Chapter 4 - The Poison In The Ledger
The room spun. Vivian grabbed the edge of the console table to steady herself, her breath catching in her throat. “Marriage contract?”
“Arthur, I warned you,” Dominic snarled, stepping between Arthur and Vivian, his hand reaching inside his jacket toward the concealed holster beneath his arm. The tension in the grand foyer was suffocating, every muscle in Dominic’s back coiled like a predator ready to strike.
“Shoot me, and the federal auditors receive Thomas Cole’s second ledger before breakfast,” Arthur said casually, not flinching for a second. He glanced at Vivian with a cruel smirk. “Ask your husband, little girl. Ask him why your father really died eight years ago. Ask him why Dominic married the broke daughter of a dead accountant instead of an heiress who could have doubled his empire.”
Arthur picked up his leather briefcase and walked out the front door, leaving a suffocating silence behind him. The heavy oak doors clicked shut, echoing like a gavel through the cavernous foyer.
Vivian didn't cry. The shock had burned away all weakness, leaving only a white-hot rage beneath her ribs. She looked at Dominic, whose broad shoulders seemed to buckle under an unseen weight.
“Is it true?” she asked, her voice dangerously even.
“Vivian, listen to me—”
“Did you marry me because of my father’s ledger?”
Dominic closed his eyes for a long, agonizing beat. When he opened them, the darkness in them was terrifying. “Your father didn't die of a heart attack, Vivian. My father had him poisoned because Thomas found forty million dollars in laundered cartel money moving through the harbor accounts. Before Thomas died, he hid the decryption keys. He told my father that if anything happened to you, the files would automatically upload to the Department of Justice. The only way to guarantee your safety—and protect the firm—was to bring you under the Mercer name where nobody could touch you.”
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“So our entire marriage was a hostage situation?” Vivian’s voice cracked. “You didn't love me. You were guarding evidence!”
“I fell in love with you the day I saw you playing piano in your father’s garden!” Dominic roared, his voice cracking with an emotion she had never heard from him before. “I took over this bloody empire at twenty-eight to keep those vultures from slaughtering you! And today, Brooke Callahan threatened to release forged documents proving you helped your father launder the money unless I signed the merger and gave her public legitimacy! That kiss was a distraction so my tech team could breach her cloud servers!”
