“You are still wearing your ring.”
Louisa looked up and quickly down again. She couldn’t think about this yet. She had the information, and now she needed answers.
“So that’s it?” she asked coming to sit on the edge of the lounge. “This is all because she was in love with you.” She shook her head. All of these years, she had left Dominic because she wanted to be independent. She wanted to build her own life, with her own friends and her own money. When all along, every step of the way she was just shielding herself from the truth, that she was scared to love anyone again, scared that they would be taken away from her, and now, it had nearly cost her everything she had achieved. “Ok, I get that she wanted you. You knew her long before I knew you, I mean before you and I were together.”
“Look.” Dominic came and sat on the edge of the wooden coffee table so that he could sit facing her. “You had no way of knowing what she was doing. She’s been doing it for years, forging documents to feed to your firm for cases. All in the aim of destroying you in the hope that I wouldn’t want a penniless woman.”
“Her father though,” she said, looking out of the window over his shoulder to avoid looking at him.
“I contacted Margaret, and once she understood that he was acting under the impression that she was trying to bring his company down and explained what Cassandra was doing she agreed to drop the charges as long as he was investigated for his original mistake, which started this whole mess.”
“I still can’t believe this, and I work with criminals for a living.” Louisa gave a short laugh at the irony behind the whole situation. “I have seen the evidence, and yet I don’t want to believe it.”
“I’m glad,” Dominic said.
She looked up, surprised at the tenderness in his voice. There was no trace of a smile on his lips. He leant forwards and grasped her hands in his. She tried to pull away, but he held her firmly. “No, you need to listen to me. If you had taken this in when you first found out, you wouldn’t have been the woman I know that you are. You have so much love for people that you won’t even consider that Cassandra may just be a nasty person. Louisa, you have so much compassion, and that’s what makes you such a good lawyer. You see the person and the crime, and you decide which is more important. She has broken everything you have, yet you still give pause before exposing her. But you don’t have to. What she did is bigger than you and me. It may have affected hundreds of cases, of lives over the years.”
Louisa listened as he spoke, not taking in what he was saying. Cassandra had been there for her, through her break-up with Dominic when she had first arrived at the University, when she had almost dropped out of school after she failed her first exam. She knew her, had trusted her.
“Louisa.” Dominic grasped her chin and turned her face up so that he could watch her face. “You need to do this.”
She pushed him away and stood. “No, I need to talk to her first. I need to hear it from her myself.” She left the room not pausing to see if he was following.
Seeing Cassandra was easier than she had expected. Not only that but the other woman had confessed to everything except the forged documents, knowing that they would get her in more trouble than she could get out of. But that didn’t matter. Louisa had enough information to prove that part without a confession. The information that Dominic had given her was surprising. Sure, Cassandra’s father had stuffed up, but had he confessed straight up he would have received a warning for malpractice and been allowed to continue. He had forged evidence for a case where the man was clearly guilty. Had he been re-tried they would reach the same verdict she was sure. After this, though, she was not sure either Cassandra or her father would be allowed to continue practicing law. To stoop to corporate espionage and physical harm was beyond anything Louisa would have imagined they were capable of. But to target Dominic just to hurt her was low and childish. A college crush and a broken heart on Cassandra’s part had been carried all her life. In a way Louisa felt bad for the woman.
She needed to clear her head of all of this nastiness. She was used to lies and betrayal of the human spirit. She was a lawyer after all. It was different being on the other side of it. She felt a hole where she had once had trust. With Cassandra’s betrayal she felt as if the world she had built was all fake. She wandered the streets before she found herself seated beside the fire at the café Dominic had first taken her to, below her new office that she had continued to lease from Dominic. She watched the other people in the room and wondered if Dominic would come in whilst she was there. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to see him. Staring at her phone on the table in front of her which displayed his contact details on the screen, she absorbed the warming glow of the fire lit in the giant old fireplace. She wouldn’t call him. She wasn’t ready, yet she wanted to see him. She knew that he could calm her, tell her it would all be all right. She wouldn’t call him yet. She needed to get her own life back in order before she could think of getting involved in someone else’s life again.
“No, he won’t. I heard from his assistant that he hasn’t been seen out of his apartment in days. He’s refused all invitations, too.”
Louisa picked up her drink to give her hands something to do. The waitress served a group at the table next to hers. They spoke freely, so she guessed they hadn’t recognised her from the small wedding announcement that had appeared in the paper last week, she guessed curtsey of Cole.
“He will be at the fund raiser next week, though? I know his sister well. There is no way she will let him miss it, and she flew in yesterday to finalise the details.” The waitress shrugged and went to serve some businessmen who had just come down stairs. Louisa thought about everything she had to do. If what the waitress said was true, Dominic was missing her as much as she missed him. The thought was more confusing than what Cassandra had done. Dominic had not defended her. Sure he told her he loved her, but then had not spoken a word in her defence to Cole’s claims or even let her try to explain.
“Excuse me?” Louisa asked the man who said he knew Sophie. “Do you happen to know where she is staying?”
“With her brothers as far as I know.”
He was not unkind, but it was clear he wanted to get back to his friends.
Louisa thanked him and went back up to her office wondering why Sophie hadn’t mentioned it on the phone or why she hadn’t seen her yesterday when she had confronted Dominic. She needed to talk to Sophie. She couldn’t face Dominic again, but Sophie was like a sister to her. She would understand what she needed to do.
Chapter Ten
“Have you seen the paper this morning?” Cole asked throwing it onto his brother’s lap.
Dominic opened it to the page his brother indicated. There was a small article titled “Local Lawyer Uncovers Cutthroat Practice”. He read on, his heart beating faster as he noticed Louisa’s name.
“Looks like she worked it all out,” he said tossing the paper to one side, trying to act like he was only slightly interested in it.
Cole seemed agitated. “And it looks like those emails I received were fakes.”
Dominic didn’t reply. He knew that Louisa hadn’t sent the emails as soon as his brother had read them to him. Still he had kept his distance from the woman he loved once she ran from the room. He had tried to tell himself that it was so that his business wouldn’t be dragged down in the fall of her own firm. He knew he was kidding himself. Every time he went to bed he pictured Louisa lying there beside him and felt a piece of him close off to the world. He had done it so that the rumours about them would stop. So that Louisa would have half a hope of rebuilding her company. If she handled the information he gave her properly, Louisa should have had no trouble bringing the scheme down around Cassandra’s ears. From the article he had just read and the information he had gathered in the past few weeks since she had left him, he knew that she had uncovered much more than just the story he had given her. He smiled at the thought of what that information contained. Louisa, his
clever girl, had unwittingly uncovered a serious breach of conduct by Cassandra’s father in his youth. He suspected Louisa hadn’t even realised what she had done so had never acted upon it. Cassandra, by pure chance, was sent the information by her assistant in one of her legal files in relation to another case, which Louisa’s assistant was helping her with as a favour. Dominic didn’t know the full details of what happened next, but Cassandra must have done some serious digging and damage control without her father’s knowledge. Dominic even suspected that her own father did not know about her actions, hence him taking matters into his own hands and attacking Margaret believing it to be her who had the information on him.
“Stupid man.” Dominic shook his head at the folly of such a smart family who could be undone by a simple mistrial which, had it been revealed, would have seen the offenders sentence only cut short by two years, in Dominic’s reckoning. Louisa could do what she liked with all of this, though. He hoped she saw reason and brought it to the court’s attention. Then they would be made accountable for the damage they had inflicted on Louisa at the least.
It pleased him that she was okay again. He felt that there was still something nagging at him. A dark space in his mind that told him there was still a piece to this he was missing.
“So, what are you going to do?” Cole asked.
“About what?” he asked, breaking his train of thought.
“Are you really that clueless?” Cole asked, clearly exasperated.
“Leave it alone. She is doing just fine without me.” Dominic stood and strode to the balcony. The crisp cool air worked to free his thoughts.
“You remember the charity ball is tonight,” Cole asked from the doorway.
“Of course I remember.”
“Perhaps that’s what you need to take your mind off things.”
****
It was raining when they arrived at the event. Ushers rushed forward with umbrellas to escort them up the steps and into the hall. They paused at the top for the photographers who stood huddled under umbrellas or ponchos. The lights and gems glittered in the hall, decorated in honour of the night in dark blue and gold. People walked around the room offering trinkets for sale to raise money for the charity of the year. Kids on the street was the year’s event.
The hall was noisy with excited babble. Dominic wondered if he was imagining the eyes that followed him to his table. Sophie was already there with a young man who looked as if he was just as excited to be there as he was to be with Sophie.
“Sophie,” Dominic said kissing her cheek. “I see you found another stray?”
“You are such an evil man, Dominic. This is Dorian Lionel. His parents work for me at the lodge.”
“Oh yes, I remember.” He shook the young man’s hand and excused himself to get something to drink.
It took him an hour to cross the room to the bar as everyone wanted to meet him and congratulate him on such a successful event. He smiled and played his part, encouraging the higher socialites to give generously and such. Really it was Sophie’s party. She held one every year in honour of their mother, who had been very involved in the community. He tried not to take notice of the people watching him, more than he remembered from their last event.
“Scotch on the rocks thanks,” he asked, making it to the bar.
“Dominic?”
He turned to the familiar voice, and his breath caught in his chest.
“You look beautiful,” he said, turning to face Louisa. She wore a floor length midnight blue strapless dress. The skirt was free flowing with a tight bodice. Around her neck she wore a simple diamond chain, which set off her dark wavy hair that she had left free.
“Thank you. Your sister invited me,” she said, as if she were defending herself. She looked uncomfortable and kept looking across the room to where Cole and Sophie were watching them.
“I was hoping to see you here,” he said, making up his mind. It was he who had suggested inviting her to Sophie. She was already on the guest list, of course. Sophie was the master of these events.
“Come with me?” he asked taking her hand and leading her outside to where several gas heaters had been set around the balcony so that guests could enjoy the view without being cold.
“I need to ask you face to face. Did you come to me for money?”
She turned and made to go back inside. Dominic grabbed her wrist and turned her to face him.
“Louisa, I don’t mean to hurt you. I know that those emails were fake, but I still need to hear it from your own lips. Tell me. Did you come to me for my money?”
“No, I came to you because I thought that I could help you after your father made such a mess of his will. I never thought—” She paused, and Dominic knew that she spoke the truth.
“It’s okay. I believe you.”
“But it doesn’t change anything, right? The will was a fake. Did Cole tell you?”
“I already knew.”
Her brow creased in confusion.
“Than why did you offer to marry me?” she asked her voice no more than a whisper, yet still holding a hint of accusation. “Was it to get me into bed?”
“No, Louisa, I would never try to trick you. I only found out the will was a fake after you left.”
She looked down at the city below them and shivered in the cool night air. Dominic removed his jacket and draped it around her. She leant her chin on the shoulder before she appeared to catch herself.
“You were the one who sent the email with the forged documents for the will which Cassandra had made.”
“Yes, I had intended to expose them myself, but when you left after I gave you the documents about Cassandra, I thought it better that you did it yourself.”
She looked at him, her eyes searching for something from him. “Why did you ask me to marry you, Dominic?” she asked again.
Dominic paused. He knew the answer, but was he prepared to admit it to Louisa, to himself? He looked at the woman who stood before him. Such beauty and fierce determination. He had known another side of her, one of gentle love and genuine care for those who depended on her. The swirl of perfumes from the other guests on the balcony was pleasant, but all he cared about was the soft floral scent he had come to associate with Louisa. The scent calmed him, made him smile, because he knew that with it came softness and laughter, with it came Louisa and with her came understanding.
“Louisa, I asked you to marry me to help you. I know now that it was more than that. I saw it as a way of having you in my life without having the risk of you breaking me again.”
****
Louisa felt her heart beat faster. She watched the man she had feared for so long. She had thought that it was he who had hurt her. Now she could see past that and see beneath the powerful exterior she had hurt him by leaving. There was something different about him now, a softening of the mask he hid behind. She listened as he explained himself to her. Did she dare to hope? His warmth wrapped around her in his jacket, seeping beneath her skin to warm her core. The anger she had felt for him was still there, and a feeling told her it would always be there. What startled her was that she realised she liked it. She liked the challenge he posed, how he never said a thing straight out. She had missed that when he wasn’t around. She had missed him.
The words tumbled from her mouth before she thought about it. “I have been horrible to you.”
“Louisa.”
“No, hear me out. I love you, but I haven’t treated you right. Every time it gets hard I leave. I just—”
He stopped her with a finger to her lips.
“Let me finish. You deserve to be loved and with my entire body. I haven’t let you in and embraced you as I should have from the start. I haven’t accepted you for who you are. I tried to change you to be who I wanted. I don’t want that woman. I want you.” He clasped her hands and dropped to one knee. “Be my wife.”
Tears welled in her eyes as she pulled the man she loved up and gave herself to him. He wrapped her in his arms
and pulled her against his chest, kissing her as if he had only moments left.
“We should have another reception, and let Amanda and Cole plan the whole thing.” Louisa laughed.
Dominic smiled down at her, and she felt the darkness in him lift with a light behind his eyes.
They waited a month before marrying, to give Amanda and Cole time to organise the event for more guests than the fake wedding had allowed. Of course Louisa realised they had both known the first wedding was not real.
“She would never marry you without a little drama,” Cole told them one night. “Sophie and I knew the second you got off that plane it was a sham. You were too nice to each other to have really made up.”
It was the first warm day of spring, and the day couldn’t have been more perfect. The outdoor event spilled over into a night-time reception, which Cole planned under huge white tents on the lawns of Sophie’s lodge in the mountains. As she danced with her husband to the harp that played in the corner she thought of all the nights and mornings she would wake with him at her side.
The End
www.larisaanderson.com
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The Millionaire's Convenient Bride Page 12
