Chapter 6 - The Letter He Never Received
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Dominic read the letter alone first.
Or tried to.
He made it through three sentences.
Then stopped.
Elena’s words were too familiar.
Too alive.
Dominic,
I don’t know if you abandoned us or if someone wants me to believe you did.
He sat down.
Grace waited several feet away.
Maisie stayed with her.
Vivienne had been taken to another room under security supervision.
Dominic forced himself to continue.
I called your office eleven times.
Someone told me you refused the calls.
I sent two letters.
Both came back.
Then a woman from your family visited me.
She said you knew about Maisie and wanted nothing to do with us.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Elena did not name Vivienne.
Not yet.
She wrote that she did not believe the story at first.
Then someone showed her a legal agreement.
It promised money if she left New York and never identified Dominic as Maisie’s father.
Elena refused.
Two days later, someone broke into her apartment.
Nothing expensive was taken.
Only Maisie’s hospital documents.
That frightened her.
She left.
Not because she stopped loving Dominic.
Because she believed remaining near him might put Maisie in danger.
Dominic lowered the screen.
Grace whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t she call me directly?”
“She tried.”
“I had a private number.”
Grace nodded.
“She called it.”
Dominic looked up.
“It was disconnected.”
He remembered.
Vivienne had insisted the family security system be upgraded during his father’s illness.
Several numbers had changed.
Dominic had never questioned it.
He opened the rest of the letter.
Elena explained that she had retained copies of Maisie’s birth records.
She also had a sworn statement from a nurse.
And a blood sample card from the hospital.
Enough, she hoped, to prove paternity one day.
Then came the final paragraph.
If Maisie finds you, don’t punish her for my fear.
And don’t take her from Grace just because she is yours.
Love her slowly.
Let her decide whether you deserve to be called Dad.
Dominic closed his eyes.
Maisie was watching him.
Not fearfully.
Carefully.
He walked over.
“I knew your mother.”
Maisie nodded.
“Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
“Did she love you?”
Dominic looked at the letter.
“I think she did.”
Maisie considered that.
“Then why weren’t you there?”
There was no answer that didn’t hurt.
“Because I didn’t know.”
Vivienne’s voice suddenly came from the doorway.
“That’s convenient.”
Everyone turned.
She had slipped past one of the staff during a shift change.
Dominic stood.
Vivienne looked at Maisie.
Then at the screen.
“Elena wasn’t some innocent victim.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“What does that mean?”
Vivienne smiled.
“She was planning to use that child to take everything.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What everything?”
For the first time all night, Vivienne hesitated.
Grace whispered—
“The trust.”
Vivienne snapped toward her.
Dominic looked between them.
“What trust?”
Grace swallowed.
“Elena found out before she died.”
Vivienne’s anger became panic.
Because the secret behind Maisie’s identity was no longer just about fatherhood.
It was about ownership.
May you like
👉 Dominic had spent eight years believing Elena simply left him—but now he was about to learn that Maisie’s existence threatened something Vivienne had built her entire future around.
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