All Chapters of I Was Done Begging: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Seven days.That was all the time I had left in the Moreau estate.When I returned, our six-foot wedding portrait still dominated the white-marble entrance hall, enclosed in a hand-carved gold-leaf frame.In it, I wore ivory satin and the Moreau diamonds, smiling up at Vincent with absolute certainty. He stood behind me in black, one hand spread across my waist in a pose that was elegant, intimate, and unmistakably possessive.People used to joke that the controlled, untouchable Moreau heir was the only man capable of handling the wild, reckless Sophia.Whenever I created a scandal, Vincent cleaned it up. Whenever I acted without thinking, he brought me home and told me to behave.I had mistaken the way he managed me for devotion.I looked away from the portrait.“Marta.”The housekeeper hurried into the hall. “Yes, Mrs. Moreau?”“Take it down. Then clear every wedding photograph, gift, and souvenir from this house.”Marta followed my gaze and froze.“All of them?”“Donate anything use

Three days after Vincent returned my passport, Camille came to the estate.Vincent had said nothing more about the security footage. His doctor still arrived every morning, and a guard remained outside my door.My phone vibrated as I reached Camille’s car.Three days until your departure. Your flight is confirmed. The divorce papers will be delivered after you leave New York.I deleted the notification.Camille glanced at me. “Was that your attorney?”“Yes.”“Good.” She placed a heavy cream auction catalog, embossed in gold, across my lap. “Then we’re getting you something to take with you.”The catalog was already open to Lot 47.A double strand of luminous pearls rested against black velvet. At the center hung an oval sapphire bordered by old-mine diamonds, its reverse engraved with a familiar message.[To my Sophia, wherever life takes you.]My breath caught.The necklace had belonged to my mother. She wore it in nearly every photograph I had of her. After she died in a car accident

I stared at Vincent from the hospital bed.Bruises covered my ribs and stomach beneath the thin gown. Three days in detention had left my lips cracked, my body exhausted, and my flight only hours away.The doctor had told Vincent I collapsed from dehydration and exhaustion. I had said nothing about the women who beat me or the order that supposedly came from the Moreau house.Vincent stood there as though everything had happened for my benefit.I started laughing.At first, it was only a quiet breath. Then the laughter grew until tears ran down my face.Every movement hurt my ribs, but I could not stop.Vincent’s expression darkened.“What is so funny?”I had once believed he was the safest place in my world.Now he had sent me to jail because he thought three days without his protection would frighten me into obedience.Someone else had simply carried his lesson further.When the laughter finally faded, I wiped my eyes.“Nothing.”“Sophia.”“I said it was nothing.”“I instructed Russo

The Bellamy retaliation began before sunrise.By eight the next morning, three Moreau shipments had been denied entry at Boston Harbor. Two insurance companies canceled coverage on vessels connected to Vincent’s shell corporations. A private bank demanded immediate repayment of a sixty-million-dollar credit line.At nine, Victor’s chief financial officer entered the breakfast room with another report. “The Moreau accounts in Providence and Hartford are temporarily frozen. Their attorneys are challenging the order.”Victor continued drinking his coffee. “Let them.”I sat across from him, reading the documents. The attacks were precise. No innocent employees had been targeted, and no legitimate Moreau business had been destroyed without cause. Victor had struck only the companies Vincent used to move money, weapons, and influence through Bellamy territory.“You did all this overnight?” I asked.“We have been controlling these ports longer than Vincent has been alive.” Victor set down his

Vincent returned to New York that night. By morning, he had ordered every Moreau captain to reroute shipments around Bellamy territory. He moved cash from legitimate companies, contacted alternative insurers, and threatened anyone who hesitated to obey.None of it surprised me. I had watched him manage the Moreau empire for ten years. Vincent responded to pressure by tightening his control. The harder people resisted, the more certain he became that absolute obedience would solve the problem.He still believed this was Victor’s war. He did not know I had spent the night studying every Moreau company connected to New England.Victor entered the library shortly after breakfast and found the table covered in financial reports.“You should sleep.”“I know where Vincent will move the money.”He picked up the list I had made. The first page contained the names of seven shell corporations. The second showed the warehouses Vincent used when official ports became unavailable. The third identifi