Chapter 3
Dominic tried charm first.
Men like him always do.
“Officers, this is a marital misunderstanding.”
One officer looked at my cheek.
“Did you strike your wife?”
Dominic smiled.
“She was hysterical.”
Naomi opened her folder.
“She was assaulted on camera in a business she owns.”
The officer turned to me.
“Do you want to press charges?”
Dominic’s smile vanished.
“Amelia.”
He said my name softly now.
Warning wrapped in silk.
For ten years, that tone had worked.
At dinner parties.
In bedrooms.
In hallways after he insulted me in front of investors.
Amelia, don’t make this difficult.
Amelia, you know how my temper gets.
Amelia, think of the children.
This time, I did.
I thought of Grace asking why Daddy missed her recital.
I thought of Noah waiting at the window.
I thought of Serena wearing a necklace bought with company money while my children wondered why their father did not come home.
“Yes,” I said.
Dominic’s face turned white.
The officers separated us.
Serena tried to leave.
Naomi stopped her.
“That necklace remains here.”
Serena touched it.
“It was a gift.”
“From stolen inventory.”
“It was approved.”
“By whom?”
Serena looked at Dominic.
Dominic looked away.
Naomi smiled.
“Exactly.”
The officers took statements.
Customers handed over videos.
Employees finally spoke.
Victor admitted Dominic had been moving inventory after hours.
A junior associate whispered that Serena had been using the private suite upstairs for weeks.
An accountant sent Naomi emergency files showing transfers to a shell company.
My hands went cold.
This was not only adultery.
It was theft.
By evening, Dominic was removed from the store.
Not arrested yet.
But escorted out.
Serena left without the necklace.
I stood inside my father’s office upstairs, touching the old mahogany desk he had loved.
Naomi sat across from me.
“Amelia, there’s more.”
Of course there was.
She slid a document toward me.
A draft divorce agreement.
Already prepared.
It gave Dominic majority control of Vale & Co.
It claimed I had abandoned business duties due to “emotional instability.”
At the bottom was a space for my signature.
Forged practice signatures filled the margins.
My stomach turned.
“He was going to steal everything.”
May you like
Naomi nodded.
“And he wasn’t working alone.”
