Yet, ever since Paige entered the picture, he had avoided eating cheese fondue with me for years, using work as an excuse.
As he continued placing food on my plate, he sighed. “Remember when you were seven? You were almost kidnapped by traffickers. If I hadn’t sensed something was off and called the police… who knows where you’d have ended up, suffering in some
remote corner of the country.”
As he reminisced about the past, it stirred up memories of my own.
I lost my parents when I was five and had no other relatives to turn to.
Fortunately, my parents had set up a will and created a trust fund for me long before their passing.
After they died, the legal team followed their instructions, hiring a general manager to run the company. I had a housekeeper, a
1/3
manny, and a driver to take care of my daily needs, all waiting for me to come of age and take over the inheritance.
When I was seven, my playful nature almost got me kidnapped by traffickers. Dominic saved me.
He looked so thin and ragged back then, his skin darkened from the hardships he endured. I learned that he and his family had fled from the mountains to seek a better life in the city. In gratitude, I offered them a house and a car and even helped them find
jobs.
He and I naturally developed a bond that deepened over the years as we grew up side by side.
Despite his family’s constant scrutiny and their belief that I was unworthy of him, my life was peaceful and happy. 2
As I listened to him recount those memories while thinking about our current state of hostility… It made my heart ache.
After all these years we spent together, I found myself hesitating over whether I should truly go through with such drastic
measures.
Before I could make up my mind, Dominic suddenly shifted gears.
With an air of superiority, he declared, “Carlee, all this fuss you’re making is just to get me back into the family and join my
research team, right? I’m willing to agree. I’ll make sure to come home at least once a week, and you can be my assistant. But
first, you need to go to the police and say the video was a forgery. Get them to release Paige!”
It turned out he had been laying the groundwork all along, hoping our shared history would soften my heart and make me let
Paige off the hook.
I felt utterly disappointed in him.
I threw my juice right in his face with a splash and then dumped the sauce over his head.
“Dominic, thank you for repeatedly demonstrating that pitying a man only leads to unhappiness. Consider this my official notice:
I’m filing for divorce. You’ll walk away with nothing while your little mistress faces the consequences,” I said. “You both should
have been living a life of hardship from the start and now it’s time for you to return to the lives you
deserve!”
