Chapter 8 - Cutting the Ties
An hour later, I was sitting in the back of my father’s Maybach, wrapped in a soft cashmere blanket, sipping warm tea from a thermos. The city lights blurred past the rain-streaked windows as we drove toward my father’s private estate in the hills.
My father sat beside me, holding my hand tightly.
“You held out for three years, Vivienne,” he said quietly, a touch of pain in his eyes. “Why didn't you tell me how badly they were treating you?”
“Because I wanted to build a normal life, Dad,” I admitted, looking out the window. “I wanted Dominic to love me for me, not for the Sterling name. I thought if I stayed humble, he would eventually protect me. I was foolish.”
“You weren't foolish, sweetheart,” Charles said softly. “You have a good heart. But some people mistake kindness for weakness. They learned tonight that the Sterling heart may be kind, but our claws are sharp.”
Over the next forty-eight hours, the Vance family collapsed completely.
Without the Sterling Capital credit line, Dominic’s technology firm defaulted on three major government contracts. By Monday morning, federal regulators froze his remaining business accounts for investigation into fraudulent financial reporting.
Dominic spent two days sitting outside the wrought-iron gates of my father’s estate, sleeping in his car, sending hundreds of frantic text messages and voice notes begging for a second chance.
“Vivienne, please answer me! My mother is losing her mind! Chloe is in a holding cell and her bail was set at two million dollars! We have no money to pay it! Please, I’m begging you, just talk to me!”
I didn't answer a single text. I blocked his number and handed my phone to my legal team.
On Tuesday afternoon, my lead attorney visited Dominic outside the gate, handing him a thick blue envelope containing the divorce petition, a restraining order, and a demand for full, unchallengeable legal and physical custody of our unborn child.
May you like
Dominic looked at the papers, tears streaming down his bruised face. “Is there really no way back?”
“Mr. Vance,” my attorney replied coldly. “If you step within five hundred feet of Ms. Sterling or her child again, you will join your sister in a state penitentiary. Sign the papers.”
