Chapter 30: Dominic Sterling is also capable of shutting me out
The next morning, everyone gathered for breakfast at the Pearl Mansion. However, the moment a servant informed them that Hannah had refused to come downstairs, Grace frowned.
"Now what’s gotten into that girl?" she said with a sigh. "Last night she refused to eat dinner, and now she won’t even join us for breakfast."
After Hannah had returned home abruptly in the middle of the heavy rain the previous night, everyone had been surprised. She had left the house looking determined to protect her brother from his own wife, yet she had come back only a few hours later without saying a word.
The sudden change in her behavior had left the entire family puzzled.
"Maybe I should go check on her," Jonathan suggested as he pushed his chair back.
"No need," Nicolas said, stopping him. "If she’s hungry, she’ll come down and eat."
His firm tone made Jonathan quietly sit back down.
Nicolas took a sip of his tea before letting out a weary sigh.
"First Dominic, and now this girl. These two siblings are determined to give me a headache."
Grace and Jonathan exchanged helpless looks.
That wasn’t entirely true.
From a young age, Grace and Jonathan had doted on Dominic and Hannah. Even when the siblings made mistakes, they were rarely punished. They had always believed that, despite being stubborn, their children would never do anything that truly disappointed them.
Until Dominic insisted on marrying Clara.
Despite repeatedly warning him that Clara wasn’t the right woman for him, he had gone ahead with the marriage anyway. And now, he was asking the entire family to welcome her with open arms simply because she had decided to give their marriage another chance.
Grace pressed her lips together.
She was still reluctant to accept Dominic’s request. Clara had caused the family too much disappointment for Grace to forget everything overnight.
Yet Dominic’s words from the previous day lingered in her mind.
"Mom, just give her a chance."
What if he was right?
What if Clara really had changed?
Grace silently finished her breakfast before standing up.
"I have to head out for a while," she said, picking up her handbag and leaving the house while making a call and slipping into the car.
***
Meanwhile, Hannah refused to leave her bed, her eyes fixed on the photos displayed on her phone.
Every single picture showed Eric intimately close to another woman.
Those photos had been sent by none other than her brother, Dominic.
The moment he sent them, he had called her.
"Now it’s your choice. Do you still think he’s trustworthy?"
His words echoed in her mind.
The more she stared at the evidence, the more foolish she felt.
She had spent the entire night convincing herself not to let Clara’s accusations get to her. She had wanted to believe Eric, to believe there was some misunderstanding.
But now...
The evidence had come from Dominic.
Her own brother.
There was no reason for him to fabricate something like this.
"So this is who you really are..."
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
"You bastard."
"I trusted you. I gave you my heart..."
"And you shattered it."
A dangerous glint flashed across her eyes.
Hannah was never the type to break down and cry over a man who wasn’t worthy of her love.
She might have trusted Eric blindly...
But she was no fool.
Nor would she allow anyone to toy with her feelings.
Taking a slow, steady breath, she unlocked her phone and dialed another number.
The call connected almost immediately.
"I need you to find Eric," she said in a calm yet icy voice.
"I want to know exactly where he is."
***
Clara woke up at her usual time. Unlike every other morning, however, Dominic had already left for work.
The rain had finally stopped, but her mind remained occupied with the conversation they had shared over dinner the previous night.
She wanted to know the real reason Dominic had been so determined to marry her when she had rejected him time and time again.
Even after they had spent that unexpected night together, she had made it clear that she didn’t want him to take responsibility for her.
From what she remembered, she had been drugged that night and had unknowingly ended up sleeping with Dominic.
As time passed, however, Alex had convinced her that everything had been Dominic’s plan from the very beginning.
He had told her Dominic deliberately orchestrated everything just to force his way into her life.
Back then, she had believed him.
After all, Dominic had refused to let her go, no matter how many times she pushed him away.
But now...
The more she thought about it, the more she realized there were too many unanswered questions surrounding their marriage.
There had to be more to the story than what she had been led to believe.
What puzzled her even more was Dominic’s reaction the previous night.
The moment she asked why he had married her, he had completely avoided the topic, calmly changing the subject and continuing with dinner as if he hadn’t heard her at all.
"I thought I’d be able to hear exactly what he was thinking..."
Clara let out a helpless sigh.
"But I forgot that Dominic Sterling is also capable of shutting me out."
Shaking the thoughts from her head, she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
After freshening up and getting dressed for work, she picked up her handbag and was about to leave when her phone suddenly rang.
She answered it without checking the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Meet me."
The elegant yet authoritative female voice on the other end left no room for negotiation.
"I’ve already sent you the location."
Before Clara could respond, the call ended.
"...Hello?"
She slowly lowered the phone from her ear, staring at the screen in confusion.
A second later, her eyes widened.
"Grace... Sterling?"
She blinked several times, convinced she had read the name wrong.
But the caller ID remained the same.
It really was Grace Sterling.
Shock washed over Clara’s face.
Of all the people she had expected to call her that morning...
Grace Sterling was the last person she had imagined.