Chapter 3

I blinked the heavy rain out of my eyes and stared at the man standing over me.

He was exceptionally tall and his shoulders were incredibly broad. He wore a sharp charcoal gray suit that screamed wealth and power. His dark hair was styled immaculately despite the stormy weather. But it was his face that made my breath catch in my throat. He had sharp, aristocratic cheekbones and a strong jawline that looked like it was carved from solid marble. His eyes were a piercing shade of icy blue and they looked at me with absolute calculation.

This was Dominic Vance.

I recognized his face from the covers of major business magazines. He was the CEO of Obsidian Industries and the Alpha of the Obsidian Pack. He was a ruthless billionaire known for destroying rival companies and leaving a trail of bankrupt competitors in his wake. More importantly, he was Julian’s biggest corporate rival and most hated enemy.

"What are you doing here?" I asked and my voice shook violently from the freezing cold. I pulled my wet coat tighter around my shoulders.

Dominic did not answer my question immediately. He looked down at my scraped knees and the heavy black suitcase resting in the puddles. His expression remained completely stoic. He did not offer me a warm smile or a helping hand.

"Get in the car Sienna," Dominic ordered smoothly. He turned his back to me and walked toward the sleek black Maybach. "Unless you prefer to freeze to death on the concrete while your husband drinks champagne upstairs."

His blunt words sparked a sudden flash of anger inside my chest. The anger felt much better than the crushing grief. I pushed myself up from the wet ground. My legs trembled weakly but I forced myself to stand tall. I grabbed the handle of my heavy suitcase and dragged it toward his expensive vehicle.

A driver in a black suit opened the back door for me. I climbed into the luxurious interior of the Maybach. The car was incredibly warm and smelled like rich leather and expensive cedar cologne.

Dominic sat on the opposite side of the spacious back seat. He poured a glass of amber liquid from a crystal decanter and handed it to me.

"Drink this," Dominic instructed firmly. "It will stop your teeth from chattering."

I took the crystal glass with shaking fingers and took a small sip. The expensive liquor burned a hot trail down my throat and immediately warmed my freezing stomach. I leaned back against the soft leather seat and stared at the powerful Alpha sitting next to me.

"Why are you parked in the alley behind my husband's building?" I asked cautiously. I knew Dominic Vance did not do random acts of charity. Everything he did was a highly calculated business move.

"Julian is not your husband anymore," Dominic corrected me bluntly. "He filed the divorce papers at nine o'clock this morning. He also legally transferred the patents for your new software design directly into Scarlett’s name."

My eyes widened in total shock. "How do you know about the software patents?"

Dominic rested his arm comfortably on the center console and looked at me with his piercing blue eyes.

"I know everything about Vanguard Corporation," Dominic stated with absolute confidence. "I have been watching Julian very closely for two years. He is a greedy and reckless Alpha. He thinks he is a genius businessman but he is actually a complete fool. He stole your brilliant software code and he thinks taking the company public will make him untouchable."

"He is untouchable," I whispered and stared down at the empty glass in my hands. "He froze all of my accounts. He has the entire pack backing him up. I have absolutely no money to hire a lawyer to fight him."

"You do not need a lawyer," Dominic said smoothly. He leaned slightly closer to me. The intense dominant energy radiating from his body was completely overwhelming. "Lawyers take years to settle corporate disputes in boring courtrooms. By the time a judge looks at your case Julian will already be a billionaire."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" I asked desperately. My voice cracked with fresh tears. "He took everything from me today. I lost my baby at the hospital and he did not even care. He used my body as an incubator while he built a secret life with his fated mate."

Dominic’s jaw tightened slightly when I mentioned the baby. A brief flash of dark anger crossed his icy eyes but it disappeared instantly. He did not offer me soft words of comfort. He knew sympathy would only make me cry harder.

"Stop acting like a helpless victim Sienna," Dominic demanded strictly. His harsh tone cut through my self pity like a sharp knife. "Crying in the back of my car will not bring your child back. It will not return your stolen company. Julian expects you to disappear quietly into the shadows. He expects you to remain a weak and wolfless omega."

I gripped the empty crystal glass so tightly my knuckles turned completely white. He was absolutely right. Julian wanted me to vanish. He wanted to enjoy his perfect life with Scarlett without facing a single consequence for his cruel betrayal.

"I do not want to be a victim," I said fiercely. The sadness inside my heart hardened into a solid block of pure rage. I looked directly into Dominic's cold blue eyes. "I want to destroy him. I want to take his company away and burn his perfect reputation to the ground."

A slow and very dangerous smile spread across Dominic's handsome face. It was the smile of a predator watching a trap spring shut.

"That is exactly what I wanted to hear," Dominic murmured deeply. He reached into a leather briefcase resting on the floor and pulled out a thick black folder. He placed the folder on the seat between us.

"What is this?" I asked and looked at the expensive folder.

"This is an employment contract," Dominic explained smoothly. "I am offering you the position of Lead Software Architect at Obsidian Industries. I will provide you with a luxury apartment in my territory, a massive salary, and unlimited access to my top engineering team."

I stared at him in complete disbelief. "Why would you give me all of that?"

"Because you are going to build a new software system for me," Dominic stated with absolute authority. "You are going to build a system that is ten times faster and much more secure than the garbage Julian stole from you. We are going to launch it on the exact same day Vanguard Corporation goes public. We are going to crash his stock price to zero and bankrupt his entire pack."

The sheer scale of his ruthless plan took my breath away. Dominic did not just want to beat Julian in the business world. He wanted to completely annihilate him. He wanted to use my brain and my skills as the ultimate weapon against the man who ruined my life.

"Why do you hate him so much?" I asked quietly. "This is more than just corporate rivalry."

"Julian Vanguard is a thief and a liar," Dominic answered and his voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "He destroyed something very important to my pack three years ago. I promised myself I would tear his empire down piece by piece. You are the final piece of my strategy Sienna."

I looked at the black folder resting on the leather seat. It was a deal with the devil. Dominic Vance was a dangerous and controlling Alpha. Working for him would pull me into a dark and vicious corporate war. But I had absolutely nothing left to lose. My old life was completely dead.

I opened the folder and picked up the silver pen resting inside the crease.

"If I sign this contract," I said firmly and looked up at his handsome face. "I want full creative control over the new project. And I want to be the person who officially delivers the bankruptcy papers to Julian's desk."

Dominic's icy blue eyes flared with intense respect and dark approval. The chemistry between us suddenly crackled with dangerous electricity.

"You can deliver the papers personally," Dominic promised smoothly. "And I will stand right beside you when you do it."

I clicked the silver pen and signed my name on the bottom line. I was no longer the quiet and obedient wife. The grieving woman who cried in the alleyway was gone forever. I handed the folder back to the ruthless billionaire.

"Welcome to Obsidian Industries," Dominic said softly. He tapped on the glass partition to signal the driver. "Take us to the estate. We have a lot of work to do."