Chapter 1
She Brought Their Daughter to His Gala and Ordered Her Brother to Take Everything Away.
Vivienne Sterling stood in the glittering lobby of Dominic’s Manhattan headquarters with their six-year-old daughter pressed against her side.
Crystal chandeliers poured warm light over black marble floors.
Gold staircases curved upward toward the private gala level.
Flowers covered the reception desk.
Champagne glasses shimmered in the hands of executives who suddenly had nothing to say.
Behind the black marble counter, Chloe folded her arms and smiled with a coldness Vivienne understood too late.
“His wife and son are waiting upstairs.”
The sentence did not make sense at first.
Vivienne’s hand tightened around her taupe handbag.
Sophia looked up, pink butterfly clips trembling in her hair.
“Mommy… where’s Daddy?”
Vivienne gently pulled her daughter closer and covered one of Sophia’s ears with her palm.
Then she looked toward the gold staircase.
Dominic stood halfway up in a black tuxedo, champagne glass in hand.
Beside him stood Vanessa in a silver gown, one hand resting possessively against his arm.
Between them stood a young boy in a tuxedo.
Dominic finally saw Vivienne.
His champagne glass lowered.
His face drained of color.
Chloe’s smile weakened when Vivienne did not cry.
Vivienne raised her silver smartphone without taking her eyes off her husband.
“Victor, take away everything he thinks he owns.”
For one second, the entire lobby seemed to stop breathing.
A calm male voice answered through the phone.
“I’ve already started.”
Around the lobby, phones began vibrating inside handbags, suit pockets, and palms.
Executives looked down.
Then up.
Then at Dominic.
Vanessa gripped his arm.
Dominic took one step down the staircase.
“Vivienne, what did you do?”
Vivienne lowered the phone.
Sophia stayed tucked against her side, clutching the colorful handmade necklace she had made for her father that afternoon.
Vivienne looked at Dominic with quiet devastation.
“No, Dominic. What did you do?”
Behind Chloe, the elevator doors opened.
Several sharply dressed figures stepped forward.
Too distant to identify.
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But Dominic’s fear identified enough.
Read Chapter 2 👉 Because Vivienne had not come to ruin the gala; she had come so Sophia could give her father the necklace he never deserved.
