Chapter 7 - The Desperate Plead
Two weeks later, Dominic was completely destitute. His construction company had officially filed for bankruptcy protection, his personal assets had been liquidated by court order to cover outstanding corporate debts, and Paige had packed her bags and vanished the moment she realized he would never receive a single dollar from the Whitmore trust.
He spent his days sitting in a cheap diner near the industrial yards, drinking black coffee he could barely afford, his mind consumed by a desperate, pathetic obsession with finding Audrey. He believed that if he could just see her, if he could just beg for her forgiveness on his knees, her old, soft-hearted nature would make her drop the remaining civil lawsuits against him.
He used his last contact to find out that Audrey was attending a private medical foundation gala at a downtown hotel—an event sponsored by the newly established Whitmore Maternal Health Foundation.
Dominic sneaked into the hotel through the kitchen service entrance, blending in with the catering staff until he managed to slip into the grand ballroom. The room was beautiful, filled with floral arrangements, classical music, and the city’s true elite.
He spotted her standing near the center stage. Audrey looked absolutely breathtaking, wearing a stunning emerald-green silk dress that radiated an elegant, quiet power. Her hair was styled perfectly, and she was laughing softly with Dr. Alexander Reed, who stood beside her, his hand resting protectively near the small of her back. She looked radiant, completely healed, and entirely out of Dominic’s universe.
Rage and desperation mixed inside Dominic. He broke through the crowd of security guards, running onto the cleared floor near the stage.
"Audrey!" Dominic cried out, his voice cracking with emotion.
The music stopped instantly. Hundreds of guests turned to look at the disheveled, desperate man standing in the center of the high-society gala.
Audrey stopped talking, her expression shifting from warmth to a cold, impassive mask as she recognized her ex-husband. She didn't look afraid; she looked completely indifferent, as if she were looking at a stranger who had lost his way.
"Audrey, please!" Dominic begged, falling to his knees right on the carpet, his hands raised in a pleading gesture. "You have to hear me out! I didn't know about the baby! I swear to God I didn't know! My mother manipulated me, she lied to me about what happened at the stairs! I lost the company, I lost the house, I have nothing left! Please, Audrey... don't destroy me completely. We were a family once!"
Alexander Reed stepped forward, blocking Dominic’s view of Audrey, his eyes full of a fierce, protective anger. "Step back, Mr. Ward. You are violating a protection order just by being in this room. Security, remove him immediately."
May you like
Audrey stepped around Alexander’s shoulder, looking down at the broken man on the floor. "We were never a family, Dominic," she said, her voice amplified by the room’s microphone, calm and completely steady. "You and your mother wanted a servant you could look down on to make yourselves feel important. You thought my silence was weakness. You forgot that a diamond is built under absolute pressure. I didn't destroy your life, Dominic. I simply stopped funding your lies. Enjoy the ruins of the empire you chose."
Two armed security guards grabbed Dominic by the shoulders, dragging him out of the ballroom as he wept openly, his pathetic cries echoing down the marble hallway as the classical music resumed, leaving him behind in the dark.
