Chapter 6 6

Three days later.

Domenic sat behind his massive mahogany desk at Aetherion Dynamics. He stared at the glowing monitors, his jaw clenched so tight his teeth ached.

The company's stock had dipped slightly that morning due to vague rumors of executive instability.

He rubbed his temples aggressively. Frankie hadn't been home in three days. He assumed she was hiding in some cheap motel, waiting for him to apologize.

He needed this IPO to go flawlessly. He couldn't afford a messy domestic dispute leaking to the press.

He hit the intercom button. "Get me a Cartier bracelet. Something expensive. Have it wrapped and bring the car around."

An hour later, Domenic pushed open the heavy oak door of a VIP private room inside a high-end Manhattan cafe.

Frankie was sitting at the table. She wasn't wearing her usual soft sweaters. She wore a sharp, tailored charcoal blazer.

Domenic walked in, tossing the red Cartier box onto the table. It slid across the polished wood and hit Frankie's water glass.

"Enough of this tantrum, Frankie," Domenic said, his tone dripping with condescension. "Take the bracelet. Let's go home."

Frankie didn't even glance at the red box.

She reached into her leather briefcase, pulled out a thick stack of documents, and slid them across the table.

Domenic frowned. He looked down.

The bold black letters on the cover page hit him like a physical blow to the stomach: DIVORCE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.

He froze. The blood rushed to his ears, a loud ringing sound drowning out the cafe's background music.

His shock instantly mutated into a blinding, humiliated rage.

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Domenic snarled. He grabbed the thick stack of papers and violently ripped them in half, throwing the shredded pieces into the air. They rained down on the table like morbid confetti. "You think you can threaten me with this garbage?"

Frankie's expression didn't change. She didn't blink. She looked at him with the cold, detached observation of a sniper watching a target.

She calmly reached back into her briefcase and pulled out three identical copies of the agreement. She laid them neatly on the table.

The past three days in the hotel hadn't just been for show. Domenic's corporate firewalls were child's play to someone who had designed the Pentagon's deepest cyber-defense grids. She had spent hours meticulously tracing every hidden ledger and offshore dummy corporation he thought was secure.

"I know about the Cayman Island accounts, Domenic," Frankie said, her voice smooth and deadly. "I know about the $4.2 million you transferred to Carley's shell company last Tuesday."

Domenic's pupils dilated in pure horror. His breath caught in his throat.

Those accounts were buried under layers of corporate encryption. No civilian could possibly find them.

"I want the standard fifty percent of our marital assets," Frankie continued, ignoring his panic. "And I want the initial seed money I invested in Aetherion returned. With compound interest."

Domenic let out a harsh, manic laugh. He leaned over the table, planting his hands on the wood to intimidate her.

"You?" he spat, his face inches from hers. "You invested nothing! You're a penniless orphan who lived off my credit cards! You are out of your mind."

Frankie leaned back slightly, unbothered by his physical aggression.

"Sign the papers, Domenic," she said softly. "Or tomorrow morning, every single piece of data proving your financial fraud will be sitting on the desk of the SEC."

Domenic felt the blood drain from his face. The IPO. The SEC investigation would instantly kill the public offering. It would destroy his life's work.

He stared at the woman sitting across from him. She wasn't the docile wife he knew. She was a monster he didn't recognize.

"You won't get a single dime from me," Domenic hissed through his teeth.

He spun around, kicked his chair out of the way, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard the hinges groaned.

Frankie sat in the quiet room. She looked at the torn papers, then at the Cartier box.

She picked up the red box and dropped it into the trash can.