Chapter 9 - Dominic Finally Faced Her
Nora told him not to do it alone.
So he didn’t.
He kept his phone recording in his shirt pocket and stood in the guest suite doorway while his neighbor, a retired family court clerk named Mrs. Hanley, waited just outside in the hall as a witness.
Diane sat on the edge of the bed, one eye darkened by the bruise from the ricocheted pan.
For a brief second Dominic hated that he still felt a flicker of pity.
Then he remembered Lily covered in noodles.
Owen holding his face.
The suitcase.
The forged signature.
The pity died.
He held up the guardianship packet.
“You forged my name.”
Diane crossed her arms.
“I was trying to protect those children.”
“From what?”
“From your weakness.”
Dominic said nothing.
That silence seemed to irritate her more than outrage would have.
“You don’t discipline them,” Diane snapped. “You let that girl cry and cling and control the atmosphere of the house like her mother used to.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“She is five.”
“She is manipulative.”
“She is five.”
Diane leaned forward.
“You don’t see clearly when it comes to Lily. She keeps you trapped in grief. She keeps Owen anxious. She keeps this whole house frozen around a dead woman.”
There it was.
The cleanest confession yet.
Not legal guilt in a tidy sentence.
Emotional motive laid bare.
“You packed a suitcase for my daughter,” Dominic said. “You told her papers already said yes.”
Diane lifted her chin.
“I was taking decisive action where you never would.”
“You dumped food on her head.”
“She needed to learn.”
“You slapped Owen.”
“He interfered.”
“You threw a pan at my children.”
Her mouth tightened.
“I lost my temper.”
Dominic let that hang in the air.
Then he said, very quietly, “You are never being alone with them again.”
For the first time, Diane’s confidence cracked.
“You wouldn’t do that to your own mother.”
Dominic looked at her for a long moment.
May you like
“Watch me.”
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