The Five Years He Missed Chapter 17

The Five Years He Missed Chapter 17

## Elena’s POV

Aidan held his phone up before my eyes. On the screen, the financial news was playing. Gambino Group was hunting down the Carter family like a pack of madmen—the onslaught didn’t even resemble a business competition; it was more like a one-sided slaughter. Carter Group’s stock price had plummeted off a cliff, and within days, news of bankruptcy and liquidation had followed.

Brianna’s parents, cornered like desperate animals, threw themselves before Dominic to beg for mercy. After being refused, they turned humiliated rage into fury, screaming before the cameras that they would sever all ties with the Gambino family, vowing to launch an earthshaking business war. But who was Dominic? That man didn’t leave even a sliver of room for negotiation. He simply swung his blade straight at the few remaining core assets the Carter family still clung to.

Watching those two once-arrogant elders now running into walls everywhere, scrambling to borrow money in utter humiliation, I couldn’t help the tug at the corner of my mouth. My voice carried a bitter mockery I myself found distasteful. “Raising a daughter like this—how unfortunate for the parents.”

Aidan turned his head, those deep ocean-blue eyes fixed steadily on me with an intensity that made me dizzy. “What is it?” I averted my gaze, my voice stammering.

He asked, “Are you happy?”

I paused, my heart a tangled mess. “My enemies are Brianna and Dominic. Not those two old people.” I hesitated, looking at the screen at Brianna’s face, which the entire internet had already ripped apart. She hadn’t shown herself once from beginning to end, letting her parents face the cameras and take the bullets. Public opinion was already savaging her for being utterly heartless. “Dominic still remembers Luca—that’s why he took revenge on the Carters. But he’s always spoiled Brianna so much—and he even has a son with her. He probably… won’t do anything substantial to punish her, will he…”

Aidan nodded thoughtfully. “I understand.” I blinked in confusion. Understand? What did he understand? Aidan didn’t offer an explanation. He merely straightened his cuffs and turned to leave.

Not long after, Dominic pushed open the door and came in. He always carried that suffocating, overwhelming presence around him, but in front of me, he made an effort to rein it in.

“The doctor says you’re recovering very well…” His voice was low and rough, laced with tentative probing. “After you’re discharged, come back home with me, alright? I’ve found the very best psychiatrist in the world. They can definitely cure you.”

I turned my face away and looked at the harsh sunlight outside the window. “I think, as long as I’m living under the same roof as Mr. Gambino, my mental illness will never be cured.”

A wounded look flickered across Dominic’s face. “Elena—does it have to be this way between us?”

I calmly turned my head and met his gaze. “You could also choose to stop bothering me. Then you wouldn’t have to hear me speak.”

“Impossible!” His voice suddenly spiked in volume, but he instantly realized he’d lost control. He drew a deep breath, then like a deflated balloon, sank down somewhat dejectedly onto the edge of the hospital bed.

That Don Gambino—who moved decisively through the underworld, who spoke with absolute authority and brooked no dissent—now shed all his sharp edges, revealing a rare, vulnerable softness.

“Elena—I’ve been wanting to tell you. These five years, I missed you so much.” His voice carried the ache of reminiscence. “From the day I first won your heart, I thought about loving you well, protecting you, all the way until forever. But later… I felt the days had grown too tedious. That’s why I tacitly allowed Brianna to draw close. At first, I just wanted to see you jealous. But my mother drugged me, made me… with her. After that, she and I drew closer and closer. Back then, I never intended to leave you. I just thought you were bullying her, and I wanted to teach you a lesson. I never imagined—everything was plotted by her and my mother together…”

He reached out a hand, as if to touch my face, but pulled it back midair. “These five years, I kept wanting to come see you. I wanted to tell you that even if you really had cheated, it would be alright. But I couldn’t let go of my pride, so I never came… I’m sorry, Elena. I know I was wrong. Just give me a chance to make it up to you, please?”

He was laying his heart bare before me, but all I felt was the absurd ridiculousness of it. I looked at him and asked coldly, “Brianna and that son of yours—do they know you’re planning to abandon them?”

Dominic’s eyes lit up, as if he’d seized a lifeline. He hastily pulled out his phone and eagerly thrust the screen before my eyes. The video showed a dark, damp basement. Brianna was tied to a chair, her clothes torn and ragged. That face that had once sickened me was now slashed beyond recognition—a bloody, mangled mess. She was crying and wailing, barely coherent, tears mixing with blood as they streamed down. “I know I was wrong… save me…”

Dominic watched my expression, his tone so gentle it was horrifying. “Brianna murdered our son. How could I possibly let her off easy? She’ll soon be sent to a psychiatric hospital. She can spend the rest of her life atoning.”

He paused, softening his voice as if afraid of scaring me away. “As for Leo… I sent him abroad. I gave him enough money to grow up safely and comfortably, but I stripped away his inheritance rights.”

At this point, he leaned closer to me, his voice carrying a fawning, hopeful note. “Elena—let’s have another child. Let that child inherit the Gambino family. What do you say?”

I looked at that cautious, anxious expression on his face and finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. I let out a laugh. Watching his bewildered, lost look, my voice came out hoarse, every word as if fished from an ice cellar.

“You mean to say—if it weren’t for Brianna, I would have stayed with you forever? Now that Brianna has been punished, I’m supposed to forgive you?”

I stared into his eyes, wide with shock, and stripped away the final layer of pretense, one word at a time. “Dominic, have you forgotten—even before Brianna appeared, you were already lying to me. We were never legally married at all.”

Dominic’s face went utterly white.