The Godfather’s Forsaken Rose Chapter 18
After the party, the pressure around Dominic was frighteningly low.
Sophia sensed something was wrong and became even more careful. She hovered around him, gentle and attentive, trying to soothe his irritability.
That night, she carried a glass of warm milk into his room and found him standing by the window, smoking. His back looked lonely and cold.
She walked over and said softly, “Dominic, have you been too tired lately? Would you like me to massage your temples? Do you remember when we first met? I almost fell from that ladder while saving a kitten in the tree, and you caught me. After we got together, I used to massage you like this. You said it helped.”
Sophia was trying to summon tenderness through the memory of their romantic first meeting.
But the longer Dominic listened, the deeper his frown became.
For some reason, he remembered an old servant of the Moretti family once whispering that Sophia, as a child, had not liked animals at all. That she had even secretly killed a neighbor’s cat.
He also remembered how Isabella had once mocked Sophia for it.
Back then, he had never cared. He had assumed Isabella was being malicious.
Now that old remark took root in his mind like a seed.
He pushed Sophia’s hand away without emotion.
“No. I want to be alone.”
Sophia’s eyes dimmed, but she did not dare say more. She withdrew quietly.
Fate sometimes turns without warning.
A few days later, while sorting through old files transferred from overseas storage, Dominic’s extremely capable deputy found a copy of an investigative report that had been deliberately buried for years.
It concerned the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fatal accident that killed Isabella’s mother.
The report showed that the crash had not been a simple accident. There were signs of deliberate interference, and the person who benefited most was Victor Moretti, who rose quickly afterward and took control of the Moretti family.
Almost at the same time, Dominic’s informant inside the Moretti family sent urgent news.
The Moretti family was already an empty shell.
In recent years, Victor had misappropriated massive amounts of family money and used complex overseas transactions to launder and transfer assets. Sophia and Elena were not only aware of it, they had been deeply involved.
The Moretti family was drowning in debt and on the edge of collapse.
Then came the secret recording.
It was a phone call between Sophia and one of her so-called friends. Her voice was clear, proud, and vicious.
“If I hadn’t deliberately fallen off that old ladder and pretended to save the cat, how would Dominic ever have noticed me? Men like him fall for fragile, pitiful women.”
“The garden incident was staged too. I knew Dominic was about to come out, so I timed it and threw myself against the stone bench. And the light fixture at the club? I paid someone to loosen it. I wanted it to be worse, so Dominic would feel sorry for me and completely hate that bitch Isabella. Who knew it would only scratch me? But it worked anyway.”
“Who does Isabella think she is? What right does she have to fight me? Dominic only had me in his heart from beginning to end. I used one tiny trick, and he believed me. He even had Isabella locked up for days. It felt wonderful.”
One truth after another cut open everything Dominic had believed like a scalpel.
The woman he thought was kind, fragile, and in need of protection had been a lie from beginning to end.
A carefully planned deception.
Every injury he had dealt Isabella had been built on those despicable lies.
He had been a fool, played by Sophia and her mother, while believing he was protecting love and responsibility.
The impact and regret rose like a tidal wave and swallowed him whole.
Dominic staggered back and dropped into a chair. His face was pale as paper, cold sweat gathering at his temples.
Pain cramped through his chest so violently he could barely breathe.