Chapter 5 – The Broken Corporate Seal

I stood up slowly, keeping my body angled to shield Theo completely from Dominic’s view. The little boy’s hands gripped the back of my silk dress, his small knuckles turning white.

“Don’t you dare speak about him that way,” I said, my voice eerily calm despite the violent pounding of my heart.

Dominic let out a harsh, humorless laugh. He walked further into the library, running a hand through his perfectly styled hair. He looked completely unhinged. The polished executive was gone, replaced by a desperate, cornered animal.

“You think you’re so noble, Evelyn,” Dominic mocked, pacing in front of the tall windows. “Playing mother to a broken kid that didn’t even belong to you. I paid to keep him quiet. I paid to keep my reputation clean. And you took my money—”

“I never used a dime of your money,” I interrupted.

Dominic stopped pacing. He narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“The school in Vermont costs eighty thousand dollars a year, Dominic. The private therapy is another forty. You think you paid for that?” I laughed, a cold, bitter sound. “I paid for it. Every single cent.”

Dominic stared at me, genuinely confused. “You don’t have that kind of money. Your father died in debt. I absorbed his firm. You’ve lived off my credit cards for eight years.”

I looked down at the heavy ivory envelope Theo had handed me. The one with the broken wax seal.

I reached inside and pulled out the thick stack of legal documents. I didn’t need to read them. I already knew what they were. Richard had promised me they would be ready tonight.

“My father didn’t die in debt, Dominic,” I said softly. “He died knowing exactly what kind of vulture you were. He knew you were maneuvering to take over his firm, so before he died, he transferred his true liquid assets—over two hundred million dollars—into a blind trust.”

Dominic’s face went completely slack. “A blind trust?”

“Managed by Richard Mercer,” I confirmed, watching the realization hit him like a physical blow. “I’ve had the money the entire time. And I used it to become the anonymous Angel Investor who bailed your firm out of bankruptcy five years ago.”

Dominic took a step backward, his legs hitting the edge of a heavy leather reading chair. He collapsed into it, staring at me as if my skin were peeling away to reveal a monster.

“You…” he stammered. “You own the debt on my company?”

“I own the controlling shares of Vale Holdings,” I corrected him. “Which means, as of tomorrow morning when the market opens, I am firing you from your own company.”

The silence in the library was absolute. The faint bass of the orchestra playing in the ballroom below vibrated through the floorboards, a surreal soundtrack to the destruction of Dominic’s life.

He sat there, utterly ruined, stripped of his pride, his money, and his mistress.

Then, Dominic’s eyes flicked to Theo.

A dark, desperate ugliness crossed his face. The cornered animal realized it had one last set of teeth.

“You might own the company, Evelyn,” Dominic sneered, his voice dropping to a sinister whisper. “But I am that boy’s biological father. I have the birth certificate. I have the rights. If you try to take my company, I will call the police right now, report you for kidnapping, and throw that defective little bastard into a state ward so deep you will never find him again.”

Theo let out a tiny, terrified whimper and pressed his face into my spine.

Before I could speak, Vance, the massive security guard who had been silently standing in the corner, stepped out of the shadows.

“He’s not going to do that, Ms. Vale,” Vance said.

Dominic jumped, not having realized another man was in the dark room. “Who the hell are you? Get out of here before I have you arrested!”

Theo peeked out from behind my dress. His small hand reached into his pocket again. He pulled out a small, incredibly worn and faded photograph, and held it up toward Dominic.

Dominic looked at the photograph.

All the color, all the bravado, all the malicious triumph vanished from Dominic’s face in a single second. He looked as though he had just looked directly into the eyes of the devil.

“Where did you get that?” Dominic whispered, his voice trembling so hard it cracked.

I looked down at the photograph in Theo’s hand.

It was a picture of a man who looked exactly like Dominic, but with softer eyes and a kind smile.

“Who is that, Dominic?” I asked.

Dominic didn’t answer. He was staring at the photo, his chest heaving with panic.

The library doors swung open with a heavy thud. Richard Mercer stepped into the room, holding a thick, black leather-bound ledger.

“That, Evelyn,” Richard said, his voice echoing with absolute authority, “is Gabriel Vale. Dominic’s older brother. And Theo’s real father.”