Chapter 12 - The City TurnsFor three days, Chicago devoured them.
Reporters camped outside the penthouse.
Old photographs of Dominic appeared online. Some real. Some edited. Some from a life he had spent years trying to leave behind.
Clara watched strangers debate whether she was a victim, accomplice, gold digger, saint, or strategist.
By Thursday, the Harbor Light donations had tripled.
By Friday, Raines Capital lost two major partners.
By Saturday, city council postponed the lakefront vote indefinitely.
Nolan Whitmore smiled on morning television and said, “Accountability matters.”
Clara nearly threw the remote.
Dominic spent most of his time with attorneys, auditors, and investigators. He did not sleep much. When he did, Clara woke to find him reaching for her in the dark.
On Sunday morning, Clara found him in the kitchen making coffee he had forgotten to drink.
“You’re disappearing,” she said.
He looked up.
“I’m here.”
“No. Your body is here. The rest of you is in some war room deciding how much pain you’re allowed to feel.”
Dominic rubbed his face.
Clara stepped closer.
“Talk to me.”
He gave a tired laugh. “About which disaster?”
“About the one you keep hiding.”
He knew immediately.
Marco.
Family.
Past.
Dominic leaned against the counter.
“When my father died, everyone expected me to become worse than him. For a while, I did.”
Clara listened.
“I thought fear was the only language men respected. Then I met you.”
She looked down.
“You make that sound simple.”
“It wasn’t. Loving you did not redeem me. It exposed me.”
Her eyes filled.
Dominic continued, “Every day, I choose not to be what they made me. But men like Marco only need one mistake to prove I never changed.”
Clara took his hand.
“Then we don’t give them one mistake.”
His phone buzzed.
Dominic ignored it.
Clara glanced at the screen.
Unknown caller.
It buzzed again.
She answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Tell Raines to withdraw from the lakefront bid, or the next video released will ruin his wife.”
Clara went cold.
Dominic took the phone slowly.
“Who is this?”
The voice laughed.
“Ask Clara what she did before she became Mrs. Raines.”
The call ended.
Clara stared at Dominic.
He looked at her gently.
“Tell me.”
May you like
And for the first time, Clara realized Nolan had not uncovered Dominic’s darkest secret.
He had uncovered hers.
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