Chapter 3
Z
By 3:00 PM that same afternoon, the news of the board meeting explosion had leaked across every major media outlet in New York. The headlines were ruthless: “FALL OF VANCE DEVELOPMENT: REAL ESTATE MOGUL OUSTED BY 'SECRET WEALTH' WIFE.”
I was staying in the penthouse suite of The Plaza, guarded by a private security team hired by Sophia. I sat on the plush velvet sofa, watching a live broadcast of Victoria Vance standing on the front steps of her estate, surrounded by news cameras and microphoned reporters.
She was putting on the performance of her life. Dressed in a black outfit, dabbing fake tears from her eyes with a handkerchief, she looked straight into the cameras.
"My son, Dominic, is a visionary!" Victoria sobbed hysterically to the press. "He built that company from the dirt with his bare hands! And this woman—this viper, Audrey—we took her in when she had nothing! She manipulated my son, stole our family secrets, and now she is trying to frame us! She even threw herself down the stairs in a fits of hysterical jealousy to ruin my family's reputation! She's mentally unstable!"
The reporters clamored, shouting questions all at once.
"Mrs. Vance, what about the reports that you struck her?!"
"Mrs. Vance, is it true she was pregnant at the time of the fall?!"
Victoria raised her hands in dramatic despair. "She was never pregnant! It’s all a lie! She is a pathological liar seeking to destroy a good, Christian family!"
I stared at the television screen, my fingers digging into the fabric of my chair until my knuckles turned white. She was denying my baby ever existed. She was calling my dead child a lie.
Sophia slammed her laptop shut on the coffee table. "That's it. She just walked straight into our trap. Defamation, slander, and perjury during an ongoing criminal investigation. I'm calling the District Attorney right now."
"No," I said, my voice dangerously calm. "Don't stop her. Let her keep talking. The higher she builds her platform of lies, the harder she’ll hit the pavement when we yank it out from under her."
Just then, my personal phone buzzed. It was an unknown number. I answered and put it on speaker.
"Audrey... please don't hang up."
It was Dominic. He sounded completely wrecked, his voice raspy and slurred.
"You have five seconds, Dominic," I said.
"Audrey, I'm at the bar across from the hotel. Please, just come down and talk to me. Just five minutes. I didn't know what my mother said to the press—I swear I didn't back her up on that! I know you were pregnant! I'm grieving too, Audrey!"
"Grieving?" I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "You were drinking champagne with Paige while I was in surgery having my uterus scraped clean, Dominic. Don't you dare talk to me about grief."
"Paige means nothing to me!" he begged, sounding utterly desperate. "I kicked her out! She’s gone! I threw her stuff out of the apartment! It was a mistake, Audrey! She used me! She led me on because she knew I was stressed about the business! I love you! I've always loved you!"
"You loved my submission," I corrected him. "You loved having a wife who stayed home, cooked your meals, and took your mother's abuse so you could feel like a king. You didn't love me. You didn't even know who I was."
"Audrey, if you do this, I lose everything!" he sobbed openly now. "The bank called. They’re foreclosing on the mansion because the lease was under your holding company. The sports cars are being repossessed tomorrow morning. My personal accounts are frozen because of the fraud charges. I have nothing left!"
"You have what you came into this marriage with, Dominic," I said softly. "Nothing."
"I'll fight you!" his voice suddenly turned dark and malicious, the desperate lover vanishing in an instant, replaced by the arrogant monster I had suffered under for three years. "I'll take you to court! I'll tell the judge you hid assets during our marriage! I'll take half of your eighty million dollars, Audrey! I'll hire the best lawyers in the state!"
"With what money, Dominic?" Sophia chimed in from behind the phone. "Every top law firm in Manhattan has already been put on conflict notice by our legal team. And besides, no lawyer will take a client who is about to be indicted on federal corporate fraud charges."
"Who the hell was that?!" Dominic raged. "Is that your lawyer?! You think you're so smart, Audrey?! My mother has connections! The Mayor is a close friend of our family! We will ruin you!"
"Good luck with that," I said, and hung up the phone.
Two hours later, the first blow struck.
Sophia’s team filed an emergency motion in Manhattan Supreme Court. Attached to the filing were three crucial items: First, the high-definition security footage from the mansion hallway, crystal clear, showing Victoria pushing me down the stairs while Dominic watched. Second, the certified hospital record from Dr. Alexander Reed confirming my pregnancy and the tragic loss of the fetus due to blunt force trauma. Third, the official forensic audit showing Dominic transferring over $1.4 million of company money into Paige’s personal accounts over eighteen months.
By 6:00 PM, the court released the documents to the public database.
The internet erupted.
The video of Victoria pushing me went viral within minutes. Social media exploded with outrage. The hashtag #JusticeForAudrey trended number one worldwide. The very same public that Victoria tried to manipulate turned on her like a pack of rabid wolves.
People swarmed the gates of the Vance mansion, protesting and throwing eggs at the perimeter walls. News networks played the video on a continuous loop, analyzing every frame.
Sitting in her living room, drinking gin to numb her panic, Victoria watched as her prestigious social status dissolved into ashes. Her country club membership was revoked live on television. The charity boards she sat on released immediate statements cutting all ties with the Vance family.
Then came the final blow of the night.
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A convoy of black SUVs pulled up to the Vance mansion. Officers from the New York Police Department, accompanied by detectives from the District Attorney’s office, walked up the front steps with an arrest warrant.
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