It burns everyone it touches.
Arthur handed the injunction back to Simone.
“My firm is withdrawing from the merger,” he said.
Dominic spun toward him. “You can’t do that.”
“I can. I am.”
“You’ll lose millions.”
Arthur’s face hardened.
“Better millions than prison.”
That was the moment Dominic truly understood.
The bride was crying.
The investor was leaving.
The board was calling.
The woman in the hospital bed was no longer silent.
And the baby he had treated like an inconvenience had become the witness to his collapse.
Security asked Dominic to leave.
He refused.
Then Simone read aloud the temporary protection order.
He turned to me one last time.
“You’re really going to do this? After everything we had?”
I looked around the room.
At his tuxedo.
At Celeste’s ruined wedding dress.
At the papers on the table.
At my daughter sleeping safely in my arms.
