CHAPTER 3 — THE FALL OF DAMIAN CROSS
Within one week…
Damian Cross became the biggest story in the business world.
The man who appeared untouchable…
Was suddenly powerless.
Investors abandoned him.
Partners disappeared.
Friends stopped answering calls.
The same people who once surrounded him…
Now avoided him.
Vanessa was the first to leave.
She packed her bags quietly.
Damian found her near the entrance.
“You’re leaving?”
She looked at him coldly.
“I thought I was going to become rich.”
“You’re not rich anymore.”
Damian stared at her.
“You said you loved me.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Damian…”
“I loved the man everyone believed you were.”
“But that man doesn’t exist anymore.”
She walked away.
Leaving him exactly the way he left Isabella.
Alone.
Meanwhile…
Isabella visited the old family estate where she grew up.
Her father, Alexander Montrose, sat beside the fireplace.
“You finally ended it.”
She nodded.
“I kept hoping he would change.”
Her father looked at her.
“You spent years protecting someone who never protected you.”
Isabella looked down.
“I thought love meant patience.”
Her father sighed.
“Love means respect.”
“And he lost the right to receive yours.”
For the first time in years…
Isabella allowed herself to cry.
Not because she missed Damian.
But because she finally accepted the truth.
She had spent years proving her worth to people who never deserved her kindness.
Three months later.
A charity event was held by Montrose Global.
Thousands attended.
Business leaders.
Celebrities.
World-famous investors.
And on the stage…
Was Isabella.
Not as Damian Cross’s wife.
Not as someone’s daughter.
But as herself.
The woman behind the empire.
The audience applauded.
But one person watched silently from the back.
Damian.
Older.
Broken.
Humbled.
He waited until the event ended.
Then approached her.
“Isabella.”
She turned.
For a moment…
She saw the man she once loved.
Not the arrogant man.
Not the cruel man.
Just Damian.
A man who finally understood what he had destroyed.
“I’m sorry.”
Two words.
The words she had waited years to hear.
But now…
They meant nothing.
“I should have protected you.”
“I should have believed you.”
“I should have respected you.”
Isabella looked at him quietly.
“Yes.”
“You should have.”
A tear fell from Damian’s eye.
“Can you ever forgive me?”
She thought for a long moment.
Then answered:
May you like
“I forgive the woman I was for staying.”
“But I cannot return to the life that destroyed her.”
