Chapter 5 - The Heirloom's SecretWith the digital threat neutralized, Dominic ordered everyone out of the study—except me.
He poured two glasses of amber scotch, sliding one across the desk. I didn't touch it; my body was already rejecting the adrenaline crash, the pain in my chest flaring up like a bed of hot coals.
"You lied on your resume," Dominic said quietly, leaning back in his leather chair. "An ex-DoD cyber specialist doesn't just end up starving with eight dollars in their pocket unless someone systematically erased them. Who are you running from?"
"No one you need to worry about," I replied, gritting my teeth as a sharp spasm hit my ribs. "And I didn't lie. I was framed, fired, and left for dead by a corporate contractor three years ago. My name was scrubbed. Just like yours."
Dominic studied me for a long moment, then reached into his desk drawer. He pulled out a heavy, leather-bound journal with water-damaged pages. He pushed it across the table.
"Eva’s journal," Dominic said. "My late wife. Read the last entry."
I opened the stiff pages. The handwriting was elegant, sweeping, but grew shaky toward the end. My eyes scanned the final paragraph:
"The syndicate is fracturing. Someone close to us wants the bloodline ended so they can take the crown. Dominic won't see it because he trusts too deeply. But a stranger will come—a man with a broken heart and a bleeding soul. He will carry our daughter when the wolves close in. Trust him, my love, because he has nothing left to lose."
I looked up, stunned. "She wrote this four years ago. Before she died."
"Before she was murdered," Dominic corrected grimly. "Everyone thought she died of natural complications in childbirth, but I knew better. Someone poisoned her slow. And tonight, they tried to finish the job with Lily."
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Dominic stood up, walking over to the window that overlooked the rain-slicked iron gates of the estate.
"Elena didn't act alone. She took orders from the board of directors of Rosetti Holdings. Which means my own brother, Vincent Rosetti, is the one trying to wipe out my bloodline."
