Chapter 267
Chapter 267:
“Your sister tried to kill my friend,” I stated flatly.
Dominic frowned. “That’s a serious accusation. She was with me all morning. We were at the gallery p>
I turned the laptop screen toward him.
“Not her hands,” I said. “Her money. Her mother’s debts p>
The screen showed a complex web of transactions I’d traced while waiting. “This isn’t about her past, Dominic. Look at this transfer. It went out two days ago to an offshore account linked to the lab technician who processed the DNA test. And this one? To a shell company known for hiring drivers for ‘clean-up’ jobs p>
“Why would she pay the lab tech if the DNA was real?” I asked, my voice low.
Dominic’s face darkened. He had his own doubts. The DNA test had been a match, but everything else about Seraphina felt… off.
I stood up. I walked over to him. I moved into his personal space.
“The Thorne family is powerful, Dominic. Don’t let a parasite rot it from the inside p>
I reached out and adjusted his collar. It was a seemingly intimate gesture—something a lover or a wife would do.
“She’s playing you,” I whispered, looking deep into his eyes. “And you’re too smart to be played p>
Dominic looked at me. He saw no deception in my eyes, only a cold, hard warning. He smelled my perfume—vanilla and steel.
He stepped back, shaken by the proximity, by the truth he didn’t want to admit.
“I’ll investigate,” he promised, his voice gruff.
“Do it quietly,” I advised. “Rats hide when they hear footsteps p>
Dominic turned to leave.
“And Dominic?” I called out.
He stopped at the door.
“Ask the lab if they verified the identity of the donor themselves, or if they just tested what was given to them in a sealed bag p>
Dominic left, his mind racing.
I sat back down, exhausted.
𝗙𝗶ո𝘥 yo𝗎𝘳 favo𝘳i𝗍𝖾 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝗿е 𝘰𝘯 𝖻𝖾𝘭no𝘃e𝗹ѕ.cо𝗺
I opened my purse and took out a tube of red lipstick. Victory Red.
I recalled the moment I fixed his collar. I had swiped my thumb, coated in a thin layer of lipstick, against the white fabric near his neck.
I smiled. The trap was set.
Dominic returned to the Thorne penthouse, weary and troubled. The elevator ride felt like an eternity.
He walked into the living room. Seraphina was waiting up for him. She wore a silk robe that cost more than my car, posed on the sofa with a magazine.
She rushed to him the moment he stepped inside. “Dom! You’re gone so long! Is she… is she okay p>
She clung to him, burying her face in his neck. She smelled the hospital air on him. And something else.
A woman’s perfume. Vanilla.
She pulled back, smiling, but her eyes scanned him like a hawk’s. Her gaze landed on his white shirt collar.
There, stark against the crisp fabric, was a distinct smudge of red lipstick.
Seraphina’s smile shattered instantly. Panic flared in her eyes—not the jealousy of a lover, but the terror of a conspirator losing her grip.
“You were with her,” she accused, her voice turning shrill. “You went back to see Skye p>