Prologue
Dominic has been contacted several times in the last few days by his lawyer, Thomas and asked for an appointment. However, Dominic had always had to postpone this because of his latest project. He was currently under immense time pressure.
The town of Appleton had not approved the plot for his building project, and without a building permit, the plot was completely worthless to him. They were working flat out to find a new location and a suitable plot for his project.
At the same time, they had to find a buyer who would buy back the land they had previously acquired. So Dominic spent the last few days traveling all over the country. He considered several locations and plots of land and met with potential buyers and sellers.
But this morning, Thomas seemed to have lost it. He had really snapped at his assistant, Dorry, and wouldn’t let her get rid of him. Dominic knew from his brother that he had already dropped by the office many times. And apparently it was so important that it couldn’t be discussed over the phone.
Dominic walked up the corridor and wondered again what could be so urgent that he had to come in person.
When he arrived at the office, he was led straight to the room where Thomas was sitting by his lawyer’s secretary of many years’ standing.
“Nice to see you at last,” Thomas said as he entered the room and asked him to take a seat in the chair opposite. He looked very pleased and tense at the same time.
Dominic nodded and sat down slowly. He watched the older man and waited eagerly to hear what he had to say. It definitely had to be important if he had to appear here in person.
“First of all…” Thomas said, clearing his throat as he rummaged in his folder. “Here’s your ID.” He placed his passport on the table for Dominic. “You have all the visas you need for your trip.”
“Thank you,” Dominic said and pocketed his ID. He waited a little tensely to hear what else his lawyer had to tell him.
Thomas rummaged through the pile of papers in front of him with pursed lips. “Ah, there it is,” he said, pulling out a sheet of paper.
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“Why exactly did you call me here? Surely, not just to give me my new ID?” he asked a little impatiently.
Dominic looked at his elegant wristwatch. He had a busy schedule and then had to go to an important meeting with a car parts dealer. He didn’t like being pressed for time and liked to take his time to prepare.
Thomas looked at him briefly and smiled a little uncertainly. The old man was already sweating profusely. “Well, Dominic. You know, to apply for your new ID, I had to request a copy of your birth certificate from the registry office, as you know. And…” He scratched his head uncertainly, as if wondering how to continue. “In retrospect, I noticed that you are already married. But as far as I know, you’re not, are you?” he asked somewhat hesitantly.
Dominic laughed out loud.
What was his lawyer stammering about?
Him and married?
That could only be a bad joke!
He was still laughing while Thomas anxiously showed him his birth certificate.
When Dominic, married to Elisa Jane Rayburn, read the document with his own eyes, the laughter froze on his face and he fell silent.
He was literally speechless.
“How is that possible?” he burst out loudly and jumped up from his chair, which landed on the floor with a loud clatter.
Thomas also stood up and raised his hands in the air. “Calm down, please,” he tried to persuade his client.
Dominic entirely ignored the chair and Thomas and pressed his lips together as he tensely ran his hands through his hair. His eyes remained fixed on the name of the woman he seemed to be married to.
Thomas grabbed a cloth to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. He certainly wouldn’t like what he had to tell Dominic. But he had no other choice.
“Please calm down and sit down,” he repeated, pressing his lips together.
Dominic looked into his face and he could see his tension.
“Please,” Thomas added repeatedly, a little more quietly but more firmly.
“I’m afraid the only logical explanation is Peter,” he said hesitantly.
Dominic instantly snorted with rage!
That stupid asshole. What had he done now? And when would this crap finally end?
Dominic walked a few steps up and down the room. He took a few deep breaths and finally managed to calm down a little. However, he wouldn’t be able to keep his appointment with the car parts dealer today. He was completely beside himself.
He pulled his smartphone out of his trouser pocket and called his assistant so that his brother could take over the appointment for him. He also had all the other appointments on his calendar for today postponed or canceled.
Dominic now had to keep his wits about him. He picked up the chair and sat down. With a wave of his hand, he asked his lawyer to continue.
Peter had broken into Dominic’s apartment about two years ago and stolen his passport and all his other important documents. Over the years, he had caused him a lot of trouble by misusing his ID for various purposes. Apparently, he had not only left him with all his credit debts, the rent for various cars, offices and business premises and disgruntled customers, but also a wife who, to make matters worse, knew nothing of his existence.
Peter was his former business partner, with whom he had broken off all business after he had caught him in bed with his then fiancée.
It had been Dominic’s right! And he still didn’t regret the decision.
However, Peter was outraged, as he had ruined his business by canceling all the contracts that ran for several years. He had finally lost everything and threatened to take revenge on Dominic at their last meeting.
And apparently, getting married was also part of his revenge plan.
After a tiring year and a half, his lawyer had assured him that everything had finally come to an end and that all the court hearings had gone in his favor.
He was still at large because he had not yet been caught, but as soon as he turned up at a location, he would be caught and arrested immediately by the police.
Dominic looked at the sheet of paper again and snorted. All his muscles tensed. “This can’t be true?” he said, looking angrily at Thomas for confirmation.
Thomas breathed a heavy sigh. “I’m truly sorry. But I did a background check.” He dug out another file and handed it to him.
“I’ve already requested the marriage certificate. It’s in the post. As soon as the certificate arrives, we can run a signature comparison to make sure it really was Peter and here’s more information I have about your wife…” Thomas faltered at his idiotic blunder.
“Um... I’m sorry... I mean Miss Rayburn, of course.”
“How is that possible?” Dominic groaned, still angry, and studied the file that was presented to him. And after a while, he frowned.
“That’s strange,” he said thoughtfully. “Why did he disappear right after that?”
“I can’t answer that. He was probably afraid we’d find him there and took off straight after the wedding. He certainly had no idea that we only found out now. But still … we can only speculate about his intentions.”
“That’s not logical, why did he marry her in the first place? I mean, did he just want to hurt me?” Dominic asked again.
Poor Jane, he thought at the same time.
How must she have felt?
Apparently Peter had disappeared without a trace on the day of his marriage, right after the ceremony, so to speak. Jane had even filed a missing person’s report with the police, but withdrew it two days later.
Something must have happened, and he would only be able to find out this information from her first hand.
Dominic paused for a moment and became angry.
Poor Jane?
Poor Dominic!
What woman stayed married for so long to a man who disappeared without a trace immediately after marriage?
They could have sorted this out much earlier and then he wouldn’t have had to deal with it now.
Jane was nervous!
She stood in the queue at the bank counter and felt her heart beating faster. Another installment on her house was due today, and she was already behind on the last one.
This meant that she would theoretically have to pay two installments at once plus the interest on late payments. But as she waited at the counter, she realized that the five hundred dollars in her wallet and the small balance in her bank account would hardly be enough to cover even a single payment.
A queasy feeling spread through Jane's stomach as she thought about the impending consequences. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she licked her lips nervously as her eyes fell on the bank employee.
It was Paul, a former classmate from high school, which made the situation even more awkward for her. He had often looked at her with pity and explained to her each time that the bank would not grant any further deferments if she kept defaulting.
At that moment, she noticed the old widow, Ms. Parry, who was closing her handbag and smiling kindly at Paul.
“See you next month,” she said cheerfully. She had withdrawn her late husband's pension from her bank account and was planning to spend some of it with her friends at the weekly bingo night.
Jane couldn't help but envy her carefree evenings. Every so often she wished she could be that carefree too, without having to constantly think about the financial consequences of her decisions.
Now there were only two people ahead of her in the queue. Jane felt her heart beating faster and faster as she watched the last two customers. The pressure on her chest became more and more intense. She had been worrying all morning and for the past week, unsure how she was going to manage the situation with her account and the installments due.
When the last customer finally finished and Paul greeted her with a friendly smile, she was overcome with a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“Good afternoon, Jane! How can I help you?” he asked as he organized his documents.
“Um, hello Paul,” Jane stammered, trying to hide her nervousness. “I… I just wanted to check my account balance and pay the installment due on my house.”
Paul nodded in understanding. “Of course, let me take a look.” He typed some information into his computer and then looked up in surprise.
“Well, I've got good news for you.”
Jane held her breath. Good news? That sounded promising, but worrying at the same time. She never got good news, especially not from her bank.
“Your husband recently made a deposit into your account,” Paul explained with a nervous smile. “And we've already collected the two installments directly from your account.”
At that moment, a feeling of anger, frustration, and despair shot through Jane. Why had Dominic put money into her account after all this time? Why now? And why, after he had dumped her? And how did he know about her account at this bank?
But instead of showing her indignation, she forced herself to keep a neutral expression on her face.
“Oh... really?” she said, in a voice that sounded much calmer than she felt. “Could you maybe tell me the amount?” she asked cautiously.
People here in town had already speculated a lot about her marriage. Some even claimed that she wasn't married and had been dumped just before the ceremony. But she still preferred that to the truth. People generally kept their distance from her. As if there were a curse on her.
Paul named the sum of ten thousand dollars and Jane felt torn inside between relief that the deposit had come at the right time and anger at having received the amount. “Thank you,” she finally mumbled, forcing herself to remain calm.
“One last question,” she said before turning away, ”Can you tell me where the deposit was made?”
“Oh sure...” Paul typed into the computer again. “Well, that's strange. It just says that the payment was made online and your husband's name is Dominic Sanders. But I can't see any other details. If you like, I could call the head office and ask,” he said, looking her in the eye.
Paul was one of the few people who knew about her official marriage and the associated financial difficulties.
“No, no, it's fine,” Jane said. The other customers in the queue were already making their presence felt. Besides, she didn't know if she was ready for more information.
As she left the bank, her thoughts swirled. What was Dominic up to? And why had he transferred money to her now of all times? Did he have a guilty conscience?
She would have liked to find out immediately what was really behind this deposit. But she had suppressed the pain and grief for so long. Jane just wasn't sure she was ready to reopen the old wounds. But she would find the money for the full ten thousand dollars somehow and simply pay him back.
Jane wanted nothing to do with him or his money. Suddenly she stopped because a thought occurred to her.
Was he trying to claim her house? If he knew about her bank account, perhaps he had also gotten wind of the house.
Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to suppress the marriage for so long after all. She urgently needed to contact a lawyer, but she also needed money for that.
Damn it! It was an agonizing vicious circle.
Just like back then!
Jane closed her eyes sadly.
After a few more weeks of research, Dominic had gathered as much information as possible. At first, it took a long time to find Jane because she had moved house after the marriage. But the more information he gathered about her, the more Jane attracted his interest.
“Have you thought about what you're going to do with your bride?” Jake asked, joining his older brother on the roof terrace of the penthouse apartment with his milkshake. They had arranged to meet to watch a movie together.
Dominic gave him a mischievous look and focused all his attention on the screen of his laptop.
Jake reached his hand into the large bowl of popcorn on the table and threw the salty popcorn into his mouth. He couldn't help but laugh and shook his head a little.
His brother, Dominic Sanders, was married!
Jake had opened his eyes when he had told him about her a few days ago. The part about Peter wasn't particularly nice, of course.
After the story about Peter and Claudia had come to light, his brother had withdrawn for a while. Jake was just glad that there had never been any deeper feelings involved, and he had never liked Claudia very much.
Dominic had never said it openly, but Jake knew that he had never been in love with Claudia. They had grown up together, and their families had known each other. But that was about it. He suspected his older brother was more affected by the cheating.
Fortunately, Dominic recovered relatively quickly and then threw himself into work. But Jake secretly knew that he always longed for a family of his own and, above all, children.
“No,” Dominic said curtly, and also took a sip of his mineral water.
Jake took a closer look at his brother. Something was bothering him. He was convinced of it, he could feel it.
“What is there to think about? I mean, don't you just want to have this marriage annulled?” he asked curiously, sucking hard on his straw to get a taste of his vanilla macadamia milkshake.
Now it was Dominic's turn to laugh.
“Not at all.”
Jake's mouth fell open before he could finish his drink, and the milkshake dripped onto his shirt. “What are you going to do instead?” he asked, perplexed, wiping the dripping liquid from his chin with the back of his hand.
Annulling the marriage was one option, of course. Dominic could have instructed his lawyer to get in touch with Jane so that she could testify for him in court and confirm that the marriage was based on fraudulent misrepresentation and had not been consummated.
Dominic would even have paid her a nice little sum as a thank you, which she desperately needed.
But he wanted something that he couldn't get so easily. He wanted a woman by his side. One who wouldn't be keen to be married to him just for the sake of money.
When John, his accountant, told him almost three weeks ago that he had received a deposit of ten thousand dollars in his bank account from Elisa Jane Rayburn, he was convinced.
She had transferred the amount, which she desperately required, back to him and, to his surprise, she had put “Go to hell” in the intended purpose.
A notification about a new e-mail sounded. Dominic tapped quickly on his laptop, and the contents of the email slowly unfolded before his eyes.
Satisfied, he read the booking confirmation and leaned back.
Dominic wanted to see Jane in person and make a final decision on the spot about how to proceed.
“Which movie are we going to see?” he asked in a good mood.
