Dominic repeated the question, but this time his voice was quieter.

Elena looked at him for several seconds.

Then she gave him an answer that made his entire world stop.

“Because the doctor told me I might never walk normally again.”

Dominic didn’t move.

He stared at her as if he hadn’t understood the words.

“What?”

“The impact damaged my lower spine. Two vertebrae were fractured, and there was pressure on a nerve. The doctor said I needed immediate treatment, months of rehabilitation, and possibly surgery if the condition worsened.”

She swallowed painfully.

“He also told me I shouldn’t lift anything heavy, bend suddenly, or spend too much time standing.”

Dominic looked at the brace again.

“And you went through all of that alone?”

Elena’s eyes filled with tears.

“I tried to tell you.”

“When?”

“The first week.”

Dominic frowned.

She continued, her voice trembling.

“I called you from the hospital parking lot. Three times. You didn’t answer.”

He remembered that week.

He had been dealing with a territory dispute in Detroit. Luca had told him that several calls from Elena were probably about another argument.

Dominic had switched off his phone during a meeting.

He had never listened to her voicemails.

“I came home that night,” Elena whispered. “You were in your office. I stood outside your door for almost twenty minutes.”

Dominic’s jaw тιԍнтened.

“What happened?”

“You were talking to Luca.”

She looked at the scattered divorce papers.

“I heard him say that I was becoming a liability. That I was using my marriage to manipulate you. That I had become too demanding and that you needed to remember who you were before you married me.”

Dominic’s expression darkened.

“And what did I say?”

Elena gave a broken smile.

“You said you were tired of dealing with me.”

The words struck harder than any bullet.

He remembered the conversation.

He had been angry, exhausted, and distracted. He had said things without thinking.

He had never imagined Elena was standing outside.

“I didn’t know you were there.”

“I know.”

“Why didn’t you come inside?”

“Because I was holding my hospital report.”

Her fingers тιԍнтened around the edge of the mattress.

“And I suddenly felt ridiculous. You were discussing how to protect your empire, while I was standing there wondering whether I would ever be able to carry a basket of laundry again.”

Dominic lowered his head.

For the first time in years, he had absolutely nothing to say.

Then he noticed something on the nightstand.

A small plastic medication organizer.

Several prescription bottles.

A folded medical report.

And beneath them, a pH๏τograph.

He picked it up.

It showed Elena sitting in a wheelchair outside a rehabilitation clinic. Her hair was tied back, her face pale, and a thick blanket covered her legs.

She was smiling.

But it was the kind of smile people wore when they didn’t want anyone to know they were crying.

On the back, someone had written:

First day learning to stand again.

Dominic turned the pH๏τograph over.

“Who took this?”

“My physical therapist.”

“How many times have you been here?”

“Three times a week. Sometimes four.”

“For six months?”

She nodded.

“And every Tuesday?”

“Those were my specialist appointments.”

Dominic stared at her.

All those Tuesday mornings he had watched her leave.

All those times he had suspected she was meeting another man.

All those hours he had spent questioning his driver and checking her movements.

His wife had been going to physical therapy.

Trying to recover.

Trying to walk without pain.

And he had mistaken her suffering for betrayal.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the brace?”

Elena looked at him.

“Because I didn’t want you to stay with me out of pity.”

His face changed.

“Pity?”

“I married you because you made me feel safe, Dominic. Not because you could buy me a mansion or put armed guards outside my bakery.”

She wiped her cheek.

“But after the accident, you started treating me like an inconvenience. Every time I tried to explain that I was hurting, you were busy. Every time I asked you to come to an appointment, something more important happened.”

“I would have come.”

“You didn’t.”

The silence that followed was unbearable.

Dominic looked at the brace again.

“Take it off.”

Elena immediately shook her head.

“No.”

“I’ll get the doctor.”

“You don’t understand. I can’t remove it whenever I want. I have to follow the schedule.”

He nodded slowly.

“Then tell me what you need.”

“I need you to stop treating my body like another problem you can solve by giving orders.”

That sentence stopped him.

Before he could respond, his phone vibrated.

Luca Bellandi.

Dominic glanced at the screen.

Then at Elena.

He answered.

“What?”

Luca’s voice came through immediately.

“Boss, where are you? We have a situation at the warehouse.”

“Not now.”

“It’s important. And there’s something else. I heard you went to see Elena.”

Dominic’s eyes narrowed.

“How did you hear that?”

A brief pause.

“People talk. Listen, I know this is difficult, but don’t let her manipulate you. She’s been hiding things for months. You need to sign those papers and move on.”

Elena lowered her eyes.

Dominic noticed.

“Luca.”

“Yes, boss?”

“Did you know my wife was injured?”

Silence.

“Excuse me?”

“Did you know she had fractured vertebrae?”

Another pause.

Then Luca sighed.

“Dominic, I don’t think this is the time to—”

“Answer me.”

“I knew she’d been visiting a clinic.”

Dominic’s grip тιԍнтened around the phone.

“How long?”

“Since November, apparently.”

“Apparently?”

“I didn’t think it was serious. She never told you, did she?”

Dominic looked at Elena.

She was staring at the floor, trying desperately to hold back her tears.

“You knew she was receiving medical treatment, and you told me she was seeing another man.”

“I told you there were suspicious circumstances.”

“You told me she was betraying me.”

“I was protecting you.”

Dominic’s voice dropped dangerously.

“From my own wife?”

“From being made a fool of.”

For several seconds, Dominic said nothing.

Then Luca made his biggest mistake.

“Come on, Dominic. She’s always been good at making you feel guilty. Don’t forget who stood beside you when you built this organization. I was there long before she came along.”

Dominic slowly turned toward the bedroom door.

“That’s exactly what I’m beginning to remember.”

He ended the call.

Elena looked up.

“Dominic, please don’t do something reckless because of me.”

He slipped his phone into his pocket.

“I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

She didn’t look convinced.

Instead, she reached for the medical report.

“There is something else you should know.”

Dominic sat beside her.

“What?”

“The accident wasn’t as simple as we thought.”

His expression sharpened.

“What do you mean?”

Elena hesitated.

For six months, she had kept this part to herself because she didn’t want Dominic returning to the dangerous world he had spent years building.

But the divorce papers had changed everything.

She opened the folder and removed a second report.

“This is from the accident investigation. I asked the doctor to keep a copy of the original emergency records.”

Dominic took it.

“What am I looking at?”

“The driver who hit us was never identified. The police report said the vehicle had been stolen and abandoned.”

“So?”

Elena pointed to a small pH๏τograph attached to the report.

It showed the damaged sedan.

“Look at the rear license plate.”

Dominic leaned closer.

The plate was partially visible beneath the twisted metal.

He recognized the numbers.

His face went completely still.

It was a vehicle registered to one of his companies.

One of the companies Luca managed.

Dominic looked at Elena.

“Are you sure?”

“I didn’t want to believe it either.”

She pulled another document from the folder.

“This arrived at my rehabilitation clinic three weeks ago. Someone left it at the reception desk.”

It was a pH๏τograph.

Elena, sitting in her wheelchair, being helped into a car by her physical therapist.

On the back was a handwritten message:

Some accidents are better left forgotten. Your husband has enough enemies already.

Dominic read it twice.

Then a third time.

The room seemed to grow colder.

“Did you tell anyone about this?”

“No.”

“Did you keep the original?”

She nodded toward the bedside drawer.

Dominic opened it and found a sealed envelope.

Inside was a small USB drive.

“I was afraid,” Elena whispered. “Not because I thought someone would hurt me. I was afraid they would use me to get to you.”

Dominic closed his fingers around the drive.

For six months, his wife had endured pain, rehabilitation, and threats while he had convinced himself she no longer loved him.

And someone had been watching her.

Someone close enough to know her medical appointments.

Someone who knew exactly when she would be alone.

Dominic stood.

“I’m calling the surgeon. You’re going to have every medical resource you need. But we’re not changing anything about your treatment without your doctor’s approval.”

Elena nodded weakly.

He walked toward the door, then stopped.

The divorce papers were still scattered across the floor.

He picked up the first page.

For a moment, he stared at his own signature.

Then he tore it in half.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

Elena watched silently.

“Dominic…”

He placed the torn pages on the desk.

“I came here to end our marriage.”

His voice cracked slightly.

“And I discovered I had already abandoned the woman I promised to protect.”

He turned toward her.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me tonight. I don’t even expect you to believe me when I say I’ll change.”

He took a breath.

“But I’m not leaving this room until your doctor arrives, and I’m not making another decision about our marriage without listening to you.”

Elena looked away.

A tear slipped down her cheek.

Then Dominic’s phone rang again.

This time, it wasn’t Luca.

It was his head of security.

“Boss, we have a problem.”

“What?”

“We reviewed the estate cameras from the last six months. Someone has been entering Mrs. Rainer’s private wing every Tuesday morning.”

Dominic’s expression hardened.

“Who?”

The security chief hesitated.

“It’s Luca Bellandi.”

Dominic said nothing.

“There is more, sir. We recovered footage from the night of the accident. Luca’s car was following yours several blocks before the collision.”

Dominic slowly looked at Elena.

She had gone pale.

“Send me everything,” he ordered.

Then the security chief added one final sentence.

“Sir, the vehicle that struck Mrs. Rainer wasn’t abandoned. It was taken to a private garage the following morning. And someone paid to have the damage removed.”

Dominic’s hand тιԍнтened around the phone.

“Who paid?”

A pause.

“Your mother, sir.”

For the first time that night, Dominic looked genuinely terrified.

Because his mother had been the one person who had welcomed Elena into the family.

She had held Elena’s hand at their wedding.

She had called her daughter.

And she had visited the hospital the morning after the accident.

Dominic slowly lowered the phone.

Elena looked at him, her voice barely audible.

“Dominic… there’s one more thing.”

He turned.

“What?”

She reached beneath her pillow and pulled out a small envelope.

“I didn’t tell you because I was waiting for the right moment.”

His eyes dropped to the envelope.

“What is it?”

Elena’s lips trembled.

“It’s the reason I was at the specialist’s office last Tuesday.”

She placed the envelope in his hand.

Inside was a medical letter.

Dominic unfolded it.

He read the first paragraph.

Then the second.

His eyes stopped at the final line.

Despite the fractures and prolonged nerve compression, the patient has made significant progress. However, further surgery may be necessary if the neurological symptoms continue.

Below it was another sentence.

The patient has also requested an ᴀssessment regarding her ability to carry a pregnancy safely in the future.

Dominic looked up.

“Elena…”

She began crying.

“I wanted to have a family with you.”

He couldn’t breathe.

“I thought we would have children someday. But after the accident, the doctor told me pregnancy could put additional strain on my spine. I needed to recover first.”

Dominic sat down beside her.

“And you thought I wouldn’t want you anymore?”

She nodded.

“I heard what you said to Luca. I thought you were already tired of having a wife who needed too much.”

Dominic closed his eyes.

Then he gently took her hand.

“Listen to me. I don’t care how long recovery takes. I don’t care whether we have children naturally, through another path, or not at all.”

His voice broke.

“I wanted a life with you. Not a perfect body. Not a perfect wife. You.”

Elena finally let herself cry.

But before he could pull her into his arms, the bedroom door opened.

A young security officer stood there, breathing heavily.

“Mr. Rainer, I’m sorry to interrupt.”

Dominic turned.

“What?”

The officer held out a phone.

“We received a message from Luca’s private number.”

Dominic took it.

There was a single pH๏τograph on the screen.

It showed Elena sitting on the rehabilitation clinic’s treatment table.

The pH๏τograph had been taken that morning.

Underneath it were seven words:

If you choose your wife, you’ll lose everything.

Dominic stared at the screen.

Then another message appeared.

Including the truth about what happened that night.

He slowly raised his eyes toward the security officer.

“Find Luca.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And bring my mother here.”

The officer hesitated.

“Both of them?”

Dominic looked at Elena, whose hand was still trembling in his.

“Both.”

Then he picked up the brace’s loose strap and carefully placed it beside her.

“Tonight, this family is going to answer for what it did to you.”

But Dominic still didn’t know the worst part.

The next file recovered from Luca’s phone would reveal that the November accident had not been intended to kill him.

It had been planned to make Elena disappear—and someone had already paid the hospital to change her original medical report.

To be continued…