Chapter 3 - The Severed Engagement
Vivienne froze, the color draining instantly from her face until she looked as pale as her designer gown. “What did you just say?”
“Take. It. Off,” Nicholas repeated. The authority in his tone was absolute, leaving no room for negotiation, no room for air.
“You’re bluffing,” she laughed nervously, taking a step back. “Our fathers spent three years negotiating this merger! If you break this off, the Hart syndicate will pull all their shipping logistics from your eastern ports. You will lose hundreds of millions! Over a maid? You wouldn’t dare.”
Nicholas didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward, caught Vivienne’s left hand, and slipped the seven-carat emerald-cut diamond ring off her finger. The movement was effortless, cold, and final. He tossed the ring into the air, caught it, and dropped it into his coat pocket as if it were pocket change.
“Your father has forty-eight hours to renegotiate his terms or find another harbor,” Nicholas said, his eyes drilling into hers. “As for you, you have five minutes to take your personal belongings and get out of my home. If you are still on this property when the clock strikes five, my men will escort you to the gate without your shoes.”
“Nicholas! You can’t do this to me!” Vivienne shrieked, her composed facade completely shattering. “I am Vivienne Hart! You can’t treat me like garbage!”
“You ceased being a guest the moment you bruised that child,” Nicholas said, turning his back on her. “Arthur, call Marco and Viktor. Have Miss Hart’s driver pull around to the front. Ensure she takes nothing that belongs to the Moretti estate.”
“Right away, sir,” Arthur replied with quiet satisfaction.
Vivienne stood trembling with pure rage. She looked at Maria, then down at little Lucy, her eyes burning with pure hatred. “You think this is over?” she hissed, pointing a trembling finger at the frightened little girl. “You’re nothing but a pathetic little parasite. Both of you will regret the day you crossed me. You hear me? You’ll regret it!”
“Make it two minutes, Arthur,” Nicholas barked without turning around.
Two heavily armed guards entered the foyer through the grand double doors, their expressions stone-faced. Seeing the men, Vivienne realized Nicholas wasn’t issuing an empty threat. Choking on her fury, she hitched up her skirts and stormed up the grand staircase to pack her essentials, her heels clicking violently against the stone.
When the heavy doors on the second floor slammed shut, the foyer fell into an uneasy silence, broken only by Lucy’s soft hiccups.
Nicholas slowly turned and walked back toward the maid and her daughter. The towering, lethal man knelt down on one knee again, bringing his eyes level with the little girl’s tear-stained face.
May you like
He pulled a crisp, folded silk handkerchief from his breast pocket and held it out gently.
“Hey,” he said softly, his voice a striking contrast to the thunderous tone he had used seconds earlier. “No one is throwing you out, Lucy. Not today. Not ever.”
