Chapter 8 SHATTERED GLASS AND LIES

The mahogany bar at The Obsidian Club was cold, but the liquid fire of the neat scotch burning down Dominic's throat was the only thing keeping him from collapsing. He sat in the furthest corner of the VIP lounge, the shadows masking the fact that the city's most powerful man looked like he had been through a literal war.

He stared at the amber liquid, seeing not his reflection, but the face of the boy in the hotel. Leo.

The way the child had looked at him-with that analytical, detached intelligence-haunted him. It wasn't just the eyes. It was the way the boy held his shoulders. It was the way his lips thinned when he was thinking. Every instinct in Dominic's soul screamed that Serafina was lying. That child was a Sinclair. He was sure of it.

But then, he remembered the way Serafina had looked at Julian Vance.

The jealousy was a living thing inside him, a jagged piece of glass twisting in his gut. Julian was everything Dominic hadn't been six years ago: protective, present, and proud. While Dominic had been hiding Serafina away in a penthouse like a shameful secret, Julian was standing by her side as she conquered the financial world.

"Another one," Dominic growled, slamming his glass onto the marble.

"You've had enough, Dom. You're making a scene."

The voice was high, polished, and currently grating on every one of his nerves. Lydia Vance slid onto the barstool next to him, her silk dress rustling. She smelled of white lilies-a scent he had once found intoxicating, but now felt like a suffocating shroud.

Dominic didn't even turn his head. "Leave, Lydia. I'm not in the mood for your games."

Lydia leaned in, her hand sliding over his arm. "I saw the news, Dominic. Everyone is talking about how the CEO of Valkyrie Holdings humilitated you at the gala. And I heard... I heard you went to her hotel." Her voice sharpened, the mask of the sweet socialite slipping. "What were you doing there? Why are you chasing after that woman? She's a ghost, Dominic. A ghost who wants to take everything we have."

Dominic finally looked at her. His eyes were bloodshot and terrifying. "She isn't a ghost. She's the woman I threw away. And she has a son, Lydia. A son who looks exactly like me."

Lydia's heart skipped a beat. A child? If Serafina had a Sinclair heir, Lydia's dreams of becoming the permanent Mrs. Sinclair would evaporate instantly. She had spent six years making sure Dominic forgot about his "invisible wife," weaving herself into his life and his bed. She wouldn't let a bastard child from the suburbs ruin her empire.

She forced a soft, pitying laugh. "Oh, Dominic. You poor thing. You're so desperate for a legacy that you're seeing your own face in a stranger's child."

"He has my eyes, Lydia," Dominic whispered, his voice cracking.

"Seraphina was always clever, wasn't she?" Lydia's voice was like honey-dipped poison. "She knew you were a billionaire. She knew how much you valued family. Don't you think it's convenient? She disappears for six years and returns exactly when your company is vulnerable, carrying a child that 'looks like you'? It's the oldest trick in the book, Dom. She probably picked a man in London who shared your features just to have this weapon against you. She doesn't want you-she wants Sinclair Industries. And she's using that boy to get it."

Dominic paused, the scotch halfway to his lips. The seeds of doubt Lydia was planting were toxic, but to his arrogant mind, they offered a strange comfort. If Leo wasn't his, he didn't have to feel the crushing weight of guilt for abandoning him.

"You think... you think she'd use a child like that?"

"She's 'The Valkyrie' now, isn't she?" Lydia smirked, sensing she was winning. "A woman that cold doesn't have a heart. She has a balance sheet. She's trying to ruin you, Dominic. And if you let her back into your life, she'll use that boy to bleed you dry until there's nothing left but a shell."

Lydia leaned closer, her lips brushing his ear. "Don't let her win. If she wants a war, give her one. Deny the child. Fight the takeover. And remember who was actually there for you these last six years."

Dominic stared at his glass, the doubt and the scotch blurring his judgment. He wanted to believe Lydia. He wanted to believe that Serafina was the villain so he didn't have to face the fact that he was.

But deep down, in the part of his heart he had tried to bury, he could still see the way Leo looked at the London skyline.

"I need a DNA test," Dominic said, his voice cold and resolute. "If she's lying, I'll destroy her. But if she's telling the truth..."

"She isn't," Lydia snapped, her eyes flashing with a murderous light. "And I'll make sure of it."