Chapter 10 - Why Liv Was Really HiredThree years earlier, Liv believed she had gotten lucky.
That was the simplest version of the story.
She had been twenty-seven, recently laid off from a consulting firm restructuring, living on savings that were disappearing too quickly, and sending résumés to every respectable company in the city.
Cain Technologies had responded within two days.
Dominic interviewed her personally.
Twenty minutes later, she had a job.
At the time, Liv believed the unusual speed reflected desperation.
Dominic had gone through four assistants in six months.
Now she sat across from him in his office realizing her employment might have begun for reasons neither of them understood.
“My father gave me the résumé,” Dominic said again.
Liv felt strangely detached.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never asked?”
“He said someone in his network recommended you.”
“Who?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Dominic.”
“I’m trying.”
He paced toward the window.
“It was three years ago. He emailed me your résumé with something like, ‘This one may survive you.’”
Liv stared.
“That sounds like him?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Do you still have the email?”
Dominic was already searching.
Three years of archived messages took less time than expected.
He found it.
They read together.
Dominic,
Interview Olivia Hart. Strong operations background. More capable than the administrative title suggests. Do not dismiss her because she lacks executive-assistant experience.
R. Cain
Liv read it twice.
“That’s it?”
“There’s an attachment.”
“My résumé.”
“Yes.”
“No recommendation?”
“No.”
“No explanation?”
“No.”
Liv leaned back.
“Your father knew who I was.”
“Apparently.”
“How?”
Dominic called Richard.
No answer.
Called again.
Nothing.
Liv stood.
“I’m going home.”
Dominic looked alarmed.
“Why?”
“Because it’s almost midnight.”
“That’s not the real reason.”
“No.”
“Liv.”
She collected her bag.
“I need to think.”
“About whether I knew?”
“No.”
His face changed.
“You think I did.”
“I don’t.”
“That answer was too fast.”
She stopped.
“This isn’t about trusting you.”
“Then what?”
“It’s about finding out my entire career here may have begun as part of something involving your father.”
Dominic approached slowly.
“I hired you.”
“After he sent my résumé.”
“Yes.”
“You paid me above range.”
“Because you negotiated.”
“I asked for five thousand more.”
“I gave you twelve.”
“You remember?”
“I remember everything about that interview.”
Her chest tightened.
He smiled faintly.
“You told me my scheduling system was a crime against civilization.”
“It was.”
“You reorganized it before accepting the offer.”
“You had three meetings scheduled simultaneously.”
“I was optimistic.”
“You were incompetent.”
“Administratively.”
Despite herself, Liv smiled.
Dominic touched her arm.
“Whatever my father’s reason was, I hired you because you were brilliant.”
“I know.”
“And you stayed because—”
“You paid me.”
“Cruel.”
She sighed.
“I do trust you.”
Relief crossed his face.
“But I still need to understand.”
“So do I.”
The next morning, Richard finally agreed to meet.
Not at Cain Technologies.
At his home.
Dominic’s childhood home stood on several acres outside the city.
Liv had imagined something grand.
It was grand.
Stone exterior.
Long drive.
Old trees.
The kind of wealth that did not need to announce itself because everyone already knew.
Dominic became quieter as they approached.
Liv noticed.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Lie.”
“I hate this house.”
“Why?”
“Too many ghosts.”
Liv did not ask.
Richard waited in the library.
He looked unsurprised to see Liv.
“You received the message.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because Marcus asked me the same question six months ago.”
Liv stared.
“Why was I hired?”
Richard looked at her for a long moment.
“Your mother.”
Liv stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
Dominic looked confused.
Richard gestured toward the chairs.
No one sat.
Richard sighed.
“Your mother, Ellen Hart, worked for my firm twenty-eight years ago.”
Liv’s mind went blank.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She was a teacher.”
“Later.”
Liv felt suddenly unsteady.
“What did she do?”
“Financial compliance.”
Dominic’s voice sharpened.
“What does this have to do with Liv?”
Richard looked at him.
“Your mother knows.”
Dominic went still.
“My mother?”
Richard nodded.
Liv felt as though the floor had shifted.
“Explain.”
Richard walked toward the window.
“Twenty-eight years ago, my firm discovered internal fraud. Several executives were moving money through shell companies.”
Liv’s pulse quickened.
“Ellen found it.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She reported it.”
“And?”
Richard’s expression became difficult to read.
“She was threatened.”
Liv stared.
Her mother had never spoken about any of this.
“She resigned shortly afterward,” Richard continued. “I helped arrange a settlement. She signed confidentiality agreements.”
“Why?”
“To protect her.”
Liv laughed once.
The sound was sharp.
“That phrase again.”
Richard looked at her.
“You think I’m lying.”
“I think rich men have a remarkable ability to describe silence as protection.”
Dominic glanced at her.
Not disapproval.
Pride.
Richard accepted the insult.
“Fair.”
Liv crossed her arms.
“So twenty-five years later, you randomly send my résumé to your son?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Ellen contacted me.”
Liv’s heart stopped.
“My mother contacted you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Why?”
“She knew you had applied to Cain Technologies.”
“I never told her.”
Richard said nothing.
Liv understood.
“She was checking on me.”
“Yes.”
Anger rose.
“She asked you to hire me?”
“No.”
“What did she ask?”
“To make sure my son didn’t throw your résumé away because you lacked the exact experience listed.”
Dominic looked offended.
“I wouldn’t have.”
Richard gave him a look.
“You rejected a Stanford MBA because he wore brown shoes.”
“They were terrible shoes.”
Liv stared at Dominic.
“Focus.”
“Right.”
Richard returned to Liv.
“Your mother did not ask for favoritism.”
“Then why keep this secret?”
“She asked me not to tell you.”
“Why?”
“That is something you should ask her.”
Liv took out her phone.
Her hands were shaking.
She called.
Her mother answered.
“Liv?”
“Mom.”
Something in Liv’s voice immediately changed Ellen’s tone.
“What happened?”
“I’m at Richard Cain’s house.”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
“You knew.”
“Liv.”
“You knew he sent Dominic my résumé.”
“I knew he would make sure it was seen.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew you.”
“What does that mean?”
“You would have refused the interview.”
Liv opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Because yes.
She would have.
Ellen continued.
“You hate believing anyone helped you.”
“I don’t hate help.”
“You hate owing people.”
“That’s different.”
“It isn’t always.”
Liv turned away from the others.
“Why did you work for Richard?”
Her mother went quiet.
“You told me you became a teacher after college.”
“I did. Eventually.”
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because it was a bad time in my life.”
“Marcus Hale knew.”
Silence.
Liv’s pulse quickened.
“Mom?”
“Who?”
“Marcus Hale. Dominic’s CFO.”
“I don’t know that name.”
“He discovered the connection.”
“That’s impossible.”
Richard spoke behind Liv.
“Not impossible.”
She turned.
He looked grim.
“The old fraud files were never destroyed.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“What fraud files?”
Richard looked at him.
Then Liv.
“The executives Ellen exposed weren’t acting alone.”
The room went cold.
“Who else?” Liv asked.
Richard hesitated.
“My brother.”
Dominic stared.
“Uncle Stephen?”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked stunned.
Stephen Cain had died twelve years earlier.
Richard continued.
“He was removed from the firm quietly. We protected the family name.”
Liv laughed bitterly.
“Of course you did.”
“Ellen wanted prosecution.”
“As she should.”
“I know.”
“Did you stop her?”
Richard did not answer quickly enough.
Dominic stared at his father.
“You did.”
“I convinced her the case would become ugly.”
“You silenced her.”
“I prevented my brother from destroying all of us.”
Liv felt sick.
Her mother’s voice came through the phone.
“Richard.”
He looked toward the speaker.
Ellen’s tone was colder than Liv had ever heard.
“You promised me those files were sealed.”
“They were.”
“Then how does Marcus know?”
Richard’s face changed.
Dominic saw it.
“Father?”
Richard walked to an antique cabinet.
Opened it.
Inside was a safe.
He entered a code.
The safe was empty.
Richard stared.
“No.”
“What?” Dominic demanded.
“The files.”
Liv’s heart raced.
“They were here?”
“Copies.”
“Since when?”
“Twenty-eight years.”
“Why keep them?”
Richard looked at her.
“Insurance.”
Liv almost laughed.
Of course.
Always leverage.
Always secrets.
Dominic stepped forward.
“Who knew?”
“Me. Your mother. Ellen.”
“My mother knew?”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“This family is unbelievable.”
A phone rang.
Richard’s.
Unknown number.
He answered cautiously.
“Hello?”
A distorted voice spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“You should have destroyed the past when you had the chance.”
The call ended.
No one moved.
Liv’s mother spoke through her phone.
“Liv.”
“Yes?”
“You need to leave that house.”
“Why?”
“Because if those records are what I think they are, this has nothing to do with Dominic’s company anymore.”
“What are they?”
Her mother took a breath.
“Proof that the original fraud money was never recovered.”
Richard went pale.
Dominic looked at him.
“How much?”
Richard answered quietly.
“Eighty-four million dollars.”
Liv stared.
“Where did it go?”
“No one knew.”
Ellen said, “I did.”
Silence.
Liv gripped the phone.
“Mom?”
“The money moved through seven shell companies. The last transfer went into a private investment vehicle.”
“Whose?”
Her mother hesitated.
“Cain Holdings.”
Dominic looked at his father.
Richard shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
Ellen continued.
“The account wasn’t yours, Richard.”
“Then whose was it?”
Another silence.
“Your wife’s.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
Richard’s face lost all color.
“No.”
Ellen’s voice was soft.
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic looked as if someone had physically struck him.
Liv moved toward him.
He stepped back.
Not from her.
From everything.
His parents’ marriage.
His father’s secrets.
The childhood he believed he understood.
His mother, whom he had always viewed as the passive victim of Richard Cain’s betrayals.
Maybe she had been carrying secrets of her own.
Dominic’s phone buzzed.
Another unknown message.
He opened it.
A photograph.
His mother, Victoria Cain, entering an airport that morning.
Timestamp: 6:14 a.m.
A second photograph followed.
She was boarding a private plane.
Then one sentence.
She knows Marcus.
Dominic stared at the screen.
Liv reached for his hand.
This time, he did not take it.
Not immediately.
She understood.
He needed one second to stand alone inside the collapse of everything he believed.
Then his fingers found hers.
Hard.
Certain.
“Find the plane,” he said.
Richard was already calling someone.
Liv looked at Dominic.
“What are you going to do?”
His face was pale, but his voice was steady.
“For the first time in my family’s history?”
“What?”
May you like
“Tell the truth before it destroys everyone.”
And somewhere over the Atlantic, Victoria Cain was carrying the final secret that would determine whether Dominic lost his company, his family, or both.
