Part 10: The Mother’s Plea
The waiting room of Sinclair & Black’s executive floor smelled faintly of roasted coffee and expensive leather.
I sat across the room in a private alcove, shielded by frosted glass panels, watching Olivia Vance pace back and forth across the imported wool rug.
She looked ten years older than she had on the hospital day when she smiled smugly at my newborn daughter.
Her designer suit was wrinkled, her hair was uncharacteristically unstyled, and her hands trembled as she clutched a leather handbag against her chest.
She had finally realized that her precious son wasn't just facing a bad divorce; he was facing a lifetime behind bars with zero financial safety net.
Leo walked out of his private office, gesturing for her to enter.
Instead of leading her into a standard conference room, he guided her straight into my private office where I sat behind a massive mahogany desk with Grace sleeping peacefully in a bassinet beside me.
Olivia stopped dead in her tracks the moment she crossed the threshold.
She stared at the bassinet, then slowly raised her eyes to meet mine.
The venomous pride that had once defined her posture was completely gone, replaced by a desperate, humbling terror.
“Eleanor…” Olivia whispered, her voice cracking slightly as she took a hesitant step forward.
“Please… I know things have gotten out of hand, but we are family—we shared six years together—”
“We never shared anything, Olivia,” I interrupted, my voice calm, steady, and utterly devoid of warmth.
“You tolerated me because my family trust financed your son’s lifestyle, and you despised me because I didn’t bow down to your archaic obsession with producing a male heir.”
Olivia flinched as if she had been struck physically.
She lowered herself uninvited into one of the leather armchairs opposite my desk, her hands wringing the leather straps of her purse until her knuckles turned white.
“Dominic is your daughter’s father,” she pleaded, her voice dropping to a pathetic wheeze.
“If he goes to prison for federal embezzlement and international fraud, his life is completely over.
Kronos Capital is threatening to strip every personal asset he has left, and the federal prosecutors are pushing for a twenty-year sentence.
Please… use your influence with the firm to drop the charges.
We can sign away whatever you want—just give him a second chance.”
I rested my elbows on the desk, interlocking my fingers as I looked down at the woman who had once told me a woman raising a daughter should learn some humility.
“A second chance, Olivia?” I asked softly.
“When Dominic threw divorce papers in my face two hours after I gave birth to his daughter, did he offer me a second chance?
When he brought his pregnant mistress into my hospital room to gloat about a fake son, did you offer grace and humility?”
Olivia swallowed hard, her eyes darting nervously around the luxurious office as the reality of her position finally set in.
“We were… we were mistaken,” she stammered desperately.
“Brooke deceived us all! She lied about the pregnancy, she lied about her family background, she manipulated Dominic—”
“Dominic didn't need to be manipulated,” I cut her off sharply.
“He chose his path the moment he decided greed and arrogance were more valuable than loyalty and family.
He thought he was invincible because he wore an expensive suit and manipulated corporate ledgers.
He forgot who held the master key to the entire kingdom.”
Olivia stared at me in total silence, the terrifying realization washing over her that she had backed the wrong horse and lost everything in the process.
“What do you want?” she whispered hollowly.
“What will it take to make this stop?”
I stood up slowly from my desk, walking over to the bassinet to gently stroke Grace’s soft cheek before turning back to face her.
“I don’t want his money, Olivia.
I already have it back,” I said, my voice echoing quietly in the spacious room.
“What I want is for you and your son to finally learn what it means to be truly humbled.
Every lawsuit will proceed.
Every federal indictment will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
And every single lie you ever told about my daughter and me will be entered into the public court record.”
Olivia buried her face in her hands, letting out a ragged, broken sob that echoed against the pristine walls of the office.
She had come seeking mercy, but she found only an immovable wall of justice.
“You’re a monster,” she wept quietly through her fingers.
“No, Olivia,” I replied, walking back to my desk and sitting down with absolute composure.
“I’m just the woman who reclaimed her empire.”
As Olivia was escorted out of the building by security a few minutes later, my phone buzzed on the desk.
May you like
It was an urgent alert from Marcus regarding a sudden, unexpected development at the federal detention center involving Dominic’s cellmate.
And the details inside changed the entire game once again.
