Chapter 9: The Breaking Point
That evening, Dominic drove to the house he used to share with Vivienne and Sophia.
He didn’t expect to be let inside. He just needed to see it one last time.
The lights were on in the living room. Through the window, he could see Vivienne sitting on the couch with Sophia curled up beside her. They were watching something on television. Sophia was laughing at something — a small, genuine laugh that made Dominic’s chest ache.
He had missed that sound.
For a moment, he considered walking up to the door and knocking. He considered begging. He considered telling Vivienne that he would end things with Elena, that he would choose them, that he would fix everything.
But he knew it was too late.
The front door opened.
Victor stepped out onto the porch, as if he had sensed Dominic’s presence. He walked down the driveway slowly until he stood a few feet away from Dominic’s car.
Dominic rolled down the window.
Victor looked at him without emotion.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Victor said.
Dominic stared at the house.
“I just wanted to see them,” he said quietly.
Victor followed his gaze.
“They’re not yours anymore,” he said. “Not in the way you think.”
Dominic’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“I made mistakes,” he admitted. “But destroying everything… that’s not justice. That’s revenge.”
Victor looked at him.
“You’re right,” he said. “It is revenge. Because what you did wasn’t just a mistake. You betrayed my sister. You humiliated my niece. And you thought you could get away with it because you believed we wouldn’t fight back.”
He stepped closer to the car.
“You were wrong.”
Dominic was quiet for a long time.
Then he asked the question he had been avoiding.
“What do you want from me, Victor?”
Victor’s answer was simple.
“Everything.”
He turned and walked back toward the house.
Before he reached the door, he stopped and spoke without looking back.
“Sign the papers tomorrow. Or I keep going until there’s nothing left for you to lose.”
Dominic sat in his car long after Victor disappeared inside.
He thought about Elena and Lucas, who were currently staying in a hotel because their apartment access had been revoked.
He thought about his company, which was collapsing by the hour.
He thought about Sophia — the little girl who used to run into his arms every time he came home.
And for the first time, Dominic Harrington understood something he had never truly believed before.
Some families didn’t forgive.
May you like
Some families destroyed.
And the Sterling family had decided that he was no longer worth keeping.
