Chương 5
“I want you to understand.”
“I do.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You understand that I’m angry.”
I stepped closer.
“You understand that my father is involved.”
“You understand that there may be consequences.”
His expression changed slightly.
Because I was right.
“But do you understand why I’m hurt?”
Dominic looked down.
The room became quiet.
Finally, he said, “Because you needed me.”
It was not enough.
But it was something.
I waited.
He continued.
“And I wasn’t there.”
The words sounded uncomfortable coming from him.
Like he was forcing himself to say something he had avoided his entire life.
I wondered if that was part of Dominic’s problem.
Not that he did not feel things.
That he had never learned how to sit with them.
“I need time,” I said.
He nodded.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer bothered him.
I could see it.
Dominic liked plans.
Schedules.
Numbers.
Things he could control.
Feelings were harder.
“I’m not going back to the apartment,” I said.
His eyes lifted.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t feel safe there emotionally.”
“That’s a little extreme.”
The sentence came too quickly.
The progress disappeared.
I stared at him.
He realized immediately.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
He closed his mouth.
A knock interrupted us.
Both of us looked toward the door.
I walked over and opened it.
Rachel stood there.
Her expression changed slightly when she saw Dominic.
“Mr. Vale.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Who is this?”
“My attorney.”
His jaw tightened.
“You already hired an attorney?”
“I met with one.”
The distinction mattered.
But he did not hear it.
“You’re really doing this.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“Mr. Vale, I’m not here to fight with you.”
“That’s what attorneys say before they fight.”
She did not react.
“I’m here because there are documents that need review.”
Dominic looked at me.
“What documents?”
I glanced at Rachel.
Then back at him.
“The apartment.”
“The vehicle.”
“Financial matters.”
His expression hardened.
“Financial matters?”
The old defensiveness returned.
“Audrey, seriously?”
“What?”
“You’re going after me now?”
I felt something inside me close.
Not because he was angry.
Because he had already decided what I was doing.
“You think protecting myself is attacking you.”
“You’re making this bigger than it needs to be.”
“No.”
I looked directly at him.
“I’m finally making it as big as it always was.”
Rachel quietly handed him an envelope.
He did not take it at first.
Then he did.
His eyes moved over the front.
“You’re serving me?”
“No one is serving you,” Rachel said.
“These are voluntary documents for review.”
Dominic looked embarrassed.
Not ashamed.
Embarrassed.
There was a difference.
He hated being seen as someone who was losing control.
“I need to go.”
Nobody stopped him.
At the door, he turned back.
For a second, I thought he might apologize again.
Instead, he said, “Your father is going to destroy me.”
The honesty of the statement surprised me.
I shook my head.
“My father didn’t do this, Dominic.”
His face changed.
“He didn’t leave me outside that hospital.”
“He didn’t give me twelve dollars.”
“He didn’t make me feel like I was inconvenient.”
Dominic looked at the floor.
Then he left.
After the door closed, Rachel remained silent.
Finally, she said, “Are you worried about what he’ll do?”
I looked at the closed door.
“Yes.”
“Because he’s dangerous?”
I thought about it.
“No.”
“Then why?”
I looked toward the bedroom where Leo slept.
“Because I’m worried he’ll become the person I hoped he was again.”
Rachel’s expression softened.
“That’s usually the hardest person to leave.”
That night, I received an email from Dominic.
No subject line.
Just one sentence.
I found something in the SUV.
I read it three times.
Then I opened the second line.
Something that changes everything.
I did not open the email immediately.
That was the first thing I noticed about myself.
A week earlier, I would have clicked without hesitation.
I would have needed to know.
I would have spent the entire night replaying every possible meaning behind those words.
Something that changes everything.
But now I sat on the edge of the bed with Leo sleeping beside me and stared at the screen.
I had spent years responding to Dominic’s urgency.
His emergencies became mine.
His deadlines became mine.
His moods became something I managed.
The strangest part of leaving was realizing how often I had confused someone else’s panic with my responsibility.
I placed the phone on the nightstand.
Then I turned off the light.
I did not sleep well.
Not because of the email.
Because for the first time, I was not chasing an answer.
The next morning, I called Rachel before I called Dominic.
She answered while I was warming a bottle.
“Good morning.”
“Dominic says he found something in the SUV.”
There was a pause.
“What exactly did he say?”
I read the message.
Rachel did not respond immediately.
“That is intentionally vague.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Do you know what he could have found?”
“No.”
“Has anyone else had access to the vehicle?”
I looked toward the window.
The SUV was still parked in the underground garage beneath the building where Dominic and I had lived.
“Dominic.”
I hesitated.
“Probably his family.”
“Probably is not the same as confirmed.”
“I know.”
I heard papers moving on her end.
“Do not meet him alone.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
The firmness in her voice made me smile slightly.
“You sound like my father.”
“That may be the nicest thing anyone has said to me this week.”
I laughed quietly.
It was the first real laugh I had allowed myself since leaving.
Rachel continued.
“I’ll contact the building management and confirm access records.”
“Can they do that?”
“They can confirm who entered common areas and when.”
She paused.
“It does not mean we automatically know what happened inside the vehicle.”
“I understand.”
“And Audrey?”
May you like
“Yes?”
“Whatever he found, do not let the discovery itself force you back into a conversation you are not ready to have.”
