The billionaire's wife and the vengeful bodyguard

A yellow taxi pulled into the automatic gates of a massive white estate. It rose like Rapunzel's castle, designed to captivate. Usually a mansion like this would be crowded with servants and security officers. Today it was a graveyard. Brown dust gathered on five luxury cars lying side by side in the garage. His black boots stomped on the untrimmed grass. The taxi driver got an urgent call from the house, but the cobweb on the window suggested that the place was empty. He thought someone had made a prank call. He turned his legs left so that he could leave. Then he heard it--a bang. The door handle is moving on its own. Then a splash of water seeped through that polished Mahogany door. He pushed it open and gasped after taking in what he saw. A black-haired woman, with tears and sweat coming out of her wild hazel eyes, knelt down in the centre of the room. She gripped her pregnant belly hard while breathing frantically. "I called," she said. "City hospital." Now. She said as loudly as she could. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dominic Vane woke up with two younger brothers pressing him into a bed meant for one. Outside, a clattering of children, his sisters and his siblings shook the thin, peeling brick walls. "Dom, the pipe's broken again." His mother called. "Dom, get the kids ready for school," his older sister Diana shouted. He did not mind the commands. Dom was a 24-year-old man who looked like a brick wall after years of fixing everything and carrying the weight of a family that had lost everything. He crawled out of bed, grabbed his toolkit, and went to fix the pipe. His mother was there cooking rice. She said, "Dom, you have to go and bring your sister from the hospital." We cannot afford to let her stay in the hospital one more day. She had the baby and she is healthy. Dominic nodded to his mother's command. Dominic finished repairing the kitchen pipe. There was an almost empty purse on a wooden mantle where they kept framed photos. He took two notes from it. One of the photos in the mantle was an old family photo of theirs, Dominic, wearing an expensive black tailored suit, hugging his father, everyone wearing colourful clothes and smiling faces. There was a photo framed on the wall. It was their family photo with everyone. They were all wearing designer, expensive dresses. Dom took his run-down second-hand car and went to the city hospital. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the hospital, a taxi screeched to a halt, nearly clipping Dom's heels. The driver was shouting at the woman he had driven into the hospital. "A watch?" What can I do with a watch? Do not play with me. I saw your house; I know you have money. The pregnant woman, having a hard time standing upright, was drowning in her own sweat, tears, and her water. Dom could not hold it in. He clenched his fists and stepped between them. "It is a Rolex, you i***t, sell it and you will get ten times the fare." . He growled at the taxi driver, "Now leave her alone before I make you." He looked at that helpless pregnant woman. He did not think twice before carrying her in his arms towards the gynecologist. She was light despite the pregnancy, and she smelled of expensive perfume and sweat. When she looked at him, her eyes searching his, he felt a strange warmth in the bottom of his heart. He reached the labor room. As Dominic lowered the woman into bed, she opened her eyes. Through the illusion of labor pain and the blurry light in the hospital, he looked like the silhouette of an angel. At that time, Dominic was not a human to her; he was the answer to her prayers. "Are you the father?" . The doctor asked while slipping on blue gloves. "No," Dominic said while taking a step back. "I just found her outside." "If you are not the father, you should leave now." Dominic hesitated for a moment, seeing the woman sweat and crying out in pain. But he then decided to leave. Suddenly something tugged on the back of his palm. Her sweaty, slippery fingers tightly holding onto his hands. "I do not want to be alone; please do not go." He took her shaking hand, pressed it to his chest, and remained there, with no sign of leaving. She cried loudly in pain. Her hair disheveled, her veins popping out. He took a stray hair tie from his pocket, something he always kept for his sisters. With his steady hands, he took the damp, dark hair away from her face, securing it so she could breathe. The doctor entered the room. "It is time to push". Her hands gripped the side rail of the bed. Dominic held her hand tightly even though he had her nail marks on his palm. "I am here." You can do this. She used all her strength and pushed. Sweat glistened from her face, along with tears. She squeezed Dominic's hand and pushed one last time. With that push, the baby slid into the doctor's hands. She took her last, strained breath before feeling hollow. The room was filled with the newborn's wailing. She felt soft skin next to her face. She opened her eyes. It was her baby. A piece of her and her husband. The doctor who held her baby said, "It is a girl." She started crying. She forgot about Dominic, a complete stranger who supported her during her birth instead of her absent husband. Dominic stood there, hearing the baby girl's first cry. He helped deliver a stranger baby because he felt bad for the mother, who was all alone. He stood there, feeling happy, seeing the mother and daughter together, who were in their own world. He averted his eyes and looked down. He went out because a stranger like him no longer belonged to that family. A family with a beautiful woman who has a ring on her ring finger and the cutest baby with whoever placed that ring on her. He went to his sister's ward, the actual reason he came to this hospital in the first place. His second-oldest sister, Sonia, had a baby boy two days ago. When Dominic opened the door, she was still lying with her baby sleeping next to her. She smiled at Dominic. Dominic was happy and also worried for her. Feeding another child will be hard considering the family's condition. Dominic looked around the room. He felt his sweat disappear because of the A/C. There was a big TV in the center of the room. Sonia noticed him looking at something he cannot afford. "I told them I did not want this room, but they kept saying there is no room in the ward." They just wanted to squeeze money out of us. I am sorry, Dom. " That's fine. You had a baby; it's okay to get a little care. Let's just make use of this TV and AC until you get discharged". Dominic points the remote to the TV. A news lady in her 40s was saying "The mighty shark of real estate was harpooned. Hannibal Thorne, the owner of multi billion company Thorne Industries, was taken into custody this morning on charges of fraud. The investigation officer states that Hannibal orchestrated a web of ghost startups to swindle millions out of thirty-five high profile billionaires. New evidence suggests that Hannibal's late father's partner Mr Vane was the fall guy for Hannibal's well engineered scam. The police have started searching for the hidden assets this morning. Dominic's eyes looked like coal at that moment. He crushed the water bottle he was drinking and tossed it aside. Sonia took Dom's hand. "It's time Dom, we don't have to live like this. It's time to take what's ours. We got to take revenge for our father. His wife would know where all the money is, and she doesn't have his protection now". Dominic held Sonia's hand and he looked at her determined. Meanwhile, in another room of the maternity room "You have to fill this certificate. Where's your husband?". A nurse came in with a writing pad with documents in it. "He is not my husband. It was a guy who helped me see that I was alone". The nurse looked surprised. She looked at the peacefully sleeping baby when she said "alone". "Can you please fill it out for me". The nurse took the pen she brought with her and started filling out. "Name of the baby?" " Charlotte Moretti" " Name of mother?" " Evelyn Moretti" " Name of father?" "Can we keep it blank"? " I mean it's official documents I think even if the father is dead you should put a name" Evelyn sighed. "Hannibal Thorne" The nurse writes the name down.