Two days after I nearly died giving birth to our premature twins,

The boardroom descended into chaos.

Natalie was on her knees near the door, clutching her stomach, weeping uncontrollably. “I didn't know! I swear to God I didn't know! Dominic told me his wife was a nobody! He told me she was an orphan living off his charity!”

“Natalie, get off the floor, you pathetic idiot!” Dominic snarled, lunging toward her, but the two NYPD officers moved in instantly, intercepting him and pinning his arms behind his back.

“Dominic Bennett, you are under arrest for grand larceny in the first degree, securities fraud, and aggravated embezzlement,” the lead detective stated, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his utility belt.

“Get your hands off me!” Dominic roared, thrashing wildly. “Audrey! Tell them! Call Marcus Reed! Call the governor! Audrey, you loved me! We have babies! Liam and Chloe! Think of our children!”

“Do not speak their names,” I commanded, rising from my chair.

Though every muscle in my abdomen burned with searing agony, I stood tall. I walked down the length of the table until I was standing six inches from Dominic’s face. He smelled of sour panic, expensive cologne, and sweat.

“You didn’t think of them when you signed a waiver spelling Chloe’s name wrong,” I said, my voice dropping to a whisper that only he, Natalie, and the arresting officers could hear. “You didn’t think of them when you left them in a ward without checking their breathing charts. You thought you were breaking a weak woman. You thought you were discarding a broken toy.”

I reached out and plucked the diamond-encrusted corporate lapel pin from his suit jacket. It was the stylized 'B' of Bennett Global.

“Bennett Global ceases operations at five o'clock today,” I told him. “Vance Capital is calling the loan in full. Every server, every warehouse, every truck, and every office chair will be liquidated by the federal bankruptcy receiver to satisfy the debt. You leave this building with nothing. Exactly as you planned for me.”

“You witch!” Dominic spat, his eyes bulging with animal hatred. “You think you’re a queen? You’re a freak! An arrogant, cold-blooded Vance freak who hid behind a fake name because you knew nobody could ever love you for who you really are! Natalie loved me! She carries my son! Real blood! Not two half-dead runts in a glass box!”

The room went dead silent.

Before Dominic could inhale his next breath, the SEC investigator stepped back, disgusted. Even the arresting officers tightened their grips with brutal, unforgiving force, wrenching his shoulders until Dominic cried out in pain.

Natalie, still sobbing on the floor, suddenly looked up, her face twisted in terror.

“He’s... he’s lying!” she stammered, looking at Eleanor Vance-Montgomery, who had walked over to stand above her.

Eleanor opened a smaller, light blue folder.

“Speaking of the child, Miss Ross,” Eleanor said with surgical coolness. “While preparing the forensic audit on the Long Island City penthouse, our private investigators took the liberty of reviewing your personal records. It appears that while you were accepting four point seven million dollars in embezzled funds from Mr. Bennett, you were also receiving monthly stipends of fifteen thousand dollars from a Mr. Harrison Croft—the managing partner of Croft Logistics, Bennett Global’s primary competitor.”

Dominic stopped thrashing. His head snapped toward Natalie. “What?”

Eleanor pulled out a glossy photograph. It showed Natalie entering a high-end private fertility and obstetric clinic on Park Avenue, hand-in-hand with Harrison Croft, three weeks before she announced her pregnancy to Dominic.

“According to the medical billing records subpoenaed under the federal fraud warrant,” Eleanor continued smoothly, “the prenatal genetic testing conducted at eight weeks confirms that Harrison Croft is the biological father of Miss Ross’s child. Mr. Bennett’s paternity probability was registered at zero point zero percent.”

Dominic’s jaw hung open. A strangled, pathetic sound escaped his throat.

“Natalie?” he whispered, his voice cracking into absolute ruin. “You... you told me it was a boy. You told me he was my heir.”

Natalie didn’t look at him. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with silent, guilty sobs. She had used Dominic precisely as Dominic had used me—except Dominic had been too blinded by his own narcissism to see the con.

“Get them out of my sight,” Arthur Vance commanded from the head of the table.

The officers hoisted Dominic up by his arms. He didn't fight anymore. His legs seemed to have lost all their bone; he was dragged across the threshold, his polished shoes dragging through the papers scattered across the floor. Natalie was escorted out behind him, clutching her cheap coat, flanked by two female officers who informed her that she was being detained as an unindicted co-conspirator in the corporate fraud investigation.

When the boardroom doors closed, the silence returned.

I stood there, looking down at the empty chair where Dominic had stood. My knees suddenly gave out.

Before I could hit the floor, strong arms caught me. Julian Hayes was there, having accompanied us from the hospital with a portable medical kit in case of emergency complications. He lifted me effortlessly, his expression full of fierce, quiet respect.

“You’ve done enough for one day, Mrs. Vance,” Julian said gently, carrying me back toward the wheelchair. “Your children are waiting for you.”

I looked up at him, tears finally breaking past the dam of my resolve. “Are they safe, Julian?”