Chapter 4 - The Boardroom in the Ballroom
“You can’t just walk away, Gina!”
Liam’s hand clamped around my wrist as I turned to lead the triplets toward the grand ballroom doors. His grip wasn't violent, but it was desperate. The expensive white rose on his lapel had fallen off, crushed beneath his trembling fingers.
I stopped, turning my head slowly to look down at his hand on my arm. Then I raised my eyes to meet his.
“Take your hand off me, Liam,” I whispered, my voice chilling the air around us. “Unless you want me to file criminal assault charges right here in front of your mother’s entire donor list.”
Liam flinched as if he’d been struck, slowly releasing my wrist. His chest heaved as he fought for breath. “Five years, Gina. You hid them from me for five years. They’re my children. I have rights.”
“Rights?” I let out a sharp, humorless laugh that turned heads across the courtyard. “You gave up your rights when you sat in that Hamptons drawing room and let your mother hand me a settlement while you stared at the rain. You traded your family for a tech merger and a blonde trophy wife. Don’t talk to me about rights.”
“I didn't know!” Liam pleaded, his voice cracking with genuine anguish. “Mother told me the doctors said—she said you signed away everything, that you couldn't—”
“Your mother told you what was convenient for your guilt!” I interrupted, stepping into his space until he was forced to look down into my eyes. “You didn't care enough to check, Liam. You were too busy climbing the corporate ladder and planning a wedding. And now? Now you have a very expensive wedding to finish. Don't ruin it by pretending to care about fatherhood.”
“Liam!” Jessica shrieked, tears of humiliation streaming down her face as she glared at him. “If you let her walk into our reception, if you don't have them thrown out right now, this wedding is over! Do you hear me? Over!”
Liam looked between Jessica—hysterical, dripping in French lace, threatening to walk away from the merger of the decade—and his three children, who stood watching the drama with the calm, analytical detachment of little scientists.
For a horrifying second, Liam looked like a man standing on the edge of a cliff, realizing he had jumped off the wrong side.
“Let her go, Liam,” a deep, gravelly voice echoed from the terrace doors.
We all turned. Stepping out of the shadow of the velvet drapes was a tall, silver-haired man in an impeccably tailored charcoal suit. His face was weathered by decades of power, and his sharp, dark eyes scanned the scene with terrifying authority.
It wasn't a Sterling. It was Arthur Vance.
The primary venture capitalist behind Vance Global, and the fiercest rival the Sterling family had fought in the Chicago markets for the last twenty years.
Victoria turned white as a sheet. “Arthur... what are you doing here? This is a private family event.”
Arthur Vance didn't look at Victoria. He walked straight past Liam, past a weeping Jessica, and stopped directly in front of me. To my absolute shock, the ruthless billionaire broke into a warm, genuine smile, tipped his head in a respectful bow, and offered his arm.
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“Good afternoon, Mrs. Sterling,” Arthur said smoothly, his voice carrying across the silent courtyard. “Or should I say, Madam Chairwoman? The board is waiting for you inside.”
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