CHAPTER 2: THE RECKONING

Damian : POV

It was only 6 a.m., and my phone wouldn't stop ringing. I ignored it at first, but it kept going nonstop. I finally got out of bed and stared at the phone on the nightstand before picking it up.

The screen was filled with missed calls. My secretary had called six times, and my assistant had sent several messages. Before I could open any of them, a new notification appeared.

CEO OF BLACKWOOD EMPIRE DIVORCES HIS WIFE AFTER $8 MILLION FRAUD SCANDAL.

How did this get on the internet so quickly? This only happened yesterday.

My secretary called again. I answered.

"Sir, you need to come to the office immediately." Her voice was panicked.

"What happened?"

"Investors are pulling out. We've already lost three clients, and there are reporters outside demanding answers."

I sat up straight. "I'm on my way."

When I got to the office, the crowd outside was huge. Cameras everywhere, security struggling to control the reporters, my staff entering the building with their heads down. A reporter came straight toward me the moment I stepped out of my car.

"Mr. Blackwood, is it true your wife stole from the company? Why did you marry a thief?"

Security cleared a path. I walked inside without answering.

My assistant hurried toward me. "Sir, the board is already waiting. Three more clients have called to cancel, and investors are demanding an explanation."

I headed straight for the boardroom. The room was noisy until I walked in. Everyone went quiet.

Richard spoke first. "Eight million dollars is missing, Damien. How did this happen?"

"I didn't know until yesterday."

"And your wife is responsible?"

"Yes. The evidence points directly to her."

A board member leaned forward. "You're completely certain? What if there's been a mistake?"

"There isn't. I've seen the records myself. The evidence is clear."

Richard shook his head. "This isn't only about the missing money anymore. Investors are pulling out, and our clients are losing confidence."

"I'll speak to the press myself," I said.

I stepped in front of the cameras, and the reporters immediately started shouting. Microphones pushed toward me from every direction.

"Mr. Blackwood, did your wife really steal from your company?"

"Eight million dollars is missing, and everything we've uncovered points to my wife," I said. "I trusted her completely, but I was wrong."

"If you knew she was capable of this, why did you marry her?"

"I never knew the woman I married was nothing but a hardened criminal. I trusted her. I loved her. I never imagined I would see this day. But the truth is, she was nothing but a gold digger and a thief."

"Do you regret marrying her?"

"Yes. I should have listened to my mother. She saw through her from the beginning. I didn't. I worked hard for years to build everything I have, only for someone to walk into my life and destroy it."

"Mr. Blackwood, isn't this exactly what happened to your father?"

I went silent for a moment. My father had trusted Marcus Hale more than anyone. He never believed the man he called a brother could betray him until it was too late.

"Yes," I finally said. "My father trusted his best friend with everything, his business, his money, even his family. He never believed Marcus could betray him until everything he had built started falling apart. I remember watching my father lose everything because he trusted the wrong person. I never thought I'd stand here years later living through the same thing."

"What do you regret most?"

"Trusting the wrong person. I thought I knew Ava. I thought I could trust her with my life, but I was wrong. I should have seen the signs before she had the chance to destroy everything I worked so hard to build."

I turned and walked away, leaving the reporters shouting behind me.

Back in my office, I sat down and opened my phone. Ava's picture was everywhere, beneath headlines calling her the woman behind the eight-million-dollar fraud. Comments calling her a thief, a gold digger, a liar. I locked the phone, but I couldn't get her face out of my head. She deserved everything coming her way.

A knock on the door. Nathaniel walked in carrying two cups of coffee and sat across from me.

"You handled it well," he said.

"I just want this whole mess to end."

"You did the right thing, Damien. Don't let what she did destroy you or the company."

Before he could say anything else, the door opened again. Vanessa stepped inside. She looked calm, but something in her eyes was distant.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Of course."

She didn't sit. She stood there looking at us both.

"I came to tell you I'm resigning."

"What? Why?"

"Because I can't keep coming here every day pretending everything is fine. I loved you, Damien. I gave you five years of my life, and you left me to marry another woman. Every time I look at you, I'm reminded of everything you promised me and never gave me."

"Vanessa, I'm sorry. I know I hurt you."

"You never chose me," she said. "I was always just an option to you, never your choice."

She walked to the door without waiting for a response. It closed behind her.

My assistant rushed in immediately after. "Sir, the stock price is dropping, and we've lost twenty clients."

I leaned back in my chair, staring at the reports on my desk. At that moment, it felt like everything was falling apart at once.

Hours later, Nathaniel and I sat in my living room watching the evening news. My press conference replayed on every channel, Ava's face beneath every headline.

"Thank God you divorced her," Nathaniel said. "She almost destroyed everything you built."

"I just wish none of this had happened."

Nathaniel smiled as he turned back to the television. For a second, something about that smile felt off. It disappeared before I could figure out what it was.

Across the city, a man sat alone in the darkness of his penthouse watching the same broadcast.

Damien's face filled the screen, calling Ava a thief and a liar.

"Oh, poor Damien. You really think she did it."

He reached for his glass of wine and took a slow sip, eyes fixed on Ava's picture on the screen.

A faint smile crossed his face.

"You have no idea what's coming next. This is just the beginning."