Chapter 6 - The Fall Of Moretti Dynamics
The silence that followed was heavy enough to crush a man’s soul. Vincent slowly picked up the paper, his hands trembling so violently that the pages rustled like dry leaves. He scanned the legal clauses, his eyes darting frantically over the corporate seals, the debt transfer agreements, and the signature at the bottom: Elena Vance / Anna Bennett.
""No..."" Sophia hissed from her chair, straining against the security guards. ""Vincent, don't listen to her! Call our legal team! Call the federal board! She can't do this!""
""Shut up, Sophia!"" Vincent suddenly screamed, turning his tear-streaked face toward her with pure fury. It was the first time in his life he had ever raised his voice at her. ""Just shut your damn mouth!""
Sophia shrank back, stunned into silence by his explosive rage.
Vincent turned back to me, his arrogance entirely eradicated, replaced by the desperate pleading of a drowning man. He crawled forward on his knees until he was at the edge of the marble table, looking up at me like a beggar.
""Anna... please. We were married. We loved each other. I made the most horrific mistake of my life, and I have lived in hell every single day since that fire. Take the company. Take every penny I have. But please... let me see my daughter. Let me hold Valerie. Just once. I’ll sign whatever you want. Just don't erase me from her life.""
I looked down at the billionaire who once held the power to shatter my world with a single dismissive word. Seeing him on his knees did not make me feel pity; it solidified the disgust I had carried for three long years.
""When I was trapped in that burning cabin,"" I said, my voice quiet and deliberate, ""I begged you to remember your vows. I told you I was carrying your child. Do you remember what you said to me?""
Vincent choked on his breath, unable to answer.
""You said, 'Don't turn this into an argument.' You treated my survival like an inconvenience to your rescue fantasy with Sophia."" I stood up, smoothing the front of my sapphire blazer. ""You will never see Valerie. Her birth certificate lists her father as unknown. legally, financially, and morally, you do not exist to her.""
""Anna, no! You can't be this cruel!"" Vincent wept openly, clutching the edge of the marble table.
""Cruel?"" I leaned down, bringing my face close to his, letting him smell the expensive perfume and the lingering ghost of his past. ""Cruelty is leaving a pregnant woman to burn to death while you play the white knight for a woman who didn't even have a concussion. Daniel checked the airport medical reports, Vincent. Sophia had a minor abrasion on her temple. She was completely conscious. She faked her fainting spell so you would carry her.""
Vincent froze, his head snapping toward Sophia.
Sophia’s face drained of color. ""Vincent... no, that's a lie! I was in shock! I was terrified!""
""Daniel pulled the black-box cabin audio and the tarmac surveillance footage,"" I said, gesturing to Daniel, who tapped his tablet.
A high-definition video began playing on the giant projector screen behind me. It showed the moment Vincent carried Sophia onto the tarmac. The moment Vincent turned around to run back toward the jet, Sophia grabbed his jacket with both hands, digging her nails into his skin, screaming theatrically: “Vincent, don't leave me! My heart! I'm having a panic attack, don't leave me alone!”
She had delayed him by twenty crucial seconds—clinging to his coat, faking hyperventilation, physically blocking him from sprinting back toward the aircraft until the explosion blew the cabin apart.
Vincent watched the screen, his jaw hanging open in sickening comprehension. The twenty seconds he had lost trying to calm Sophia’s fake hysterics were the twenty seconds that would have brought him back to the cabin.
He turned slowly toward Sophia, his eyes burning with a hatred so profound that even the security guards seemed surprised.
""You held me back,"" Vincent whispered, his voice trembling with homicidal venom. ""You held my jacket. You told me you were dying.""
""Vincent, I was scared!"" Sophia shrieked, tears of genuine panic streaming down her cheeks. ""The plane was going to explode! If you went back, you would have died too! I saved your life!""
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""You killed my family!"" Vincent lunged across the floor, his hands clawing toward Sophia's neck, but Daniel’s men stepped in instantly, tackling Vincent to the ground and pinning his shoulders to the carpet.
""Get them out of my sight,"" I said, turning my back on the pathetic spectacle. ""Daniel, initiate the default clause on Moretti Dynamics. Freeze their operating accounts. By five o'clock today, I want Vincent Moretti removed from his own building.""
