Chapter 4
PART 4:
What Dominic did not know was that two months earlier, Audrey had received a letter.
At first, she thought it was a scam.
The envelope was thick, cream-colored, and addressed to Audrey by her maiden name.
Inside was a request from a private investigator.
They were trying to confirm her identity in connection with a woman named Caroline.
Audrey almost threw it away.
Then she saw the photograph.
A young woman with Audrey’s eyes.
The same small dimple near the left cheek.
The same hands.
On the back of the photo, in faded ink, was written:
Caroline with baby Audrey.
Audrey sat down on the kitchen floor and stared at it until her legs went numb.
She had grown up believing her mother had abandoned her.
That was what the records said.
Mother unknown.
Father unknown.
No family located.
But the investigator’s report told a different story.
Caroline had been nineteen, pregnant, and cut off from her wealthy family after refusing to give up the baby.
She died in a car accident when Audrey was only six months old.
The baby was lost in the system after a paperwork failure that should never have happened.
Caroline’s father had searched for years.
Then decades.
He had never stopped.
The silver-haired old man who just entered the hospital room was Audrey’s grandfather.
And because Audrey was Caroline’s daughter, the twins in her arms were his great-grandchildren.
Audrey did not tell Dominic when she found out.
Not because she wanted a secret.
Because she needed time.
The old man had asked to meet her privately.
He had cried the first time he saw her.
Not politely.
Not with quiet dignity.
He broke.
He held the old photograph in one hand and Audrey’s hand in the other.
“I looked for you,” he said. “I swear to God, I looked.”
Audrey wanted to stay angry.
She had spent a lifetime building armor around the word alone.
But the grief in his face was not fake.
He had loved a daughter he lost.
And somehow, after all these years, he had found the child she left behind.
Audrey did not trust him instantly.
She was too smart for that.
But he did not rush her.
He did not buy her gifts to win her.
He did not demand affection.
He simply showed up.
Doctor appointments.
Legal meetings.
Quiet lunches.
He asked about the babies.
He asked what she needed.
And when Audrey admitted her marriage was falling apart, his expression darkened.
“Does your husband know about me?”
“No.”
May you like
“Good,” he said. “Then we’ll learn who he is before money teaches him to pretend.”
👉 So Audrey stayed quiet, watched carefully, and let Dominic reveal exactly who he was.
