Page 157 of The Scandal You Started
Especially not when Rayna read a string of messages from Victor the next day as she and Dominic were leaving the museum.
V:
Some of the files on all the drives are corrupted
I’m going to take it to someone I know who’ll take a look at it immediately
Don’t worry we still have all the physical copies if this doesn’t work
“We do notneedthe hard drives, Rayna,” Dominic said confidently after she showed him the messages while they stood by the car. “Perhaps it might have made this easier, but everything we need is in those boxes of papers.”
He was so sure, while she could hear faint sounds of the ground under her feet cracking and snapping and crumbling. So she clung to his certainty, metaphorically and physically, letting him hold her flush until the unease settled and her pulse softened.
Then Rayna drove them straight to her and George’s house again, and not long after they arrived, so did River and Kelly.
They all gathered on the two sofas, while Victor took the armchair, as they decided on a course of action.
“I’m going to head to see Lamar later today again and find out if he’s made progress with the hard drives,” Victor explained, and then glanced at Rayna and George sharing a sofa with Dominic. “In the meantime, we’ll begin unboxing the files and sorting them out so we can find everything on Rupture reduction.”
“I’ll help too,” Kelly quickly added with a raise of her hand, River’s arm lying across her lap.
Victor smiled. “Thank you, Kelly.”
“You should be at the café,” Rayna muttered.
Kelly flapped her hand about. “Girl, I have people who work for me. As long as I’m there in the morning to make our cakes, I can use the rest of the day to help you.”
Rayna’s lips quirked, soft and grateful, and Kelly kissed the air in her direction.
Then Victor continued, “That leaves Dominic and River to work on discovering your history.”
“I have confirmation of a one-week access slot to the National Archives starting Thursday,” River said. “Dominic and I can head to Olkmond Regional Library together and look through the online platform for anything that might help. Also…I have a plan. Kind of.”
He looked around the room, then settled his grey eyes on Dominic. “Basically, if we make a list of all your responsibilities and roles as marquess, we can narrow down how they can all be done without you being there a lot of the time, and then also use the list as a guide to search for your history too.”
Dominic nodded in thoughtful agreement. “Off the top of my head, it is entirely possible.” He moved his hands as he spoke. “All of my responsibilities can be split between my family,manservant, and solicitors if they are not already. I believe it would be rather simple, actually.”
“All right,” Victor said. “Let’s get started then.”
“Hey,” Kelly mumbled, nudging Rayna’s arm with her elbow. “You okay?”
They stood in the kitchen in front of a line of five black mugs, waiting for the kettle to boil. Victor had gone to find out about the hard drives. George’s movements and slaps of folders and papers landing on hard surfaces could be heard behind them, and River and Dominic were using the upstairs study to begin compiling their list.
“Yeah,” Rayna muttered back with a faint nod. “I just…” Her shoulders sank on a heavy exhale. “Can’t stop thinking about the way he seems fine with uprooting his entire life.”
“He’s fine with it because he loves you. He’s choosing to do it for you.”
“I know,” she whispered as the kettle went off with a puff of steam.
But did that make Dominic’s choice okay? Was she supposed to be all right with him giving up his life for the majority of the time to be with her?
“Rayna.” Kelly dipped her head. “Do you love him?”
She stared into her friend’s hazel eyes for a long second, trying to find an answer that didn’t make her look like a selfish, indecisive, cruel person who was stringing Dominic along.
But Rayna couldn’t think of one.
“How do I know?” she croaked quietly.
