Chapter 3 - The Truth Unravels
A deafening wave of whispers erupted through the pews. Society matrons gasped behind gloved hands, and reporters disguised as wedding guests frantically typed into their phones. Dominic stared at the black card in Maya’s hand, his brain struggling to process the impossible numbers.
“What eighty million?” Dominic asked, his voice low, dangerous, and dangerously quiet. He turned his burning gaze back to his father, whose skin had turned an ashen gray. “Dad. Look at me. What eighty million dollars?”
Victor swallowed hard, opening his mouth, but before he could speak, a sharp, authoritative voice cut him off.
“Stop right there.”
Sophia Vance, the abandoned bride, stepped down from the altar, her heavy silk train rustling against the stone floor. She ripped the veil from her hair and threw it onto a pew, her eyes blazing with absolute fury. She looked directly at Victor, then at Dominic.
“For six months, your father told me you were grieving a gold-digger who willingly took a severance package and fled the country,” Sophia said, her voice shaking with rage. She turned to Dominic, her expression softening with pity. “Dominic, what did your father tell you happened to your wife?”
Wife.
The word hung in the air like a blade. Dominic’s head snapped back toward Victor, veins bulging in his neck. “Wife? We were legally married before I left on that four-day summit in Geneva! You told me she packed her bags and left me a text message saying she never loved me!”
“She took the money and left!” Victor roared, losing his composure for the first time in decades as the facade crumbled around him.
“I walked out that door with the clothes on my back and my dignity,” Maya shouted, her voice trembling with righteous fury as tears finally spilled over her lashes. “Your father cornered me in a hospital parking lot while I was pregnant and terrified! He threw that card at me and told me if I ever contacted your family again, he would ensure my unborn child was stripped of everything, buried so deep nobody would ever find him!”
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Dominic grabbed his father by the lapels of his tailored suit, lifting the older man slightly off the floor. The entire wedding party held their collective breath. The invincible Victor Russo was cornered by his own flesh and blood.
“You destroyed my life,” Dominic whispered, his voice trembling with a grief so profound it silenced the entire cathedral. “You destroyed us.”
