Chapter 2
Dominic used to call my quietness elegance.
That was before marriage.
After marriage, he called it obedience.
We met at a hospital fundraiser in Manhattan three years before Leo was born. Dominic was charming in the way ambitious men learn to be charming around money. He listened with his whole face. He remembered my drink. He asked about my work as if nonprofit strategy fascinated him.
Later, I learned he had asked three different people who I was before approaching me.
Audrey Brooks.
Daughter of Charles Brooks.
Raised quietly.
Private family.
Old charitable foundation.
No social media scandal.
No loud public life.
Dominic liked that most.
He mistook privacy for weakness.
At first, I mistook his attention for devotion.
He sent flowers to my office. Picked restaurants with soft lighting. Told me he admired women who did not need to prove themselves.
“You’re different from the women in my circles,” he said.
I blushed then.
Now I understand what he meant.
He wanted a wife who made him look stable, polished, and connected without demanding equal space in the picture.
My father met him twice before he asked me a question I hated.
“Does he love you, or does he love what standing beside you suggests?”
I told Dad that was unfair.
He looked at me over the rim of his reading glasses.
“Then I hope I’m wrong.”
He was not wrong.
He was patient.
That was worse.
When Dominic proposed, Victoria cried in public and corrected the guest list in private. She called me “delicate” and “well-bred,” two compliments that felt like velvet ropes.
After the wedding, Dominic began managing small things.
My calendar.
My clothing.
My speaking time at dinners.
Then larger things.
Which accounts we used.
Which invitations we accepted.
Which people were “good for us.”
When I questioned him, he kissed my forehead and said, “Audrey, you don’t need to worry about logistics.”
Logistics became the word for every piece of my life he wanted to control.
My father watched.
He never attacked Dominic directly.
He simply asked me, once every few months, “Are you safe being yourself?”
I always said yes.
May you like
By the time I realized the answer was no, I was pregnant.
Read the full story 👉 Dominic married Audrey for access and image, but Charles Brooks saw through him long before Audrey was ready to admit it.
