Chapter 4: The Ring on the Counter
Sloane recovered quickly.
“Victor told me there might be a woman pretending her children were yours.”
“You called them my sons,” Dominic said.
“You didn’t say children.”
“I misspoke.”
“No.
You knew.”
Elena pulled the boys behind her.
Sloane’s eyes followed the envelope in Dominic’s hand.
“That woman disappeared after taking money from your father,” Sloane said.
“Ask her how much.”
“I never took a cent,” Elena replied.
“Then why run?”
“Because a Moretti stood in my apartment and told me Dominic would suffer if I stayed.”
Sloane gave a thin smile.
“Convenient.
His father cannot defend himself.”
Dominic removed the velvet box from his jacket.
He placed it beside the marble sink without opening it.
Sloane stared at it.
“What are you doing?”
“What I should have done before tonight.”
“Dominic, both families are waiting.”
“Let them wait.”
“You will humiliate me over an accusation from a woman who vanished six years ago?”
Dominic stepped between Sloane and the children.
“I’m ending an arrangement I never should have accepted.”
Sloane’s hand shot toward the envelope.
Dominic caught her wrist before her fingers touched it.
“Why do you want this?”
“I don’t.”
“Then stop reaching for it.”
Luca tugged Elena’s sleeve.
“Mom, you didn’t answer me.”
Elena knelt before him.
Leo, Nico, and Matteo pressed close beside their brother.
“Yes,” she said.
“Dominic is your father.”
The four boys turned together.
Dominic lowered himself until they were eye to eye.
“I didn’t know about you,” he said.
“If I had known, I would have come.”
Matteo frowned.
“All four of us?”
A rough sound escaped Dominic’s throat.
“Especially all four of you.”
Sloane picked up the velvet box.
“This evening was planned for months.”
Dominic held out his hand.
“Put it down.”
“You promised our families.”
“I promised to attend dinner.
I never promised to surrender my judgment.”
“You think Elena came here by chance?” Sloane snapped.
“She knew about tonight.”
Elena rose.
“I came for my sister’s wedding.”
“At Bellamy House?”
“Tomorrow.
The rehearsal dinner is upstairs.”
Sloane’s confidence flickered.
Dominic saw it.
“How did you know which hotel she was using?” he asked.
“I didn’t.”
“You arrived here within minutes of her.”
“You ignored my calls.”
“And went directly to the restroom?”
Sloane placed the box on the counter.
“Victor said you might need help.”
The room became silent.
Dominic moved closer.
“My uncle sent you?”
“I said nothing of the sort.”
“You just used his name.”
Sloane’s phone lit up in her hand.
A message appeared before she turned it over.
DID HE SEE THE PHOTOGRAPH?
Dominic took the phone.
Sloane clawed for it, but he held it beyond her reach.
“Give that back.”
“Who sent this?”
“You have no right.”
“You planned to become my wife while helping someone watch my children.”
Sloane’s face hardened.
“If you choose her, Victor will remove you from every Moretti company before midnight.”
“Then he had better start making calls.”
Dominic’s own phone rang.
VICTOR MORETTI filled the screen.
He answered on speaker.
“Dominic,” Victor said, “bring Elena and the boys to the conservatory.”
“Why?”
“Because your father left instructions concerning any child you might have.”
Dominic looked at Elena.
Her fingers closed around Leo’s shoulder.
“What instructions?”
May you like
Victor paused.
“The kind that could leave those boys with nothing—and their mother facing the police.”
