.
Approved at the request of Miss Audrey Brooks.
Dominic couldn't breathe.
Audrey.
She had never asked for recognition.
Never mentioned her father.
Never used her name.
She had simply protected him...
Because she loved him.
Until he destroyed everything.
Meanwhile...
Brooks Estate.
Audrey sat in the nursery while Leo slept peacefully.
Her longtime nanny, Margaret, quietly rocked the bassinet.
"You should rest."
Audrey smiled faintly.
"I've rested enough."
"You've been reading legal documents for four hours."
"I need to."
Margaret hesitated.
"Do you still love him?"
The question lingered in the air.
Audrey looked through the nursery window toward the gardens.
"I love the man I married."
A pause.
"I don't recognize the man he became."
Margaret nodded.
"Sometimes they're the same person."
Audrey slowly shook her head.
"No."
"The man I married would've carried me out of that hospital."
Tears finally welled in her eyes.
"The man I married would've held his son before checking his phone."
She wiped her face.
"The man I married would've never let his mother humiliate me."
Margaret squeezed her hand.
"You aren't grieving your marriage."
"You are grieving your hope."
Audrey looked at Leo.
"That's exactly what hurts."
That evening...
Charles Brooks entered the nursery.
He quietly watched his grandson sleeping.
Then sat beside his daughter.
"I met with Legal."
Audrey nodded.
"I assumed you would."
Charles looked unusually hesitant.
"There is something you need to know."
"What?"
"We've completed an internal investigation."
Her expression changed.
"What investigation?"
Charles slid a tablet toward her.
Security footage.
Dates.
Financial records.
Hotel receipts.
Audrey frowned.
"What am I looking at?"
Charles answered carefully.
"Dominic."
Her stomach sank.
"Doing what?"
Charles didn't answer immediately.
Instead...
He played the first video.
Dominic entering a luxury condominium.
Late at night.
Not alone.
Natalie wasn't with him.
Neither were investors.
A woman Audrey had never seen before greeted him with a kiss.
The timestamp...
Three months before Leo had been conceived.
Audrey's face turned pale.
"No..."
Charles nodded sadly.
"There were others."
Another video.
Another woman.
Another hotel.
Another date.
The evidence continued.
Audrey covered her mouth.
"He..."
Charles spoke quietly.
"We believe there were at least four affairs."
Silence filled the room.
Then came the document that shattered the last remaining illusion.
A series of private text messages recovered during financial discovery.
Unknown Woman: When are you finally leaving your wife?
Dominic: After the baby is born.
Unknown Woman: Why wait?
Dominic: Because her family still thinks she's useful.
Audrey stopped reading.
Her hands began shaking uncontrollably.
"He knew..."
Charles nodded.
"He believed you still had access to your father's money."
Another message.
Dominic: Once the funding closes, Audrey can leave if she wants.
Unknown Woman: And the baby?
Dominic: We'll deal with that later.
Audrey felt physically sick.
Everything.
Every apology.
Every promise.
Every late meeting.
Every forgotten anniversary.
Every cold night.
It had all been a lie.
Charles gently took the tablet away.
"You don't have to read anymore."
For several minutes, Audrey couldn't speak.
Finally, she whispered,
"I kept wondering what I had done wrong."
Charles looked at his daughter with heartbreaking tenderness.
"You married a man who stopped deserving you."
She leaned against her father's shoulder and cried for the first time since leaving the hospital.
May you like
Not because she still wanted Dominic back.
But because every beautiful memory she had cherished had just been exposed as something built on deception.
