CHAPTER 5 — THE FIRST BETRAYAL
Dominic’s voice became a warning.
“Chloe, stop.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You let me take the blame. Why should I protect you?”
My father’s attorney folded his arms.
“Go on.”
Chloe pointed at Dominic.
“The forged hotel transfer wasn’t his first plan.”
My stomach tightened.
“He tried to convince Vivienne’s father that she was unstable.”
My father’s expression changed.
“What did you say about my daughter?”
Dominic shook his head.
“She’s twisting it.”
Chloe continued.
“He collected photographs of Vivienne crying. Medical appointments. Private text messages. He wanted evidence that she couldn’t handle the family trust.”
I felt physically sick.
Last year, I had suffered a miscarriage.
For months afterward, I had barely slept.
Dominic had held me while I cried.
He had driven me to therapy.
He had told me there was no shame in needing help.
All that time, he had been documenting my grief.
My father’s attorney searched the flash drive.
A hidden folder appeared under Dominic’s initials.
Inside were photographs taken inside our home.
Me sitting on the bathroom floor after the miscarriage.
Me asleep beside an untouched plate of food.
Me walking into a therapist’s office.
There were drafts of legal statements describing me as emotionally unstable.
I stared at Dominic.
“You photographed me?”
His eyes shone.
“I was afraid your father would cut us out.”
“There was no ‘us.’ You were building a case against me.”
“I never filed anything.”
“Because you didn’t need to yet.”
My father put a steadying hand on my back.
Dominic looked toward the guests, searching for sympathy.
“I loved her.”
I laughed once.
The sound surprised even me.
“You loved access.”
His face broke.
“That isn’t true.”
“Then tell me one thing you loved about me that had nothing to do with my last name.”
He opened his mouth.
No answer came.
The silence humiliated him more than any accusation could have.
Police officers entered the ballroom.
The lead detective approached my father’s attorney.
“We have probable cause regarding the forged contracts, the stolen diamond, and the conspiracy to make a false police report.”
Chloe started crying for real.
Eleanor gripped a chair.
Dominic took one step backward.
Then another.
The detective noticed.
“Mr. Bellamy, don’t move.”
Dominic suddenly turned and ran.
He shoved past two guests, knocked over a champagne tower, and sprinted toward the service corridor.
Security chased him.
I watched him disappear through the same doors he had once walked through while planning my humiliation.
Seconds later, a crash echoed from the hallway.
Then a security guard shouted.
“He has the drive!”
The laptop screen went black.
Dominic had taken the original flash drive from the attorney’s open evidence case during the chaos.
But he didn’t know my father’s security system had already copied every file.
He also didn’t know the service corridor ended at a locked elevator.
My father looked at the security director.
“Bring him back.”
The director touched his earpiece.
Then his expression darkened.
“Sir, Dominic isn’t alone.”
“Who is with him?”
The director looked straight at Eleanor.
May you like
“Your chief financial officer.”
End of Chapter 5…
