“You scheming little parasite! That house belongs to my son!”

I spoke to her for the first time since the fall.

“No. It belongs to the woman you pushed down the stairs.”

Silence cracked across the line.

Then Dominic grabbed the phone.

“Audrey, listen. I didn’t know about the baby.”

“You knew I was lying broken beneath you.”

“My mother panicked.”

“You stepped over me.”

His breathing turned ragged.

“We can fix this.”

I looked at the ultrasound photo Dr. Reed had printed for me.

“There is no ‘we’ anymore.”

That evening, Dominic held a press conference outside company headquarters. He claimed a mysterious investor was attempting a hostile takeover. He called himself the founder of the company and promised to expose the coward hiding behind lawyers.

I watched from the top-floor boardroom.

Sophia smiled.

“He still doesn’t understand.”

“No,” I said. “Let him finish.”

The next morning, Dominic stormed into the emergency board meeting with Victoria and Paige behind him. All three looked dressed for battle.

Then he stopped.

Because I was sitting at the head of the table.

The chairman rose.

“Mr. Vance, meet Audrey Crestwood, majority owner of Vance Development.”

Dominic’s face went blank.

He had chosen the wrong woman to destroy.

PART 3

Dominic stared at me as if I had climbed out of a grave he had already celebrated over.

“This is a joke,” he said.

I slid the share certificates across the table.

“Sixty-two percent ownership. Acquired when your company was six days away from bankruptcy.”

Victoria gripped the back of a chair.

“You tricked us.”

“I saved you.”

Paige turned toward Dominic.

“You told me everything was yours.”

“It was,” he muttered.

“No,” I said. “You were borrowing my life.”

Sophia activated the screen behind me. Bank transfers appeared first. Then expense reports, forged signatures, and security footage from the mansion.

Everyone watched Victoria shove me.

Everyone heard Dominic’s voice.

“Mom, not so hard.”

Dominic lunged for the remote, but two security officers stepped in front of him.

“You recorded us?” Victoria shrieked.