Chapter 4 - The Price of Cashmere
When Natalie walked into the penthouse suite, she looked nothing like the glamorous, triumphant mistress who had mocked me in the NICU the day before. Her hair was messy, her makeup was smudged from crying, and she was still wearing my ivory cashmere coat—though it was now stained with gray dirt along the hem from her chaotic eviction.
"Audrey!" she burst out, trying to run toward my bed, but the two Vance security guards instantly stepped into her path, their massive frames forming an immovable wall. "You have to stop this! You're ruining everything! Dominic is losing his mind! The police were just at our apartment asking questions about his company's taxes!"
I sat up slightly, adjusting the pillows. "Our apartment, Natalie? I believe the lease is in Dominic’s name, as he so proudly reminded me yesterday. If the police are there, I suggest you find a new place to stay."
"You don't understand!" Natalie sobbed, dropping to her knees right there on the expensive carpet. "I’m pregnant! I’m seven months pregnant with Dominic’s child! If his business goes under, we’ll lose the apartment, the cars, everything! How can you be so cruel to another pregnant woman?"
The sheer audacity of her words almost made me laugh.
"Cruel?" I asked, my voice dropping an octave, radiating a quiet anger that made her stop crying. "Yesterday, I was sitting in a wheelchair, twenty-four hours after an emergency C-section that nearly cost me my life. My babies were fighting for survival behind glass. You stood there, wearing a coat I bought with my own money, smiling as your boyfriend told me he had emptied my bank accounts and left me to starve. Where was your empathy then, Natalie?"
"I... I was just doing what Dominic told me to do!" she lied, her eyes darting around the room, finally landing on my grandfather, who was watching her with absolute disgust. "Mr. Vance, please. Dominic is a good man. He was just stressed about the medical bills. We didn't know Audrey had this kind of backing!"
"So if she didn't have this backing, it would have been perfectly acceptable to destroy her life?" Arthur Vance spoke, his voice like cracking ice. "You value people based only on the numbers in their bank accounts. A miserable way to live, and a guaranteed way to die broke."
Arthur stood up and walked over to Natalie. He looked down at the coat she was wearing.
"That coat belongs to my granddaughter," Arthur said softly to the security guards. "Take it off her."
"No! It's freezing outside!" Natalie shrieked as the guards gently but firmly forced her arms out of the sleeves, slipping the ivory cashmere coat off her shoulders.
Chief Harrison held the coat up. I looked at the collar, where the beautifully embroidered initials L & C were stitched in silver thread.
"Throw it in the biohazard waste bin downstairs," I told Harrison. "It’s been contaminated."
Natalie gasped, looking at me as if I were a monster. "That's a five-thousand-dollar custom designer coat!"
"And it means nothing to me, just like you and Dominic," I replied. "You wanted his future, Natalie. You wanted the successful entrepreneur, the luxury apartment, the lifestyle. Well, you have him now. But you're getting him exactly how I found him three years ago—bankrupt, deeply in debt, and desperate. Let's see how long your love lasts when the electricity gets cut off."
"You can't do this to us! The public will hear about how the billionaire Vance family is bullying a pregnant woman!" Natalie screamed, trying to find some leverage.
"Please, go to the press," I smiled coldly. "I’m sure the media would love to hear the story of a mistress who taunted a mother in the NICU while her premature twins were on ventilators. I’m sure that will do wonders for your father’s printing business, too. By the way, my grandfather’s company just bought out your father's primary paper supplier this morning. One word to the press, and your father won't have any raw materials to print his boxes next week."
Natalie’s jaw dropped. The realization of the absolute, crushing power of the Vance empire finally hit her. She wasn't just dealing with a bitter ex-wife; she had walked into a buzzsaw of generational wealth and corporate dominance.
"Get her out of my sight," I said, turning away to look out the window toward the city skyline.
As the guards dragged a completely silent, broken Natalie out of the room, my grandfather walked over and squeezed my hand.
"The legal documents are finalized, Audrey," he said gently. "The divorce is official. Dominic signed the expedited papers an hour ago in exchange for our legal team agreeing not to press immediate charges for the corporate fraud we uncovered this morning. You are officially free."
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"And the babies?" I asked, my voice cracking with real vulnerability.
"The best specialists in the country are arriving on a private jet in twenty minutes," Arthur smiled. "Liam and Chloe are going to have everything they need. Now, rest. Your new life starts today."
