"Three hours before Chicago’s most exclusive private gala, my husband stood in our bedroom and told me he was taking his mistress instead of me. “I want a divorce, Evelyn. Be gone by morning.” What he didn’t know was that before midnight, I would walk into the same ballroom beside the one man he had spent fifteen years making sure he never owed a favor.

I stared at the photograph in Theo’s small, trembling hand.

Gabriel Vale.

Dominic had told me his older brother died in a tragic boating accident when they were in college. He told me it was the defining trauma of his life, the reason he worked so hard, the reason he couldn't handle "imperfections." He had used his dead brother's memory to excuse his coldness for eight years.

"He’s your nephew?" I breathed, looking at Dominic.

Dominic was gripping the arms of the leather chair so tightly his knuckles were stark white. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the faded picture of Gabriel.

"He died," Dominic muttered, shaking his head frantically. "Gabriel died before this kid was born. The mother was a nobody. She gave him up."

"She didn't give him up, Dominic," Richard Mercer said, stepping fully into the room and closing the doors behind him. He walked over and placed the heavy black leather ledger on the mahogany desk. "You paid the doctor at the clinic to tell her the baby didn't survive the complicated delivery. You stole your own brother’s child and dumped him in a state-run facility."

The room spun. I felt physically sick to my stomach.

"Why?" I demanded, my voice breaking. "Why would you do something so monstrous?"

Dominic looked up at me, his eyes wild, defensive, and entirely devoid of remorse. "Because Gabriel was the golden boy! My father left the entire family estate to Gabriel's bloodline in the trust. If Gabriel died without an heir, the estate reverted to me. When I found out his pathetic little girlfriend was pregnant after he drowned, I had to fix it! I wasn't going to lose my inheritance to a bastard child who couldn't even speak!"

He had stolen a child from a grieving mother for money. He had left his own flesh and blood in a horrific state facility just to secure a real estate portfolio.

I knelt down, wrapping my arms tightly around Theo, pressing kisses into his dark hair. I’ve got you, I silently promised him. He will never touch you again.

"You're a monster," I whispered to Dominic.

"I'm a pragmatist!" Dominic yelled, standing up. "And it doesn't matter what Mercer says! The statute of limitations on the medical fraud is gone. The estate is legally mine. You can fire me from the company, Evelyn, but you can't touch my personal wealth. I'll tie you up in court for a decade!"

Richard Mercer slowly reached out and unclasped the brass lock on the black leather ledger.

"You seem to misunderstand the situation, Dominic," Richard said smoothly, flipping open the heavy pages. "I didn't bring this ledger to discuss your past crimes. I brought it to discuss your current debts."

Dominic froze. "What debts? My personal accounts are fully funded."

"They were," Richard corrected. "Until you signed the margin agreement for the new offshore logistics merger last month. The one you thought my firm was backing."

Dominic’s eyes darted back and forth. "You... you said you pulled the backing."

"I did," Richard smiled, a terrifying, predatory expression. "But the paperwork you signed held a personal liability clause. Without my firm's backing, the margin call defaulted directly onto your personal assets. As of 8:00 PM tonight, the bank has seized your penthouses, your cars, your frozen accounts, and your precious family estate."

Dominic stopped breathing.

"And since I bought the debt from the bank at a premium," Richard continued, closing the ledger with a heavy thud, "you owe me. You are completely, unequivocally bankrupt, Dominic. You don't have the money for a taxi ride home, let alone a decade of litigation."

The sheer totality of Dominic's ruin hung in the quiet library. He had nothing. Everything he had stolen, everything he had built on lies, was gone in the span of thirty minutes.

Before Dominic could process the reality of his destruction, the library doors rattled.

Someone was trying to get in.

Vance stepped back and unlocked the door.

Vanessa Quinn burst into the room. Her makeup was slightly smeared, her eyes frantic. She had clearly been searching for Dominic since her humiliation downstairs.

She saw Dominic standing there looking pale and broken, she saw me holding Theo, and she saw Richard Mercer standing over the desk.

"Dominic!" Vanessa cried, running to him and grabbing his arm. "What is going on? The senators are asking where you are. The press is downstairs. You need to come fix this right now."

Dominic looked at her, his eyes hollow. He didn't move.

Vanessa looked at me, her face twisting into an ugly sneer. "What did you do to him?"