At that exact moment, Dominic and Celeste re-entered the ballroom through a side door. Dominic was sweating profusely, desperately trying to plaster his charming smile back onto his pale face, pulling a weeping Celeste along by the wrist.
Richard Sterling didn’t hesitate. He dropped his phone into his pocket and stormed across the dance floor, his face purple with unadulterated, apoplectic rage. The sheer violence of his approach caused the nearby guests to physically step back. The jazz band faltered, the music dying an awkward death.
“You son of a bitch!” Richard roared, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling. He shoved Dominic hard in the chest, sending the groom stumbling backward into a table of guests.
“Richard, please, calm down!” Dominic pleaded, his hands raised in surrender. “Let me explain! It’s a misunderstanding!”
“You told me she was handled!” Richard screamed, spittle flying from his lips. “You told me the ex-wife was a quiet, compliant nobody who took a payout! My lawyers just received a massive civil suit! She has proof of the kickbacks, Dominic! You tried to merge a bankrupt, fraudulent, federally investigated company with my empire!”
The ballroom erupted into chaotic gasps and frantic whispers. The elite crowd, smelling blood in the water, pulled out their phones.
Dominic scrambled, pulling his own phone from his pocket to call his legal team, desperate to initiate damage control.
But as he unlocked his screen, a barrage of automated alerts flooded his notifications.
Simone Grant hadn’t just filed a lawsuit. Based on the overwhelming, undeniable evidence of massive financial fraud and the flight risk posed by the offshore accounts, she had successfully petitioned a federal judge for an emergency, ex-parte injunction.
Every single one of Dominic’s corporate accounts, his personal checking, his credit lines, and his hidden brokerage portfolios were frozen instantly.
He stared at the screen, his breathing becoming shallow and erratic.
He was standing in a bespoke tuxedo he could no longer afford, surrounded by hostile billionaires, at a wedding reception paid for by a man who was currently threatening to destroy him.
He frantically dialed my number.
I sat in my quiet, sterile, perfectly safe hospital room, holding my beautiful daughter to my chest. I watched my phone screen light up silently on the bedside table. I let it ring until it went to voicemail. I listened to his first message—a desperate, weeping, pathetic plea begging for a negotiation.
I deleted it without listening to the end, completely insulated in the peace of my own making.
Chapter 4: The Extrication of an Empire
Two days later, the automatic sliding glass doors of Mercy Hospital opened with a soft hiss, welcoming the crisp, cool morning air.
I walked out into the sunlight. I was not holding a bouquet of flowers or leaning on a supportive husband. I held my newborn daughter securely in a top-tier car seat carrier, flanked by Simone Grant and two massive, highly vetted private security contractors in dark suits. I wore a comfortable, elegant cashmere sweater and slacks, looking rested and entirely in control.
Dominic was waiting by the curb near the passenger pickup zone.
The transformation in him over forty-eight hours was staggering. The slick, arrogant, untouchable CEO was completely gone. He looked like a ghost haunting his own life. The bespoke tuxedo had been replaced by a wrinkled, generic suit. He had dark, bruised bags under his bloodshot eyes. He looked like a man who hadn’t slept, eaten, or stopped pacing since he left my hospital room.
As I approached the waiting black SUV my security team had arranged, Dominic stepped forward, his hands raised in a pathetic gesture of surrender.
The security contractors immediately stepped between us, forming a physical wall, but I raised my hand gently, signaling them to give us a few feet of space. I wanted to look him in the eye.
“Evelyn, please,” Dominic begged, his voice cracking, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Please, just talk to me for five minutes. Celeste left me. Her father filed an annulment yesterday morning and publicly pulled the merger. My board of directors locked me out of the building. I have absolutely nothing. Don’t do this to the father of your child.”
