Chapter Four

Aliyah's Pov

Dominic's command still rang in the air, like a line drawn with blood. 

His eyes were fixated on Roland and then, he turned to me.

Heat rippled through my spine once I realized that I was under his gaze. 

For the briefest second, the room fell away.

No headlines, no cameras, no whispers. Just me, pinned under the weight of Dominic’s gaze.

Roland noticed it as well. His smirk spread wider, his words laced with venom.

Funny thing about family, he said to his circle, voice carrying just enough for me to hear.

No matter what happens, Aliyah will always belong to mine. One way or another.

The chandelier seemed to spin above me. I wanted to scream. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. I wanted to hurl my champagne in his smug face. 

But instead, I turned sharply, my heels striking marble as I made for the nearest exit. 

But then, click. A flash.

Cameras, the paparazzi had struck again.

I flinched instinctively and Dominic noticed. His jaw hardened, and in one smooth motion, he shifted, broad shoulders angling just enough to block the photographers’ line of sight. 

Aliyah, we need to go. Clara's voice broke the silence. She took my hand and dragged me to the exit. 

My head snapped, gaze lingering on Dominic as I was pulled away. 

Outside, our phones buzzed uncontrollably.

Clara cursed, they didn't even wait an hour. Bastards!!

News articles everywhere....Photos of me and Dominic a few minutes ago.

I sighed, frustration creeping into my chest. 

Clara escorted me home, being the only one who I could rely on at the moment. 

Like everything that had happened today wasn't enough, an email came just after I grabbed a bottle of water in the kitchen. 

I checked and was shocked to see it was our family’s financial advisor, writing in the flat, emotionless tone that only men in pressed suits could master.

Per the terms of the prenuptial agreement signed between Aliyah Bennett and Roland Voss, the following assets are now subject to seizure or reassignment.

I didn’t even finish the sentence before my stomach flipped. My hands became weak, and my phone almost fell flat on the cold, hard ground. My hands shook as I scrolled, and then my world shattered into clauses and footnotes.

Properties gone. Business shares, frozen. Trust accounts, under review. Everything my father worked for, everything my mother still clutched like lifeblood, all bleeding into Roland’s hands.

I read it over and over again, searching for some kind of mistake. Some loopholes. Some shred of dignity left for me. But the truth was brutal. Roland had been playing chess while I thought we were still playing checkers. He hadn’t just married me, he’d married my family’s empire, and now he was dismantling it with a lawyer’s scalpel.

My breath got caught in my throat.

My knees buckled, making me fall hopelessly in the middle of the kitchen floor, cold marble beneath me, still clutching my phone with shaky hands like it could explain why my life was collapsing.

The phone was buzzing. Emails, calls, messages. I did nothing, just watched. 

Then I heard the kitchen door open. Clara.

She crouched down, her perfume cutting through the sterile scent of panic, her manicured nails plucking the phone from my trembling fingers. Her eyes scanned the email once, twice, then narrowed with a mix of fury and pity.

Aliyah. I warned you. I told you. Everyone did. You didn’t see this coming?

Her words weren’t cruel, but they hit harder than Roland’s betrayal. 

Because no.

I hadn’t. I thought I was smart, thought I was careful. But love, or at least the illusion of it, had blinded me. He must have slipped those clauses into the prenup with his usual charm, that easy smile that made you forget to read the fine print.

I signed it because I wanted him, I whispered, ashamed of how small my voice sounded. 

I thought it was just...for formalities. For protection.

Clara’s gaze softened, but her lips curved in something dangerously close to a smirk. 

Protection for him. Not for you.

Tears stung my eyes, hot and humiliating. I wanted to argue, wanted to say Roland had loved me once. But what did love mean in the face of a contract that stripped me bare?

He couldn't even pretend to care for me. I was so stupid.

Clara, what am I going to do? My voice cracked, raw. 

My family’s drowning, and he’s the one holding our heads under.

She leaned closer, pulling me into herself as she consoled me. 

We will figure something out, Aliyah.....we will. Her words were supposed to be comforting, but they brought no comfort to my panicked state. 

Clara made me a meal which I barely touched, after which she left. 

The next morning, a knock came on the door. 

Clara. My friend was checking up on me again. That was what I thought until I opened the door. 

Can I come in? His stormy dark green eyes locked on mine. 

My heart stopped. 

My lips parted in disbelief as I watched Dominic Voss standing at my doorstep.