Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WEARING HIS ENGAGEMENT RING
“Tell me why your foundation is using my freight company to move medical shipments I never approved.”
Vanessa Laurent stopped arranging the flowers on the breakfast table.
Dominic stood across from her, holding a copy of the authorization.
It was seven the following morning.
Six weeks before their wedding.
And for the first time since accepting his proposal, Vanessa looked at him with genuine fear.
“Where did you get that?”
“That isn't an answer.”
She set down the flowers.
“Dominic, my father's foundation has worked with your company for years.”
“Not through Fulton Cold Storage.”
“We expanded the program.”
“Without telling me?”
“I thought you knew.”
Dominic placed the document in front of her.
“Who is F-17?”
Vanessa frowned.
“It's a shipment category.”
“For what?”
“Refrigerated medical supplies.”
“Then why were they recorded under industrial maintenance accounts?”
Her face stiffened.
“I don't handle the accounting.”
“Your signature is on the approval.”
“I sign dozens of things every month.”
Dominic watched her carefully.
That answer wasn't necessarily a lie.
Vanessa had spent years maintaining her family's charitable foundation.
She attended fundraising dinners, visited patients, and personally knew elderly people whose medical care depended on its grants.
But she also cared deeply about appearances.
And Dominic was beginning to understand how far she might go to protect them.
“Mateo Rossi,” he said.
Vanessa's hand stopped moving.
“Who?”
“A maintenance technician from Fulton Cold Storage.”
“I don't know him.”
“He discovered irregularities in your shipments. Then he lost his job and died.”
Vanessa looked genuinely startled.
“Died?”
“Ten months ago.”
She pressed her lips together.
“Dominic, surely you're not suggesting my father's charity murdered a warehouse employee.”
“I'm suggesting somebody needs to explain what happened.”
Vanessa pushed the paper away.
“You're frightening me.”
“Good. Someone should have been frightened when Mateo first reported it.”
She stood.
“Your company handled those shipments. If something went wrong, don't pretend you had nothing to do with it.”
The accusation struck harder than she expected.
Because she was right about one thing.
Dominic owned the company.
His signature wasn't on the paperwork, but his name was on every truck.
And responsibility didn't disappear simply because someone else had made the decisions.
Before he could respond, Raphael appeared.
“Boss. We need to talk.”
Dominic followed him into the study.
Raphael shut the door.
“The independent laboratory has confirmed that the medication in your juice could interfere dangerously with your heart rhythm.”
Dominic sat.
“And my medical tests?”
“Your doctor found evidence consistent with repeated exposure. He's arranging additional monitoring.”
“How long?”
“He can't say with certainty. But the results are consistent with what you've described over the last three weeks.”
Dominic rubbed his forehead.
Raphael continued.
“Someone may have been giving you small amounts repeatedly.”
Dominic remembered the fatigue.
The mornings when his hands shook.
The headaches that disappeared briefly after breakfast, then returned.
“Find every drink I've been served at home.”
“I already started.”
Raphael opened a notebook.
“Your morning coffee comes from the kitchen. Lunch varies. But there's something unusual about your evenings.”
Dominic looked up.
“What?”
“Your staff logs show ginger tea delivered to your private sitting room almost every night.”
“Vanessa likes ginger tea.”
“Those orders were for you.”
Dominic frowned.
“I haven't requested any.”
Raphael placed the handwritten order sheets on the desk.
The requests had started twenty-two days earlier.
Each carried the same initials.
V.L.
Dominic stared at them.
Then he remembered Vanessa bringing him tea after an exhausting meeting.
She'd smiled as she handed him the cup.
You work too hard, darling. Drink this and get some sleep.
He had thanked her.
He'd even told her how much he appreciated having someone who worried about him.
A bitter feeling spread through his chest.
“Are you certain these are her initials?”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked toward the closed study door.
“Don't confront her yet.”
Raphael hesitated.
“Boss, if she has access to your drinks—”
“I said not yet.”
He needed more than initials.
Especially when the woman involved was someone he'd trusted enough to marry.
That afternoon, Elena was summoned to the study.
She arrived carrying Lily's stuffed rabbit, which the child had left near the kitchen.
Dominic showed her the shipment records.
“Did Mateo ever mention the Laurent Foundation?”
Elena shook her head.
“He mentioned medicine. And he mentioned a man who always wore a silver watch.”
Dominic frowned.
“A silver watch?”
“Mateo said the man watched him unload the containers.”
Raphael looked up.
“Do you remember anything else?”
Elena thought carefully.
“He said the man told him that keeping quiet would be better for his family.”
Dominic stared at the desk.
A silver watch.
Threats.
Medical shipments.
A dismissed employee.
And a widow who'd spent ten months wondering whether her husband had died because he'd refused to remain silent.
That evening, Dominic returned to the dining room.
Vanessa was waiting.
“I've canceled our cake tasting,” she said stiffly. “You don't seem interested in our wedding anymore.”
Dominic looked at the diamond ring on her finger.
“Did you arrange for someone to bring me ginger tea every night?”
Vanessa's expression went blank.
“Why?”
“Answer me.”
She looked away.
Then, very quietly, she said, “I was only trying to help you sleep.”
Dominic felt his stomach sink.
“What exactly have you been putting in it?”
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
May you like
And after several seconds, she whispered something that made him grip the back of his chair.
“Dominic, I was told it couldn't hurt you.”
