Chapter 2 - The Silence After the Storm
Dominic’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he digested my lack of resistance.
“Then explain something to me,” he demanded, his grip lingering near my coat collar.
“What?” I asked, meeting his gaze without a single tremor.
“She got every single question wrong,” his voice sharpened with suppressed frustration.
“So why on earth are you still giving her your place?”
I looked deeply into the eyes of the man who had taught me how to be ruthless.
For the very first time in seven grueling years, Dominic was actually asking why those questions mattered.
And for the first time since the day we married, I no longer cared about the answer.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked quietly, tilting my head.
He frowned, momentarily thrown off balance by my calm demeanor.
I glanced pointedly toward Sienna, who was clutching my platinum ring like a trophy.
“Let her baby be born as your illegitimate child?” I whispered loud enough for the room to hear.
Dominic froze instantly, his breath hitching in his throat.
The sudden shock flashing across his face told me everything I needed to know.
Maybe she was actually pregnant with his heir.
Maybe it was just another calculated bluff in a game of high-society predators.
I didn’t know for certain, and frankly, I didn’t care anymore.
I had merely guessed based on her theatrical gesture, but my arrow had hit dead center.
Slowly, the tension in Dominic’s massive shoulders began to dissipate.
The pragmatist in him immediately took over the situation.
“The lake house in Wisconsin will be legally transferred to your name,” he stated coldly, retreating into his managerial mindset.
“You can stay there indefinitely.”
He paused for a fraction of a second, weighing his options.
“Sienna needs somewhere secure and quiet during the pregnancy anyway,” he added as if offering a reasonable compromise.
Of course he had already calculated the logistics of replacing me.
Even my permanent departure had to be neatly organized and managed by the head of Moretti Holdings.
Then, with a condescending touch of misplaced mercy, he added, “I’ll come see you when I can.”
I stared at him for one final, unbroken second, memorizing the exact lines of the face I had loved too well.
Then I turned my back on him and walked toward the heavy oak door.
Behind me, Sienna let out a shrill, triumphant laugh that grated against my nerves.
“Dominic, I don’t want anyone in Chicago saying I only became Mrs. Moretti because I’m pregnant,” she purred seductively.
His voice softened into a tone he rarely used in public.
It was tender, almost protective in a way that made my stomach churn.
“Then we’ll simply tell everyone the baby was lucky enough to have a mother worthy of bearing the Moretti name,” he murmured.
I heard her laugh echo once more against the high ceiling.
My hand closed tightly around the brass door handle.
A gust of bitter Chicago wind rushed across my face the moment I pulled the heavy door open.
For seven years, Dominic had operated under the absolute certainty that I would eventually return to his cage.
This time, I stepped across the threshold and walked out into the cold without looking back once.
He still possessed no comprehension of the truth.
I had not simply handed Sienna my place in his corrupt world.
I had finally realized that I no longer wanted any part of it.
The heavy door clicked shut behind me, sealing my exit from a life built on quicksand.
My sleek black Mercedes was parked in the courtyard, its engine idling in the autumn chill.
My loyal assistant, Clara, hurried down the stone steps with my remaining overnight bag.
“Are we really going to the lake house, Vivian?” she asked, her voice laced with unconcealed anxiety.
“No, Clara,” I replied, sliding into the passenger seat and pulling my coat tight.
“We are going off the grid entirely.”
Clara stared at me in shock as she slid behind the steering wheel.
“Mr. Moretti thinks you’re heading straight to Wisconsin,” she pointed out cautiously.
“Let him think whatever helps him sleep at night,” I said, gazing out the window at the sprawling iron gates receding into the distance.
The city lights of Chicago blurred into a smear of gold and neon as we accelerated down the highway.
For the first time since I was twenty-one years old, I had no destination dictated by a man’s commands.
My phone buzzed relentlessly in my pocket with incoming notifications from Dominic’s private secretary.
I pulled the device out, powered it completely off, and tossed it into the deep glove compartment.
May you like
Let the empire burn itself to the ground from the inside out.
I was finally stepping out of the crossfire.
