EpisodeThree:Realization
542 Words
My heart stopped.
My hands trembled as I gripped the steering wheel, the city light blurring past me.
How did he know who I was?
No. I wasn't going to think about him.
I had bigger problems.
By the time I reached my father's estate, dawn had broken, casting an eerie glow over the mansion. I barely noticed the sleeked black cars parked in the driveway as I hurried inside.
The moment I stepped through the door, I heard voices, serious, tense.
“In one night?” a man was saying. “This is castatrophe.”
My stomach dropped.
I burst into my father's office. “What's going on?”
Silence.
My father sat behind his desk, looking exhausted, defeated. Across from him stood two men in suits, their expressions unreadable.
My father's weary eyes met mine. “Celeste….”
I stepped forward “Dad?”
One of them turned to me. “Miss Monroe….I regret to inform you that Monroe industries is no longer under your father ownership.”
The room spun.
“What?” I exclaimed
“Your father's shares have been acquired.”
I shook my head, my throat tightening. “No. That's wasn't possible”
My father pressed his palms against his temples. “ They bought everything.”
“Who?” I demanded, my voice rising. “Who did this?”
“That would be me.”
My entire body locked.
I turned, and my breath left me.
Dominic vale against the doorframe, his gaze locked onto mine.
And this time, he wasn't smirking.
—---------------------------------------------
I stormed into Monroe industries headquarters, my pulse a violent drumbeat in my ears.
This had to be a mistake.
My father's empire could not belong to him; Dominic Vale.
The moment I shoved the boardroom door open, a dozen heads turned.
At the head of the long, glass conference table sat him.
Dominic.
Dressed in a crisp back suit, finger steepled his expression unreadable.
The moment our eyes met, he smirked.
“Running away already, wife?”
The room fell silent.
My entire world titled.
Wife?
My pulse roared.
My throat went dry. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Dominic leaned back in his chair, utterly it ease. “You don't read the fine print?”
My finger trembled as one of the board members slid a contract toward me.
With dread coiling in my stomach, I read it.
And then, I saw it.
My father's desperate agreement. The hidden clause.
A clause stating that Celeste Monroe must marry Dominic Vale for the contract to be honored.
My vision blurred.
My knees nearly gave out.
I snapped my gaze to my father. “Dad….tell me you didn't sign this”
Tears glistened in his tired eyes “I had no choices, Celeste”
A sharp, dark laugh cut through the silence.
I turned back to Dominic.
“You planned this.” I shouted.
His lips curled.
“I always get what I want.”
My stomach dropped.
This wasn't coincidence.
The one night stand.
The takeover.
The marriage contract.
Dominic Vale had orchestrated everything.
My entire life had just been stolen.
And the man who did it was looking at me like a prize he had just won.
- Writer
