I Was the Family Scapegoat Chapter 05

I Was the Family Scapegoat Chapter 05

The maid’s scream froze everyone in place.

Dominic was the first one out the door.

Rain poured down in sheets, slicing the courtyard lights into fragments. He stumbled down the steps, one foot splashing into an icy

puddle.

Then he saw her.

Rosalie lay in a pool of blood. Rain washed over the red spreading beneath her. The bullet had gone through her jaw and out the top of

her skull. Half her face was gone.

Only her eyes remained open-empty, staring up at the night sky, like she was looking at something very far away.

“Rosalie!”

Dominic threw himself forward, knees cracking against the concrete. He pulled her cold body into his arms. Rain and blood ran through

his fingers.

“Rosalie! Look at me! FUCKING LOOK AT ME!!”

No response.

Her body was limp, boneless. Her head lolled back, that gaping wound staring right at him.

Ethan stumbled out, face ashen.

“No way… this can’t be real…” he mumbled, legs giving out, dropping to his knees in the rain. “It was blanks… Vanessa said it was

blanks…”

“BLANKS?!” Dominic’s head snapped around, eyes bloodshot. “Bullshit blanks!! Her fucking head is GONE!!”

He kicked Ethan square in the chest, sending him sprawling backward into the mud.

Father rushed out from the doorway. One look at his daughter’s body and he swayed, all the color draining from his face.

“Sir! The servants scrambled to catch him.

Dominic didn’t stop. He scooped up Rosalie and ran.

Call an ambulance! CALL A FUCKING AMBULANCE!!”

The ER doors slammed shut in his face.

Dominic stood there, drenched in blood, frozen like a statue in the rain. His eyes never left that door.

Ethan leaned against the wall, face gray. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Ten minutes later, the door opened.

A doctor stepped out, pulled down his mask. His expression said everything.

“I’m sorry. She’s been dead for over two hours.”

Dominic went rigid.

“What did you say?” His voice cracked. “Say that again.”

“The deceased was already dead for more than two hours before she was found.” The doctor lowered his head. “My condolences.”

Two hours.

What was he doing two hours ago?

Drinking champagne. Laughing with guests. Listening to Vanessa say she’s just putting on a show.

While Rosalie-his wife, the mother of his child-lay in the pouring rain, alone, in a pool of her own blood. Dying.

“NO!” Dominic grabbed the doctor by the collar. “Check again! Check her AGAIN! She’s not dead! She CAN’T be dead!”

“Sir, please calm-

“I don’t WANT to be calm! You save her!” Dominic roared like a man possessed. ‘I don’t care what it takes-bring her BACK!!

It took three nurses to pull him off.

Ethan stood in the corner, shaking uncontrollably.

Images kept flashing through his mind-Rosalie on her knees a few hours ago, face covered in blood, screaming those men really

He didn’t let her finish.

He thought she was acting.

He said let her put on her show.

He said if she dies, that’s on her.

His phone buzzed.

Ethan checked it mechanically. A news alert-

[SHOCKING: Viral Video Shows Mafia Heiress Being Assaulted-Graphic Content Warning]

His heart dropped.

The scheduled video. He forgot to cancel it.

Ethan dialed frantically. “Kill it! Get it OFF! Say it’s fake! Say it was staged!!”

The voice on the other end was grim. “Boss, it’s too late. The comments are full of experts breaking it down. The more we delete, the

more it spreads…”

He clicked into the comments. The words hit him like knives-

“That’s not acting. Look at her eyes-that’s real terror…”

I’m a psych major. The stress response, the pupil dilation, the muscle rigidity-those are real trauma reactions. You can’t fake that.”

“Jesus, those scars on her body are OLD. Years old… what the hell did this woman go through?”

“Someone found out she was forced to strip at a club for three years just to pay off her family’s debts?”

“What kind of fucked-up family does that to their own?”

To everyone saying it’s fake or staged-open your goddamn eyes! You think you can ACT that kind of fear and pain?!”

Ethan’s hands shook violently.

Those men really did…

He always thought it was an act. Always thought his guys were just scaring her.”

But what if it was real?

More images flooded his mind:

Rosalie kneeling in the hospital hallway, begging him to take her dirty money.”

Rosalie getting slapped, force-fed cake, stomped on.

Rosalie’s face right before she jumped-that smile of pure relief-

“Mom. I’m coming.”

“NO-!!”

Ethan dropped into a crouch, hands clutching his head, a raw animal sound tearing from his throat.

“I didn’t know… I didn’t fucking KNOW…”

The morgue.

Cold light. Cold air. Cold body.

Dominic stood there, staring at the shape beneath the white sheet. Motionless.

The medical examiner sorted through his notes nearby. He hesitated, then spoke.

“Mr. Moretti, there’s something else…”

“Say it.”

The deceased showed signs of a recent miscarriage.” He paused. “The fetus was approximately two months along.”

Dominic’s pupils contracted.

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“What?”

“Based on the examination, she miscarried within hours of her death. Likely caused by blunt force trauma to the abdomen. The examiner lowered his gaze. The fetus was fully formed. It was a boy,”

Dominic stood frozen, like he’d been struck by lightning.

Images flashed through his mind-

The guard’s foot slamming into Rosalie’s stomach.

The blood spreading beneath her dress.

Her curled up on the floor, too broken to even scream.

That was his child.

Killed by the men he sent.

While he watched. And did nothing.

Dominic walked slowly to the body. His hand trembled as he lifted the corner of the sheet.

Half her face was destroyed by the bullet wound, but what remained was still clear. He could trace those features with his eyes closed-the face he’d looked at for over a decade. The woman he once swore to protect for life.

And what did he do?

He blew her hard-earned money on another woman’s party. He humiliated her in front of everyone. Watched her get beaten. Pushed her until she put a gun in her mouth.

She was carrying his child. She never said a word.

She carried everything alone. And in that storm, she finally gave up.

“Rosalie…”

Dominic dropped to his knees beside the cold body, his voice barely a rasp.

Come back… please come back… I’ll give you anything…”

No answer.

The only sound in the morgue was the hum of the fluorescent lights-and a man’s broken, desperate sobs.

“Please… come back…”