Chapter 6 – The Price of Loyalty
The raw desperation in Dominic’s voice caught in my throat. I stood by the hotel window, looking out at the neon lights of the city blurry through the falling snow.
"Where are you, Dominic?" I asked, keeping my voice entirely devoid of the emotion threatening to choke me.
"I’m in the driveway of the estate," he panted, his breath ragged against the microphone. "I confronted her, Audrey. After you left, I went into her study. I demanded the keys to her private safe. When she refused, I... I broke the lock."
A bitter, humorless laugh escaped my lips. "The golden boy finally defying his mother. Eight years too late."
"I deserve that," he whispered, a sob breaking through. "I deserve worse. But Audrey, you have to listen to me. It's not just the two hundred thousand dollars to Julianne. There are ledgers. Receipts. My mother paid off the landlord of your old apartment building to evict you on twenty-four hours' notice. She bought the local clinic's debt to force Dr. Carter's silence. She systematically erased every safety net you had so you would be forced to run."
I closed my eyes. The memories of that terrifying week flashed back—the sudden eviction notice, the panic, the crushing weight of being completely alone in the world with four lives growing inside me.
"I know, Dominic," I said softly. "Dr. Carter is sitting in my hotel room right now. He gave me the original medical files. He told me she knew about the quadruplets before I did."
Silence stretched over the line, heavy and suffocating. When Dominic spoke again, his voice didn't sound like a grown man's. It sounded like a ghost's.
"She knew... and she still cast you out into the cold."
The Ultimatum
"What are you going to do with those records, Dominic?"
Paige was standing right beside me now, her eyes sharp, her hand outstretched. She wanted me to hand over the phone, but I shook my head. This was between the man I used to love and the mother who had weaponized that love.
"I’m bringing them to you," Dominic said instantly. "Tell me where you are. I’ll hand everything over. Every file, every bank statement. I don't care if it ruins the Vance name. I don't care if the company collapses. They stole my children from me. They stole you from me."
"They didn't steal me, Dominic. You handed me over when you believed their lies," I reminded him, my heart hardening. "If you bring those papers, you aren't doing it to save us. You're doing it to save your own conscience."
"Then let me save it," he begged. "Please."
I looked over at the beds where Logan, Mason, Chloe, and Lily were sleeping. They looked so peaceful, completely unaware that the empire across town was tearing itself apart over their very existence.
"Meet us at Paige's law firm tomorrow morning at eight sharp," I said coldly. "If you miss it by a single minute, the press gets the copies we already have. Do not follow us tonight. Do not call this number again."
I hung up before he could answer.
The Gathering Storm
The next morning, the storm outside had cleared, leaving a blinding, pristine white blanket over the city. Inside the sleek, glass-walled conference room of Paige’s firm, the atmosphere was anything but peaceful.
At 7:55 a.m., the heavy glass doors opened.
Dominic walked in alone. He looked as if he hadn't slept a single second. His clothes were wrinkled, his eyes sunken, but in his arms, he held a heavy steel lockbox. He placed it on the polished mahogany table and slid it toward Paige.
"The key is in the lock," Dominic said, his voice hollow. "Everything is inside. The wire transfers, the NDA drafts they tried to force Dr. Carter to sign, the private investigator reports tracking Audrey during her first year in Texas."
Paige immediately opened the box, her fingers flying through the documents. Within two minutes, a slow, predatory smile spread across her face. "This is it. This is the smoking gun. Victoria didn't just interfere; she committed structured financial fraud to hide assets from the eventual divorce proceedings."
Dominic didn't look at Paige. He kept his eyes glued to me.
"Where are they?" he asked quietly. "The kids."
"With a nanny in the private lounge downstairs," I replied, crossing my arms. "They don't need to see this."
Before he could respond, the conference room doors swung open again, unannounced.
The Matriarch's Last Stand
Victoria Vance walked in, flanked by two of the most expensive corporate defense attorneys in the state. Even in the face of absolute ruin, she wore her crisp winter-white suit like armor, her chin held high.
She looked at the steel lockbox on the table, then at her son.
"You always were too emotional, Dominic," Victoria said, her voice dripping with disappointment. "Stealing from my private safe? Handing over proprietary family data to a third party? You've effectively handed your inheritance to a woman who will strip you bare."
Dominic stood up, pulling himself to his full height. For the first time in his life, he didn't shrink under her gaze.
"Keep the inheritance, Mother," Dominic said, a terrifying calmness settling over him. "I’m resigning from the board. I’m divesting my shares. I want absolutely nothing to do with the money that bought the silence of my children's heartbeats."
Victoria’s perfect composure finally fractured. Her eyes widened, a flicker of genuine panic crossing her face. "Dominic, don't be a fool. You are a Vance!"
"No," Dominic said, looking back at me, his eyes shining with a mixture of grief and sudden clarity. "I was a Vance. Today, I'm just a father who has a lot of lost time to make up for."
Paige stood up, sliding a fresh set of legal documents across the table toward Victoria's high-priced lawyers.
"Mrs. Vance," Paige announced, her voice echoing off the glass walls. "As of five minutes ago, criminal charges for medical coercion and corporate fraud have been submitted to the District Attorney. And as for the civil suit..."
May you like
Paige smiled, tapping the lockbox.
"We aren't asking for a settlement anymore. We're taking the estate."
