The Five Years He Missed Chapter 16

The Five Years He Missed Chapter 16

## Dominic’s POV

In the days that followed, Elena stayed in the hospital for observation. I came every single day. Sometimes I would just stand in the doorway, standing there for hours at a time. Other times I would arrive carrying bags upon bags of supplements, piling them up until that tiny nightstand couldn’t hold another thing.

“Elena,” I said today, bringing yet another thermos, my voice pitched so low it carried a humility I myself despised. “You used to love this the most… I made it myself. Will you eat just a little, please?”

I was born into the Gambino family, and arrogance was etched into my very bones. Even during the days when we were madly, inseparably in love, I had never once bowed and scraped before her the way I was doing now. But now, she wouldn’t even spare me a single glance.

Aidan pushed open the door and came in, setting down a thermos of his own. “I brought you some congee,” he said.

“Thank you!” Elena’s eyes lit up in an instant. That spark—that was the light in her eyes that I hadn’t seen in far, far too long. She took the bag, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Aidan, you really are handsome and kind-hearted.” Aidan’s expression didn’t change, but his gaze flickered away for just a second, and the tips of his ears quietly flushed red.

I clutched my own untouched, unasked for thermos, my chest so tight I could barely breathe. I couldn’t help but open my mouth and ask, “Elena—are you and Aidan… very close?”

Elena finally looked me in the eye. That look was cold as ice. “Of course. If it weren’t for Aidan, I wouldn’t still be alive.”

I fell silent. Why couldn’t you stay alive—that was the one question I, of all people on this earth, had the least right to ask her.

When I returned from the hospital, I summoned my advisor to the study. Days upon days of investigation results lay spread across the desk, their weight pressing down on my chest until I could barely draw breath. I had to take several deep inhalations before I could force myself to open those files.

The secretary stood to the side, his voice level, but every word pierced like a blade. “Mr. Gambino, the donor from back then was intercepted by Miss Carter, with the Madam’s tacit approval. To prevent you from becoming suspicious, the Madam also arranged for people to periodically report on the child’s condition to you.”

At that point, he paused, hesitant. Because I—this Don who had always been decisive, ruthless, and utterly self-possessed—was now sitting before him with bloodshot eyes, my fingers gripping the documents trembling violently.

The advisor sighed and finished his report. “Furthermore, I uncovered that your assistant, the housekeeper, and all the servants received regular transfers from the Madam.”

What this meant, I knew with perfect clarity. It meant that five years ago, everyone had been helping my mother and Brianna.

I had once believed Elena was consumed by jealousy, that she was always irrationally targeting Brianna. But the truth was the exact opposite—it was Elena who had been enduring bullying all along, and I… I had been the accomplice.

I was far too clever. It only took me those few seconds to piece every fragment together.

Scenes from the past flashed before my eyes: Elena carrying Luca on her back through that fire, escaping by herself. Elena, her face covered in wounds, simply looking at me in silence. Elena’s eyes, cooling degree by degree, until at last nothing but a dead stillness remained.

No wonder… no wonder she no longer loved me. Trampled like that by the person she loved—who wouldn’t be heartbroken? Who wouldn’t lose all hope?

I couldn’t stay there another second. I shot to my feet and charged toward the bedroom. Brianna was indeed inside, lounging lazily against the bed.

“Dominic!” When she saw me, her face lit up with surprise, and she immediately put on that wounded, pitiful expression that now turned my stomach. “Don’t be mad at me anymore—I was just so angry I wasn’t thinking straight when I sent those men to dig up the grave. I’ll never do it again! And the other day was my fault too—I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Let’s make up, alright?”

As she spoke, she twisted her hips and pressed herself against me. In the next second, my large hand closed around the fragile column of her throat.

I stared at her expressionlessly, my grip tightening inch by inch. “Brianna—how dare you?” How dare you deceive me? How dare you murder my son?!

Brianna’s face instantly flushed a swollen red. Terror dilated in her pupils, and a choked, rattling sound squeezed from her throat. “I… didn’t…” She pounded frantically at my arm, her legs kicking wildly. But I didn’t release her—on the contrary, I applied even more force. Until her struggles gradually weakened, her gaze began to scatter, filled with the desperate despair of the dying.

Just at the moment she thought she was surely about to die, I let go. Brianna crumpled to the floor, coughing violently, greedily gulping down air. A wild joy surged through her—the ecstasy of having survived a brush with death. Of course—she was Leo’s mother. How could Dominic bear to kill her?

She raised her head to ingratiate herself with me, but instead collided headfirst with my ice-cold gaze. I looked down at her from above, the way one looks at a pile of revolting garbage. “You thought I would kill you?”

I crouched down, leaned close to her ear, and enunciated each word with deliberate precision. “How could I kill you? I want you alive—so you can properly atone.”