Chapter 8 - Total Destruction
Dominic opened the envelope with trembling fingers. His eyes scanned the medical jargon, moving frantically from the genetic markers to the bold, capitalized conclusion at the bottom.
*PROBABILITY OF PATERNITY: 0.00%*
*BIOLOGICAL FATHER: GREGORY JAMES TURNER.*
The silence in the boardroom was absolute. You could hear the faint hum of the air conditioning fifty stories above Manhattan.
Dominic slowly turned his head to look at Gregory Turner. Gregory didn't even look guilty; he just looked tired, defeated, and resigned to his fate.
"Gregory...?" Dominic squeaked, sounding like a dying animal. "You... and Brooke?"
"For three years, Dominic," Gregory said quietly, his voice deadened by exhaustion. "Before you even met her. She targeted you at that charity gala because you were an arrogant, insecure idiot who talked loudly about money you didn't even own. We were going to liquidate the Cayman account next Friday and fly to Lisbon. You were just our bank account."
A terrible, strangled noise escaped Dominic’s throat. His hands tore through his hair as his entire reality shattered into dust. The mistress who adored him, the brilliant young son who made him feel like a patriarch, the glamorous second life he had built—it was all a scam run by two grifters who treated him like an ATM.
"And now, for the corporate vote," I said, tapping my pen on the mahogany table. "Pursuant to Section 12 of the corporate charter, any officer involved in felony fraud is terminated immediately without severance, and their non-vested equity is reabsorbed into the Sterling Trust. All in favor?"
All twelve hands went up instantly. Not a single person hesitated.
"The motion carries," Arthur Pendelton declared firmly. "Security, escort Mr. Vance out of this building."
"No! Wait! Clara!" Dominic threw himself onto his knees, crawling across the carpet toward my chair, entirely unmindful of the board members watching him with disgust. "Clara, I'm sorry! I was blind! I was manipulated! Mother made me do it, she hated that Leo was so quiet! Clara, please, think of our vows! I love you! I will testify against them! I'll do whatever you want!"
I looked down at the man I had once thought was my protector. I felt no rage. I felt no sorrow. I felt only a profound, crystalline disgust.
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"You gave my son sleeping pills so another man's bastard could play with his toys, Dominic," I whispered, leaning down so only he could hear. "You will die penniless, alone, and behind bars."
Two security guards seized Dominic under the armpits, hauling him backward as he wept, screamed, and kicked against the marble floor.
