Chapter 4 - Shadows of the Past
The rehearsal dinner was held in the private dining room of Pine Creek’s only local steakhouse—a rustic wooden building decorated with mounted deer heads and brass lanterns.
Emma’s fiancé, Mark, was a soft-spoken local mechanic who looked utterly terrified of Dominic, while his family sat across the long table exchanging quiet, curious whispers about the stranger in the tailored suit sitting at the head of the table.
My father sat at the opposite end, nursing a glass of bourbon, his eyes locked on Dominic like a hawk tracking prey.
"So, Moretti," Thomas called out loudly over the clatter of silverware, drawing the entire room into silence. "Sophia says you’re in real estate."
Dominic set his water glass down calmly. "Developments mostly, Mr. Carter. Commercial infrastructure and historic restorations."
"Sounds like buying up land from working folks and selling it to corporations," Thomas spat, taking a heavy pull from his glass. "That how you made your millions? Stripping honest people of what they built?"
"Dad!" Emma snapped, her face flushing crimson. "Stop it!"
"It’s a fair question," Dominic replied smoothly, showing not a single flicker of anger. "My grandfather was an Italian stone mason who worked fourteen-hour days in Queens. I don't buy land from working families, Mr. Carter. I build affordable housing complexes in urban deserts where children don't have safe playgrounds."
A quiet hush fell over the table. Mark’s mother looked at Dominic with sudden admiration, while my father narrowed his eyes, clearly frustrated that his target hadn't taken the bait.
"Is that why my daughter is your servant?" Thomas countered, his voice dripping with malice. "You hire a struggling single mother from Pennsylvania to scrub your floors, and then you decide she’s good enough to bring home for a weekend?"
"Dad, that’s enough!" I stood up, my chair scraping loudly against the floorboards, my hands shaking with sudden, blinding fury. "I work hard to support my daughter! I am not a servant, and Dominic has treated me with nothing but respect!"
"Respect?!" Thomas sneered, standing up to face me across the table. "You left this town four years ago with a secret in your belly and refused to tell anyone who the father was! You disgraced this family, Sophia! And now you bring this billionaire in here to make us look like fools?!"
The room went dead silent. Emma covered her face with her hands, quietly sobbing.
Before I could speak, Dominic stood up.
He didn't yell. He didn't raise his voice. But the sudden, chilling aura of absolute power that rolled off him made every person in that restaurant freeze in place.
Dominic walked slowly around the table until he stood directly in front of my father. He towered over Thomas, his gray eyes cold as glacier ice.
"If you ever speak to your daughter like that again in my presence, Thomas," Dominic said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, deadly whisper, "I will buy the mortgage on this farm from Pine Creek National Bank before nine o'clock tomorrow morning, and I will hand the deed over to Sophia."
May you like
Thomas went pale. "You can't do that..."
"Try me," Dominic murmured softly. "Sophia came back here to give her dying mother peace. If you cannot treat her with the dignity she deserves, you can step out of this room right now."
