Chapter 2 - THE ARCHITECT OF RUIN
The walk down the velvet-lined aisle felt like a death march. Every step stripped away the billionaire facade I had worn for over a decade, leaving nothing but the terrified coward who had run away from a pregnant woman thirteen years ago. As I approached the edge of the stage, the shadows parted. Beatrice stepped into the light. She wasn’t the broken, weeping girl I had left behind. She wore a flawless, tailored charcoal suit that screamed quiet, untouchable money. Her dark hair was cut sharply at her shoulders, framing a face carved from absolute ice.
“Hello, Alistair,” she murmured, her voice carrying flawlessly over the dying applause. She didn't look at me with anger. She looked at me with pity.
Bennett and Caleb stood rigidly behind her, their matching dark eyes dissecting me like a biological specimen. There was no recognition in their gazes, no yearning for a lost father.
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“You planned this,” I choked out, my hands trembling as I stared at the boys. “You brought them here to humiliate Genevieve.”
Beatrice’s smile was a razor blade. “Humiliate? Alistair, this isn't about a high school trophy. This is an eviction notice. We aren't here to embarrass your wife. We are here to take everything she owns.”
