Chapter 16 - Elena’s LetterMy Dominic,
If you are reading this, then our daughter survived long enough to find the truth, and perhaps that means some mercy still exists in this world.
Do not blame her for not knowing you.
Do not blame yourself for not finding her.
Blame the men who taught us that love was weakness and called cruelty inheritance.
I do not have much time. They think I am sleeping. I am not. Our daughter is beside me. She has your eyes when she is angry, though she is only hours old. She has my mouth, poor thing. She already looks as if she disapproves of this family.
I named her Sofia because you once told me wisdom was the only weapon no one could confiscate.
If they change her name, remember this one.
If they hide her face, remember mine.
If they tell you I died in the fire, know that I lived long enough to hold her.
Know that I asked for you.
Know that until my last clear breath, I believed you would come if you knew.
Dominic stopped reading.
The library was silent except for Harper’s soft breathing.
Lily’s face had gone white.
Mia pressed a bandaged hand to her mouth.
Dominic forced himself to continue.
Your father believes I betrayed you because I wanted you free. Perhaps he is right. I did want you free. I wanted you to wake without checking locks. I wanted our child to grow without learning which men at the table carried guns. I wanted dinners where silence meant peace, not calculation.
I took copies of the ledgers because I thought truth could buy our way out.
I was naive.
But I was not wrong.
Nathan knows more than he should. He watches you with the hunger of a man who thinks loyalty should be rewarded with ownership. Do not trust his grief. Do not trust his sacrifice. Some men save your life only so they can spend it later.
If Victoria Ashford keeps her promise, Sofia will live. Hate her if you must. I do not know if I forgive her. But she is the only woman in this house tonight who chose the child over the empire.
Dominic looked at Victoria.
She was shaking.
Lily stared at the floor as if the boards had become water.
There is one more thing.
Aldo did not act alone.
He had help from someone inside the church, someone inside the county, and someone inside your own heart who knew exactly which lie would keep you obedient.
They will tell you vengeance is justice because vengeance is simple.
Do not believe them.
Justice is harder.
Justice is leaving something clean behind for the child.
For our child.
If you find Sofia, do not try to make her love you through guilt. Do not build her a golden cage because you lost her first one. Let her choose you, if she can. Let her hate you, if she must. Let her ask every question they punished me for asking.
And if another woman ever stands between your power and a child, listen to the child.
Children hear what adults sell their souls not to hear.
I love you.
I am sorry.
I am not afraid of dying.
I am afraid you will keep living among the men who killed me.
Come home to yourself, Dominic.
For her.
For us.
Elena.
By the time Dominic finished, the letter trembled in his hand.
No one moved.
Then Lily turned and walked out.
Dominic started after her.
Victoria whispered, “Let her breathe.”
Dominic stopped.
Mia stood carefully.
“I’ll go.”
He looked at her.
“You can barely walk.”
“She doesn’t need someone powerful right now.”
Mia followed Lily into the hall.
She found her outside the nursery, standing before the closed door with Elena’s letter pressed to her chest.
Lily did not turn.
“I thought I wanted proof,” she said.
Mia stood beside her.
“And now?”
“Now proof feels like another room I was locked in.”
Mia understood that too well.
Lily’s voice broke.
“She loved me.”
“Yes.”
“She knew my name.”
“Yes.”
“She told him not to make me love him.”
Mia nodded.
“She sounds wise.”
Lily laughed through tears.
“She named me Sofia. Wisdom. That’s unfair.”
Mia smiled sadly.
“Mothers are unfair like that. We give names too big for babies and hope they grow into them.”
Lily looked at her then.
“Why did you write to me?”
Mia thought of Harper waving at the gates. Of Lily standing in the snow like a question no one had answered.
“Because you looked like a girl waiting for someone to open the door.”
Lily wiped her face.
“Did Dominic ever notice you before this?”
Mia hesitated.
“He noticed coffee.”
Lily almost smiled.
Then the smile faded.
“My mother told him to leave something clean behind. Do you think he can?”
Mia looked toward the library where Dominic stood alone beneath the weight of a dead woman’s handwriting.
“I think he wants to.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No,” Mia said. “It isn’t.”
Downstairs, a shout rang out.
Then glass shattered.
The estate alarm screamed again.
Daniel’s voice thundered from below.
“Nathan’s gone!”
Dominic appeared at the end of the hall, Elena’s letter still in his hand.
Lily looked at him.
For the first time, she did not look away.
Dominic said one word.
“Harper.”
Mia’s blood turned cold.
They ran back to the library.
The sofa was empty.
May you like
Harper was gone.
On the blanket where she had slept lay one white rose.
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