Chapter 15 - When Dominic Lost Everything
The fraud investigation moved faster after the recovered phone.
Dominic was not charged with child abuse based solely on the recording.
But his credibility collapsed.
The family court suspended even supervised visitation temporarily pending further review.
The corporate board terminated him for cause.
His severance disappeared.
His access disappeared.
The executive apartment disappeared.
Then the forensic audit found something he had hidden from everyone.
Including Brooke.
Dominic had borrowed against his shares.
Twice.
He owed nearly six million dollars to private lenders.
He had spent years pretending to be richer than he was.
Cars.
Clubs.
Travel.
Gifts.
Brooke’s jewelry.
Victoria’s renovations.
All of it floated on debt.
When Sterling Meridian suspended dividend payments during the fraud investigation, the lenders called their notes.
Dominic’s remaining shares went into foreclosure proceedings.
I did not have to destroy him.
Arithmetic did it.
Brooke faced conspiracy, fraud, identity theft, and obstruction charges.
Victoria faced fraud-related charges and became the subject of the child-welfare investigation.
Aaron cooperated.
Maria testified.
Dr. Keller documented Leo’s condition.
Grace protected his privacy.
I did one thing publicly.
I said nothing.
Reporters waited outside Sterling Meridian headquarters.
They wanted the cheated wife.
The abused child.
The mistress.
The evil mother-in-law.
I refused to turn Leo into entertainment.
At the company meeting, I spoke only about governance.
“Sterling Meridian will recover stolen funds.”
“We will rebuild internal controls.”
“And no executive, including me, will ever again be allowed to operate without accountability.”
One reporter shouted.
“Mrs. Sterling, are you divorcing Dominic?”
I stopped.
“Yes.”
That was all.
The divorce papers had already been filed.
Dominic received them at a rented apartment.
The mansion belonged to a trust my father established before my marriage.
Dominic had never owned it.
He had simply lived there.
Victoria had forgotten that.
Brooke never knew.
Two weeks later, I returned to the mansion for the first time.
Not to live.
Not yet.
Leo came with me.
He held my hand at the front door.
“You scared?”
I asked.
He nodded.
“Me too.”
We walked inside together.
The designer sofa was gone.
The glass coffee table was gone.
The basement door had been removed.
Leo stopped in the dining room.
He stared at the chair where Liam once sat.
Then at the floor.
I waited.
Finally, he whispered.
“Can Buttons sit at table?”
His stuffed rabbit was tucked beneath his arm.
I smiled.
“Buttons gets his own chair.”
Leo laughed.
A tiny sound.
But it filled the whole room.
Then the new security installer approached me.
“Mrs. Sterling?”
“Yes?”
“We found something behind the basement wall.”
“What?”
“A second recording device.”
May you like
“It wasn’t connected to the house system.”
Someone had been secretly recording Victoria too.
