Chapter 195: I am sorry for not believing you earlier

After Mark got hold of the number Thomas had been in contact with, it didn’t take him long to discover that it belonged to none other than Vincent.

It was clear that Vincent had hired Thomas because he wanted to get back at Clara for snatching the deal with the Grahams that he had been trying to secure for months. What surprised Dominic, however, was how quickly everything had begun to unfold according to the plan.

Or so he had thought.

Little did he know that Clara had a game of her own in motion.

Dominic’s eyes glinted with admiration as he watched the woman beside him. Clara had a rather unusual way of handling things. More than once, her actions had given him a heart attack, but seeing her stand up for herself and refuse to let Julianna manipulate her filled him with a strange sense of pride.

"Julianna seriously thought she could get away with putting all the blame on Vincent," Clara said, her voice laced with disbelief.

She had always known that Julianna was selfish. She also knew that the woman would go to great lengths to get rid of her and reclaim the life she believed belonged to her.

But even Clara had never imagined that Julianna would go as far as using her own father as a pawn in her game.

It was one thing to manipulate outsiders, but dragging Vincent into her scheme without hesitation showed just how far she was willing to go.

Dominic remained silent.

He already knew what kind of woman Julianna was. He had seen enough of her schemes to understand that she rarely cared about the consequences as long as she got what she wanted.

But Dominic didn’t want to tell Clara what to think.

He wanted her to see Julianna’s true nature for herself.

And judging by the look in Clara’s eyes, she was finally beginning to do exactly that.

For the first time, Dominic felt that Julianna’s carefully constructed mask was beginning to crack.

"I’m glad you finally see Julianna for who she really is."

Clara looked at Dominic, and the sight of his faint smile made her blink.

"So you always knew what kind of person she was?" she asked.

Dominic nodded before turning his gaze toward the view ahead.

Clara felt as though someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over her head.

All this time, she had believed Dominic simply didn’t care. That was why, even in her past life, he had never bothered to defend himself whenever she accused him of something.

But now she was beginning to realize how wrong she had been.

She had been so careless back then. Instead of communicating with Dominic and trying to understand his side of things, she had allowed the people around her to influence her emotions until the distance between them grew wider and wider.

"Then why didn’t you tell me?" she asked, looking at him expectantly.

Dominic remained silent for a moment.

[Because you never believed me in the first place.]

That was the truth.

After that night, when Clara had accused him of spiking her drink and ruining her life, something inside Dominic had changed. It was then that he realized just how much influence the people around Clara had over her.

And eventually, he discovered the truth.

The person constantly poisoning Clara’s mind against him wasn’t some stranger.

It was Julianna.

She had been manipulating Clara from behind the scenes, carefully twisting situations and feeding her lies until Clara began seeing Dominic as the enemy.

Dominic had known the truth, yet he couldn’t simply throw the accusation in Clara’s face.

He knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn’t believe him.

If anything, accusing Julianna without proof would only make Clara defend her more fiercely.

That was why Dominic had chosen a different approach.

He wanted Clara to discover Julianna’s true intentions on her own.

He wanted her to see the truth without anyone forcing it upon her.

And now, after everything that had happened, Clara was finally beginning to understand.

"I just wanted you to see it for yourself," Dominic finally said quietly.

Clara couldn’t tear her eyes away from Dominic. The pure affection in his eyes made her heart ache with warmth.

Without wasting another second, she walked toward him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I’m sorry for not believing you before," she whispered, burying her face against his chest.

No amount of apologies could erase what she had done in her past life. But in this life, she would make sure Dominic knew just how much she appreciated him.

Because living this life with him had made her realize how impossible it had been to imagine a future without him.

Dominic hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around her. His hand eventually moved to the back of her head, gently caressing her hair.

He had no idea what she was apologizing for, but he didn’t interrupt her. Instead, he simply waited.

After a moment, Clara slowly pulled back and looked up at him.

"I know Julianna was the one who drugged me on my birthday."

The moment those words left her mouth, Dominic’s hand went still.

Confusion immediately flashed across his face, but Clara didn’t look away.

[If she knew Julianna had drugged her, then why didn’t she stop her?]

Dominic had believed all this time that Julianna had been manipulating Clara without her realizing it. But now, it seemed Clara had known about everything.

Then why had she never confronted Julianna?

Clara, on the other hand, lowered her eyes for a moment.

How could she explain it? There was no reasonable way to tell him that it had taken her an entire lifetime to finally see through Julianna’s carefully constructed façade.

And yet, now that she had finally brought it up, she knew Dominic wouldn’t simply let the matter go.

Clara pursed her lips when Dominic continued staring at her curiously. Just when she thought she had landed herself in serious trouble, heaven finally decided to intervene.

Her phone suddenly rang.

She quickly pulled away from Dominic, plastering an awkward smile across her face.

"Hehe... I need to take this call."

Dominic stared at his wife, clearly unconvinced by her painfully obvious attempt to escape the conversation.

He knew that smile.

It was the same smile she wore whenever she was trying to avoid answering a question.

Still, he let her go.

However, the moment Clara answered the phone and suddenly let out a loud scream, Dominic’s expression changed.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment.

Just from that one scream, he could already feel a headache coming on.

Whatever had happened on the other end of the call, Dominic had a feeling it was about to become his problem too.