Chapter 132 One Hundred & Thirty Two
Izzy sat in the garden, the soft evening air brushing against her skin. Brian was laughing beside her, playing with a small toy car, while Steven watched them with a quiet smile.
For a moment… everything felt calm.
Safe.
Izzy leaned back slightly, her eyes on Brian.
Then…
Footsteps.
A security guard approached quickly, stopping a few feet away.
“Ma’am… sir,” he said respectfully. “There’s a man at the gate. He says his name is Dominic Steele.”
The name hit the air like a shockwave.
“Dominic?” Steven repeated, his expression instantly hardening.
“Yes, sir,” the guard confirmed.
Izzy went still. Her fingers tightened slightly around Brian’s shirt. “What does he want…?” she asked quietly, her voice no longer steady.
Steven didn’t answer immediately. His eyes were distant for a second, thinking.
Then he looked at the guard again.
“…Let him in,” he said.
The gates opened slowly, and Dominic’s car rolled in.
He stepped out, his eyes scanning immediately…until they landed on her.
Izzy.
For a moment, everything else faded.
Steven stood beside her, his posture protective, one hand still holding hers. Brian was close, unaware of the tension, playing quietly.
Steven’s expression hardened as Dominic approached.
“Are you here to fight again, Mr. Steele?” he asked coldly.
Dominic didn’t look at him. His eyes stayed on Izzy.
“I just want to talk.”
Steven let out a short breath. “I thought we already said everything that needed to be said.”
Dominic finally stopped a few feet away. His voice dropped.
“I’m sorry… for what happened earlier today. I shouldn’t have acted that way. I’m sorry.”
Izzy’s face didn’t soften.
“Doesn’t matter, Dominic,” she said quietly, her tone cold and distant. “Whatever you said or did didn't matter to me.”
That hit… but he didn’t back down.
“I just want to know the truth,” he said. “What really happened between you and my mom… I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
Izzy stared at him for a long moment.
Then her eyes shifted to Steven.
He squeezed her hand gently, giving her a small nod.
Tell him.
Izzy exhaled slowly.
“Sit,” she said.
Dominic didn’t argue. He sat across from them, tense, waiting.
Izzy kept her voice steady, even though her hands were slightly shaking.
“Your mother came to me… five years ago,” she began.
Dominic’s eyes locked on hers.
“She offered me money,” Izzy continued. “Twenty-five million dollars.”
Dominic’s brows furrowed.
“For what?”
“To disappear,” Izzy said simply. “To keep quiet. To never tell you about the baby. After she had me followed and burst into my apartment”
Silence.
Heavy.
“She thought I was trying to trap you,” Izzy added, her voice tightening slightly. “She said I was after your name, your money… your life.”
Dominic’s face went pale.
“I didn’t want your money,” Izzy continued. “I just wanted you. I didn’t want my child growing up in that kind of control… that kind of world all thanks to Maya for knocking some sense into me.”
Steven’s hand tightened around hers, grounding her.
“So I took it,” she said quietly. “And I left.”
Dominic shook his head slowly, trying to process it.
“She paid you… to keep my son from me?”
Izzy’s eyes didn’t leave his.
“Yes.”
The truth landed hard.
Dominic leaned back slightly, running a hand over his face, anger and disbelief crashing into each other.
“She lied…” he muttered. “She twisted everything…”
Izzy didn’t respond.
She had already said enough.
Now it was on him to deal with it.
Dominic didn’t say anything for a second.
The weight of it all crashed into him at once.
The lies.
The years he lost.
The son he never knew.
His chest tightened, breathing uneven. Then suddenly…
He dropped.
Right there.
To his knees in front of Izzy.
The sound alone made her flinch.
“Dominic…?”
She froze, her eyes widening in shock as she stared down at him.
He didn’t look up immediately. His head was bowed, his hands clenched tight, like he was holding himself together.
“I’m sorry…” his voice came out rough. Broken.
Izzy didn’t move.
“I’m so… fucking sorry,” he said again, louder this time, his shoulders shaking slightly. “I didn’t know… I didn’t know any of this…”
Steven’s jaw tightened, watching closely, but he didn’t interrupt.
Dominic finally looked up at her, his eyes red, filled with regret.
“I should’ve been there,” he said. “For you… for him… I should’ve fought harder, asked questions, not just believed her…”
Izzy’s breath caught, but she forced herself to stay still.
“I failed you,” he continued. “Both of you.”
Silence fell around them.
“I can’t take back those years,” Dominic said, his voice cracking. “I know that. But if there’s anything… anything I can do to fix even a part of it…”
He swallowed hard.
“Please… just give me a chance… forgive me Izzy”
Izzy stared at him, her heart pulling in different directions.
This was the man who had hurt her.
The man she once loved.
The father of her child.
And now…
He was on his knees in front of her.
Broken.
Begging.
Izzy’s hands shook as she pulled them from Steven’s hold. Her chest heaved, and suddenly the dam inside her broke.
“You don’t get to just kneel here and expect forgiveness, Dominic!” she shouted, her voice cracking with anger and hurt. “Do you have any idea how much you’ve hurt me? How much your mother…. and, you had tried to destroy my life?”
Dominic flinched under her words, his hands still clenching in his lap.
“I… I… ” he started, but she cut him off, her eyes blazing.
“No! Don’t even try to explain! You didn’t fight for me! You didn’t stand by me! You just let it happen! And now, five years later, you show up like nothing happened, like I could just wipe it off.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, but her voice was sharp, unrelenting.
“Your mom gave me money to shut me up. Twenty-five million… TWENTY-FIVE MILLION! Do you understand what that felt like? That you let her make me feel like a criminal..like a cheap slut for loving you!”
Dominic’s jaw tightened. His eyes burned with guilt, but he stayed on his knees.
“I… I didn’t know…” he whispered, but the words sounded hollow against the storm of her fury.
“You didn’t know?!” Izzy snapped, taking a step closer. “You knew enough to trust your mother over me! To doubt me! To make me feel like I had to fight for my own life and my own child alone!”
Steven stepped slightly closer, but he stayed quiet, letting her vent.
Dominic’s shoulders slumped. Every word she spoke was like a blade cutting through him. He knew she was right. He had failed her…. failed them both.
“I… I’m sorry, Izzy,” he said again, quieter this time, barely above a whisper. “I can’t take back what happened. But I… I swear I will make it right. I promise you. I’ll fight for you, for Brian, for us…”
Izzy’s eyes narrowed. She shook her head, furious and heartbroken.
“There's no us … it's just me and my child and my family.”
Her words hung in the air, sharp and final, and for the first time, Dominic truly understood the depth of what he had lost…