“Because if the business wasn’t really ours, then everything my father taught me was built on a lie.”
I watched him.
He continued.
“All my life, Angelo told me the Varelli name meant we owed nothing to anyone. He told me we were different. Stronger. Smarter. That other families failed because they trusted people.”
His voice grew bitter.
“Then Dominic showed me the trust documents. He told me your grandfather had manipulated my father. That Bellamy Holdings was draining money from the business.”
I shook my head.
“And you believed him over me without asking me a single question.”
Silas closed his eyes.
“I did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was ashamed.”
I laughed softly.
“Ashamed that your wife might own something?”
He looked at me.
“Ashamed that I’d spent my whole life pretending I’d built something myself.”
That was the closest he’d ever come to admitting the truth.
But I needed more.
“Why Sabrina?”
His face changed.
He looked away.
I waited.
Finally, he whispered, “She made me feel like the man everyone thought I was.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“Powerful?”
He nodded.
“Important?”
“Yes.”
“Young?”
He didn’t answer.
I looked down at my bare left hand.
“And what did I make you feel?”
Silas swallowed.
“Seen.”
The word surprised me.
He rubbed his eyes.
“You knew who I was before any of this. You saw me when I was sick, when I was exhausted, when business went wrong. You knew I wasn’t invincible.”
I studied him.
“And you hated that?”
“No. I loved that.”
“Then why destroy it?”
He stared at me for a long time.
“Because somewhere along the way, I started thinking love meant you’d never leave, no matter what I did.”
My eyes filled.
He had finally said it.
The terrible assumption beneath fifteen years of marriage.
That my love was permanent.
That my forgiveness was guaranteed.
That my dignity was negotiable.
I wiped my eyes.
“Silas, you didn’t lose me because you had an affair.”
His jaw tightened.
“You lost me because you stopped seeing me as a person who could say no.”
He lowered his head.
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the question I’d been dreading.
“Did you know Sabrina might be Angelo’s daughter?”
Silas looked up.
His expression went blank.
“What?”
I watched him carefully.
“Victoria kept letters. They suggest Margaret Cole had a daughter with your father.”
He stared at me.
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
I didn’t speak.
“No, Laurel. Sabrina’s mother was Margaret Cole.”
“I know.”
He stood abruptly.
His chair scraped across the floor.
“No.”
Eleanor raised a hand.
“Mr. Varelli, please sit down. The evidence is preliminary. We are not asserting a biological relationship as established fact.”
But Silas seemed unable to hear her.
He stared at me with an expression of absolute horror.
“My father?”
“The letters suggest it.”
“No.”
“Victoria suspected.”
Silas took a step backward.
“She knew?”
“She knew enough to be afraid.”
He gripped the edge of the table.
His face had gone gray.
For the first time in my life, the powerful Silas Varelli looked utterly defenseless.
Then he whispered, “Dominic knew.”
I felt cold.
“What?”
“Dominic told me a few months ago that Sabrina’s mother had worked for our father. He said Angelo had helped her family financially.”
He looked at Eleanor.
“He knew there was more.”
“Possibly,” she replied. “We need evidence.”
Silas began pacing.
“That’s why he kept pushing me toward her.”
I stared at him.
“What do you mean?”
He stopped.
“Dominic introduced me to Sabrina at a private dinner. He said she’d be useful for the company’s public relations work. Then he started arranging meetings. Trips. Events.”
My stomach twisted.
“Your brother encouraged your affair?”
Silas swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He stared at the ledger.
“Because he needed me distracted.”
I felt a chill travel down my spine.
Dominic had spent years being underestimated.
The second son.
The accountant.
The quiet brother.
Meanwhile, Silas handled the public face of the empire.
If the company collapsed under allegations of fraud, Silas would be the first person the world blamed.
Dominic could attempt to disappear behind layers of paperwork.
“And Sabrina?” I asked.
Silas looked sick.
“I don’t know how much she knew.”
Eleanor spoke.
“We’re not going to speculate. We have financial records and communications to examine.”
Silas nodded slowly.
Then he reached into his coat.
My body stiffened.
Claire, who was seated beside the door, straightened.
Silas noticed.
His face crumpled.
“I’m not going to hurt anyone.”
He removed a small velvet box.
Placed it on the table.
Opened it.
Inside was my wedding ring.
The diamond glittered beneath the conference-room lights.
I’d left it beside his dinner on Christmas night.
He’d brought it back.
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