Chapter 3
For three full seconds, no one breathed.
Lila's eyes went from me, to Sophia, to the ring on my left hand.
Her mouth fell open.
"What?" she whispered.
Dominic stepped forward.
He held up his hands.
"Vivienne, wait—this isn't what it looks like. Let me explain—"
"Explain what?" I said.
"Explain that you've been married to her for nine years? That you have an eight-year-old son? That while I was home raising our daughter, you were playing happy family with her every weekend you said you were 'on business trips'?"
Sophia tugged my hand.
"Mommy, what's she talking about?"
I knelt down.
I kept my voice as gentle as I could.
"Remember how I told you that sometimes grown-ups make very big mistakes?"
She nodded slowly.
"Well... Daddy made a very big mistake. A long time ago. Before you were born. He married another woman. And he had a little boy, too."
Sophia's eyes went to the boy—Ethan.
He stared back.
Confused.
Scared.
"So... I have a brother?" she asked.
My heart broke all over again.
I pulled her close.
"You didn't do anything wrong, baby. None of this is your fault."
Behind me, Lila made a sharp sound.
"You told me she was dead," she said to Dominic.
Her voice cracked.
"You said your first wife died in a car crash three years before we met. You said Sophia was your niece you were raising out of obligation."
Dominic spun on her.
"Lila, not now—"
"When was I supposed to find out? When you took the company public and ran off to Switzerland with all the money? When you left me and Ethan with nothing? Or her and Sophia?"
She turned to me.
Tears streamed down her face.
"I had no idea. I swear to God. He showed me a death certificate. A fake one. I checked once—he had a friend at the county clerk's office forge it. I never would have let him near my son if I knew."
I believed her.
I saw the same shock in her eyes that I felt in my chest.
The same betrayal.
The same anger.
We were both victims.
Dominic reached for my arm.
"Vivienne, please. Let's go somewhere private. Just us. We can fix this—"
I stepped back.
"Don't touch me."
Victor walked into the room.
He stood beside me.
His presence was a wall.
Dominic flinched.
"Victor—what the hell is all this? My accounts are frozen. My board's turning on me. Did you have something to do with this?"
Victor smiled.
It didn't reach his eyes.
"You never wondered how your little company survived those three bad years? When every other startup in your sector folded? When you couldn't make payroll for six months straight?"
Dominic went still.
"That was... the West Coast Group. The anonymous investors."
"There is no West Coast Group," Victor said.
"That was us. The Sterling family. We put forty-seven million dollars into Veridian over seven years. We pulled strings to get you those government contracts. We made sure your loans got approved. We built your entire career for you. All because Vivienne loved you. All because we wanted her to be happy."
He leaned in.
His voice dropped to a growl.
"And you threw it all away. For a fake marriage. For twelve million dollars you siphoned into a fake account. For a lie you told every single day for almost a decade."
Dominic staggered back.
He looked at me.
Realization hit him.
Hard.
"You're... you're Vivienne Sterling," he said.
"Of the New York Sterlings?"
I said nothing.
The truth hung in the air.
Heavy.
Ugly.
Unmistakable.
All those times I'd refused to let him pay for dinner.
All those times I'd said my family was "just middle class, nothing special."
All those times he'd bragged about how he'd "built Veridian from nothing with his own two hands."
It had all been a joke.
At my expense.
At my family's expense.
"You used me," I said.
My voice was quiet.
Deadly.
"You married me because you thought I was a nice, quiet girl with no money, no connections, no one to protect me. You thought you could cheat on me. Lie to me. Steal from me. And I'd never find out. I'd never fight back."
I stepped closer.
"You were wrong."
Outside the double doors, commotion erupted.
Two men in SEC jackets walked in.
They held warrants.
"Dominic Hale?" one said.
"We have reason to believe you've been engaged in securities fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering. We need you to come with us."
Dominic went pale.
He looked at Lila.
At Ethan.
At me.
At Sophia.
And then he ran.
He shoved past the SEC agents.
He bolted for the side exit.
Victor was faster.
He stepped in front of him.
One punch.
Clean.
Hard.
Right to the jaw.
Dominic dropped like a stone.
Sophia gasped.
I covered her eyes.
But it was too late.
She had seen everything.
The SEC agents cuffed Dominic on the floor.
He groaned.
Blood trickled from his lip.
"Vivienne..." he mumbled.
"Please... think of Sophia..."
I knelt down.
I looked him in the eye.
"I am thinking of Sophia," I said.
"I'm thinking that she deserves a father who doesn't lie. Who doesn't cheat. Who doesn't build his entire life on stealing from the people who love him."
I held up the crumpled paper necklace Sophia had made.
The glitter was smudged.
One heart sticker had fallen off.
"She made this for you," I said.
"She spent three hours on it. She couldn't wait to see you wear it."
I dropped it on his chest.
"You don't deserve it."
I stood.
May you like
I took Sophia's hand.
"We're going home," I said.
