Chapter 2 - Blood and Contracts"Grandfather." I stood up slowly, fighting the fierce, tearing pain in my abdomen from the C-section, but refusing to show weakness.
Arthur’s gaze swept past Dominic and Natalie as if they were nothing more than dust motes on a polished floor. He crossed the room in three long strides, his hand gently cupping my cheek. His calloused thumb brushed away a stray tear I hadn’t known I’d shed.
"You're pale, child," Arthur murmured, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, controlled fury. "And you should be resting. Who allowed these pests into your sanctuary?"
Dominic found his voice, though it cracked pathetically. "Sir—Mr. Sterling! There's been a misunderstanding. Audrey and I... we're going through a routine separation. It's a private matter—"
"A private matter?" Arthur turned his head slowly, locking his terrifying blue gaze onto Dominic. "You brought a woman wearing my granddaughter's stolen coat into a hospital unit built with my family's capital, while my premature great-grandchildren fight for their lives in those incubators? You threw divorce papers at a woman recovering from major surgery, emptied her accounts, and told her she was on her own?"
"I didn't know!" Dominic stammered, backing up until his spine hit the glass wall of Liam and Chloe's incubator. "She never told me! She kept her identity a secret!"
"A secret?" Arthur let out a cold, humorless bark of laughter. "Audrey didn't hide who she was. You were simply too arrogant, too self-absorbed, and too profoundly stupid to look past the clothes she wore to the legacy she carried."
Arthur raised a hand. Chief Vance stepped forward, holding a sleek digital tablet.
"Mr. Dominic Vance," Thomas recited smoothly, reading from the screen. "Owner of Vance Medical Supplies. Let's review your recent business transactions, shall we? You currently hold a multi-million-dollar exclusive distribution contract with... Saint Aurelia Healthcare Group."
Dominic’s knees buckled slightly. "No. No, you can't cancel that. We have a five-year binding agreement—"
"An agreement," Arthur interrupted softly, stepping closer until he towered over Dominic, "that contains a standard morality and ethical conduct clause. Specifically, Section 14, Paragraph B: Any contractor found guilty of gross public misconduct, spousal abandonment, or behavior bringing disrepute to the Sterling name shall have their contracts terminated immediately, with total forfeiture of all pending inventory and assets to the hospital board."
Arthur smiled, a terrifying, predatory expression.
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"You just signed the divorce papers, Dominic. Which means you are no longer legally married to a Sterling, making your predatory takeover of her assets a matter of grand larceny. And you just breached your primary corporate contract with the very hospital system that feeds you."
Natalie let out a choked gasp, shoving Dominic away from her as if he carried the plague. "You ruined us! You idiot, you absolute idiot!"
