Chapter 5
The revelation hit the garden like a physical shockwave. The bright, cinematic daylight offered no shadows for Vivienne to hide her guilt. The gold wedding band, stolen from the private sanctuary of the master suite, glinted damningly against her chest in the vivid sunlight.
"What is she talking about?" Vivienne stammered, her cruel laughter evaporating instantly. Her fair, rosy skin flushed a deep, panicked crimson. She instinctively reached a hand up to cover the ring on her necklace. "The child is confused! I bought this vintage piece last week! Dominic, you cannot possibly believe her over me!"
Dominic did not listen to a single word falling from her lips. His cold, intimidating eyes remained locked onto the golden band. The ring he had placed on his late wife's finger. The ring he had kept secured in a velvet box for his daughter.
"You went into her room," Dominic whispered.
He spoke incredibly slowly, keeping his volume terrifyingly low. The controlled pauses between his words carried a measured, cold, and absolute danger that vibrated through the very ground they stood on.
"I was just looking for a suitable accessory for the party!" Vivienne shrieked, panic finally shattering her arrogant superiority. She took a hasty step backward, her heels sinking slightly into the grass. "It was gathering dust! I am going to be your wife, Dominic! What is hers is mine!"
Dominic slowly turned his head. His sharp jawline set like granite. He stared directly into Vivienne’s panicked eyes until she physically trembled.
"Nothing in this world... belongs to you," Dominic stated, his voice a lethal, vibrating hum.
Driven by pure, blind panic and a complete loss of rational thought, Vivienne made the final, fatal mistake of her life. Realizing that her theft and abuse had been entirely exposed in front of the syndicate, her temper completely overrode her fear.
"Shut her up!" Vivienne screamed, pointing at Aria.
Vivienne suddenly lunged forward. She moved with wild, uncoordinated speed, her heavy engagement gown swishing loudly. She reached her manicured, diamond-clad hands out aggressively, intending to grab Aria right out of Dominic's arms to silence the child.
Dominic moved faster than thought.
He shifted his weight with blinding, explosive speed, a terrifying display of raw, refined power. He smoothly handed Aria safely backward into the waiting arms of Vincent, his lead bodyguard, who had stepped up silently behind him.
Freed from holding his daughter, Dominic stepped directly into Vivienne’s path.
He reached out with his heavily tattooed hand and caught Vivienne’s extended wrist mid-lunge. His grip clamped around her delicate bones like an industrial vise, completely arresting her momentum. Vivienne let out a sharp gasp of shock and pain.
Without a fraction of a second of hesitation, Dominic pulled her wrist downward, exposing the entire left side of her face. Utilizing his entire body weight, he delivered one thunderous, devastating open-handed slap directly across Vivienne’s beautiful, powdered cheek.
The impact was catastrophic. The sound cracked like a rifle shot in the silent garden.
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The immense kinetic force lifted the thirty-four-year-old woman completely off her designer heels. Vivienne spun violently backward, her arms flailing uselessly in the air as she lost all control of her body. She hurtled backward across the lawn, flying directly toward the tall, decorative engagement arch erected in the center of the party.
She crashed into the heavy wooden structure with the force of a wrecking ball.
