DOMINIC'S POV
The video was playing on every phone in the parking lot, and I couldn't breathe.
On screen, I watched myself walk into a hospital room three months ago. Melissa was lying in a bed, her head bandaged, her face bruised. And I was holding her hand like she meant everything to me.
"How are you feeling?" my voice said on the video.
"Confused," video-Melissa replied. "The doctors say I hit my head pretty hard. I don't remember the accident at all."
"That's normal with concussions," video-me said gently. "The important thing is you're okay."
"Are you my doctor?" video-Melissa asked, looking at me with those beautiful hazel eyes.
"No," video-me said. "I'm... a friend. I was there when the accident happened. I called the ambulance."
I remembered now. God help me, I remembered everything.
"Dominic?" Real Melissa grabbed my arm, her voice shaking. "Is that real? Did we meet three months ago?"
Around us, the crowd was buzzing with shock and anger. Two hundred wedding guests were watching the same video, seeing what looked like proof that Melissa and I had been lying all along.
"You liar!" someone shouted. "You said you just met today!"
"This whole thing was planned!" another voice yelled.
"I can explain," I said loudly, but the crowd was getting angrier.
Sienna was laughing, triumphant. "See? I told you! They've been having an affair for months! Melissa was cheating on Blake before he ever touched me!"
"That's not what happened!" I roared, and my Alpha voice made everyone go quiet. "Yes, we met three months ago. But it wasn't an affair. It was—"
"It was what?" Blake asked, his face twisted with hurt and confusion. "Dad, you knew Melissa before I introduced her to you? You met her and said nothing?"
"I didn't remember either," Melissa said, but she was crying now. "I had memory loss from the concussion. I forgot—" She looked at me desperately. "What did I forget? What really happened that day?"
The video was still playing on people's phones. Now it showed me visiting Melissa again the next day, bringing her flowers. We were talking and laughing. We looked comfortable together. Close.
"It looks pretty clear what happened," Marcus said, stepping forward with a snake's smile. "My brother met his son's girlfriend, fell for her, and started an affair. Blake found out and cheated with Sienna in revenge. This whole family is rotten."
"No!" I said, but I could see people believing him. Could see the doubt in their eyes.
"Then tell us the truth," Charles said quietly, his old eyes piercing into mine. "What happened three months ago, Dominic? All of it."
I looked at Melissa. Her mascara was running down her face. She looked destroyed. But she also looked at me with hope—desperate hope that I had an explanation that would make sense of this nightmare.
"Three months ago," I said slowly, "I was driving home from a meeting. I saw a car accident happen right in front of me. A truck ran a red light and hit a small car. The driver of that car was Melissa."
Melissa's eyes widened. "You... you saved me?"
"I pulled you from the wreckage before the car caught fire," I continued. "You were bleeding and unconscious. I rode with you in the ambulance. I stayed at the hospital until you woke up." I swallowed hard. "And when you woke up, you didn't know who I was. You had no memory of the accident or the rescue. The doctors said the trauma caused temporary memory loss."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Blake demanded. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I ran a background check while Melissa was unconscious," I admitted. "I wanted to make sure she had family to notify. And that's when I discovered she was dating my son. Blake Romano's girlfriend. So I made a choice—I left without telling her who I was. I thought if she didn't remember, it was better to just disappear."
"But you didn't disappear," Sienna said accusingly. "The video shows you visiting her multiple times!"
"I visited twice," I corrected. "Once when she woke up, to make sure she was okay. And once the next day to bring flowers and check on her recovery. Both times, I told her I was just a Good Samaritan who'd witnessed the accident. I never told her my name. I never told her I was Blake's father."
"Why?" Melissa whispered. "Why did you come back to check on me?"
I looked into her eyes, and something in my chest cracked open.
"Because when I pulled you from that burning car," I said quietly, "and you opened your eyes and looked at me—I felt something I hadn't felt in ten years. Something I thought died with Elena. And it terrified me."
The parking lot was completely silent. Everyone was listening now.
"What did you feel?" Melissa asked.
"Hope," I said simply. "I felt hope. For ten years, I've been walking through life like a ghost. Working, breathing, existing. But not living. Not really. And then I saw you, and something inside me woke up. So I saved you. And then I ran away because I knew you belonged to my son, and I couldn't—" My voice broke. "I couldn't let myself want something I could never have."
Tears were streaming down Melissa's face. "You never forgot me."
"Not for one day," I admitted. "I tried. God knows I tried. But you were always there in the back of my mind. This beautiful, strong woman who survived death and woke up smiling. When Blake told me he was getting married, he showed me your picture, and my heart stopped. But I told myself it was fate. You were meant to be with Blake, not me. So I stayed away from all the wedding planning. I told myself if I never saw you in person, I could forget you."
"But you came to the wedding," Melissa said.
"Because my father called me and said Blake was making a mistake," I said, glancing at Charles. "He said I needed to see Blake's fiancée before the wedding. He said it was important. So I came. And when I walked into that hotel room and saw you standing there in your wedding dress—" I shook my head. "I knew. I knew Blake didn't deserve you. I knew I'd been an idiot to stay away. And I knew I'd do anything to protect you from more pain."
"This is the most romantic and messed up thing I've ever heard," Grace said from somewhere in the crowd.
"It's not romantic!" Blake shouted. "He's been obsessed with my girlfriend for three months!"
"Ex-girlfriend," Melissa corrected quietly. "You cheated on me, remember? You called off the wedding. You chose Sienna."
Blake's mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"So let me get this straight," Charles said, banging his cane on the ground. "Dominic saved Melissa's life three months ago. He left without telling her who he was because she was dating Blake. He tried to forget her and stay away. And today, when he discovered Blake had betrayed her, he offered her a way to fight back." He looked around at the crowd. "Is that about right?"
"Yes," I said.
"Then where's the affair?" Charles demanded. "Where's the scandal? A man saved a woman's life and kept his distance for three months out of respect for his son. That's not a scandal. That's called having honor."
The crowd started murmuring. Some people were nodding. Others still looked skeptical.
"But the video—" someone started.
"The video shows a man checking on someone he saved," Charles interrupted. "Nothing more. Sienna edited it to look suspicious, but there's no affair. No betrayal. Just a father who tried to do the right thing and a son who threw it all away."
Sienna's face was red with rage. "You're all idiots! He's manipulating you! He saved her life so she'd owe him! It's grooming!"
"I was twenty-six years old," Melissa said coldly. "Not a child. And Dominic never asked me for anything. He left without even telling me his name. If he wanted to manipulate me, he had three months to do it. Instead, he stayed away."
"Until today," Sienna said desperately. "Until he could steal you from Blake—"
"Blake threw me away!" Melissa shouted. "How many times do I have to say it? Blake cheated on me! Blake humiliated me! Blake destroyed our relationship! Dominic didn't steal anything. He just offered me a choice when I had none left!"
The crowd was definitely on our side now. I could see it in their faces—sympathy for Melissa, disgust for Blake and Sienna.
"This is ridiculous," Marcus said, trying to regain control. "Even if there was no affair, Dominic still proposed to his son's ex-fiancée on their wedding day! That's inappropriate and—"
"And my decision to make," I interrupted. "I'm forty-eight years old, Marcus. I don't need your permission to propose to someone. And I definitely don't need Blake's permission since he threw Melissa away like garbage."
"Dad," Blake said quietly. He looked broken. Lost. "Did you really feel all that? About Melissa?"
I looked at my son—this boy I'd raised, this man who'd disappointed me so completely today. And I decided to tell him the truth.
"Yes," I said. "I fell in love with Melissa the moment I pulled her from that car. But I would have taken that secret to my grave if you had treated her right. If you had loved her and respected her and been the man I tried to raise you to be. But you weren't. You destroyed her. So yes, Blake—I'm taking her from you. And I'm not sorry."
Blake looked like I'd slapped him.
The crowd was completely silent again.
And then Melissa did something that shocked everyone.
She walked over to Blake and slapped him across the face.
"That's for the six months of lies," she said.
Then she turned to Sienna and slapped her too.
"And that's for pretending to be my friend while you destroyed my life."
The crowd erupted in cheers and applause.
Melissa walked back to me, took my hand, and said loudly enough for everyone to hear: "Dominic Romano, I accept your proposal. Let's get married. Right now. In front of all these witnesses. And let's make it legal and real and permanent."
My heart stopped. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," she said. "You saved my life three months ago. Today, you're giving me my life back. That's worth saying yes to."
"We need a minister," Charles said practically. "And a marriage license."
"I'm a minister!" someone in the crowd shouted. An elderly woman pushed forward, smiling. "I got ordained online for my daughter's wedding. I can marry them right now if they want!"
"And I have a marriage license," Marcus said bitterly, pulling papers from his jacket. "I brought it for Blake and Melissa's wedding. Just cross out Blake's name and write Dominic's. It's legal enough."
"Perfect," I said. "Let's do this."
But before we could start, Sienna pulled out a gun.
"Nobody's getting married," she said, pointing it straight at Melissa. "Not until I get what I came for."