23 Five days after my C-section, my husband put his mother in our luxury SUV and handed me bus money instead. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” he said, pushing several bills into my palm as I stood outside the hospital with our newborn son in my arms. I didn’t respond. I stared down at the money... then called the one person he never should have dismissed.

While I was being driven north toward safety and luxury, Dominic Rossi was sitting in the private dining room of Le Petit Chateaux, one of the most exclusive French restaurants in Midtown.

He raised his glass of vintage Bordeaux, clinking it against his mother’s glass. "To the future," Dominic said proudly, his chest puffed out under his expensive Italian suit jacket. "The investors from Vanguard Capital are finalizing the seed round this week. Within a year, Rossi Technologies will be valued at fifty million."

"I always knew you were destined for greatness, darling," Victoria Rossi said, adjusting her pearl necklace with a smug smile. "It's a pity you’re anchored to such an ordinary girl. Audrey is sweet, I suppose, but she has absolutely no style. To think her father is just some retired contractor. It’s embarrassing when we have to introduce her to people of our standing."

"Don't worry about Audrey, Mom," Dominic dismissed, taking a large sip of his wine. "She knows her place. I had to put my foot down today at the hospital. She wanted me to waste time driving her home when you all were waiting. I gave her bus fare. It’s good for her. Keeps her humble."

Natalie, Dominic’s younger sister, laughed loudly. "Bus fare? Oh my god, Dominic, that is priceless! I bet she looked like a drowned rat standing out there in the wind. Honestly, she should be grateful you even let her live in that apartment. It's way out of her league."

"Well, she is a mother now," Arthur, Dominic's father, muttered, though he didn't look up from his steak. "She needs to focus on raising the boy. We don't need her distracting Dominic from his work."

"Exactly," Dominic agreed. "I’ll head back to the apartment later tonight. She’ll have cooled down by then, and the place will be clean. She’s too dependent on me to stay angry for long."

As the family continued to dine, celebrating a wealth they hadn't yet earned, Dominic’s phone rang. He looked at the caller ID. It was his lead developer, Greg.

"Excuse me, Mom," Dominic said, sliding out of the booth. "I need to take this. Probably the Vanguard guys wanting to expedite the contracts."

He stepped into the quiet foyer of the restaurant and pressed the phone to his ear. "Greg, I’m at lunch with my family. This better be—"

"Dominic, we have a massive problem!" Greg’s voice was hysterical, breathing heavily. "The servers... they’ve been shut down!"

Dominic frowned, his hand tightening around his phone. "What do you mean shut down? Did the hosting service crash? Call them!"

"No, Dominic, you don't understand!" Greg cried. "It’s not a crash. We’ve been locked out of the entire building! The building management team just walked into our office with six armed security guards. They told us our lease has been terminated effective immediately due to 'gross violations of safety protocols' and 'unauthorized corporate restructuring.' They’re packing our servers into crates right now!"

"Are you insane?!" Dominic screamed, his face flushing a deep, angry red, drawing glances from the restaurant hostess. "That building is leased under a multi-year contract! They can't just throw us out! Who authorized this?"

"I don't know!" Greg stammered. "The property manager handed me a legal notice. The parent company isn't the local agency we deal with. It’s Brooks Global Corporation. Dominic, they own the whole block! They’ve frozen our corporate accounts associated with the building lease too! Our payroll is locked!"

Dominic’s heart did a violent flip in his chest. "Brooks... Global? Why would a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate care about our tech startup?"

"I don't know, but if we don't get those servers back online in twelve hours, the Vanguard investors are going to pull out of the seed round! We’ll be bankrupt by Friday!"

Dominic hung up the phone, his hands shaking so violently he nearly dropped it. He stood in the elegant foyer, the warmth of the expensive wine evaporating, replaced by a cold, suffocating dread.

He ran back to the table, his face pale.