Chapter 34 Chapter 34
Liana's Pov
I didn't sleep, I couldn't actually. My body was still under the blankets, but my mind remained situated on the edge of a war zone, fidgety and awake. At 5 a.m., I was up, dressed in a navy silk top and pants, and sitting at my desk, the folder Serena had left me open again. Every word of incriminating proof seared into memory. My fingers worked unseen, scanning, sorting, photographing, encrypting.
Cam was still asleep downstairs. My mother had risen early to pray, moving quietly and prayerfully along the corridor. I was glad for the silence that enveloped the house. It gave me time to prepare.
This was it. Jonathan had instructed his employees to set up overnight. The press was ready, and a press contact was to be given at 6:00 a.m. sharp. Legal documents, banking documents, and the most important of all, the prenup. It would be the first shock Dominic would never anticipate.
I took one last look at the disclosure. My heart didn't thud. It didn't even tremble. That part of me had shut down and was replaced by ice in my veins and steel beneath my skin.
Taking a deep breath, I sent it.
The email flew away while I sat back, exhaling the tension through my nostrils.
At exactly 6:15 a.m., it went live everywhere.
Headlines blazed across all the big business and financial media outlets.
“Billionaire Dominic Smith Accused of Embezzlement in Shocking Prenup Leak. Hidden Transfers and Shell Companies Tied to Dominic Smith During Marriage Revealed in Leaked Prenup Files. Liana Davids Opens Up—Sues Former Husband."
I sat there and watched it all unfold like a tempest on my computer screen, the fury piling on top of fury as more news burst forth from the leak. Journalists wrestled to get comments. Internet forums buzzed with speculation. Investors, shareholders, and executives started spinning in a sea of jargon and uncertainty.
And me, I just sat quietly.
Camellia crept into my office with her eyes weighed down, holding Courage in one hand. "Mommy? You're up early."
I swiveled around in my chair and smiled at her. "Couldn't sleep, honey. Come here."
She climbed on my lap and snuggled up against me as I shoved the laptop out of her line of sight.
"Are you okay, Mommy?"
I pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm more than okay. I'm keeping us safe now."
A knock came at the front door.
Jonathan.
He had promised to come by the house first thing in the morning. He arrived with a furrowed brow, putting his briefcase down beside the chair as he pulled out the latest legal papers. "Liana, it's blown. Dominic's PR team already tried to put out a statement denying the whole thing."
I arched an eyebrow. "And?"
He smiled. "It's not helping. We ensured each and every one of the documents was traceable, signed and linked back to his tech companies. There's no way to deny any of them."
"Good," I rose to my feet, saying. "Because this was only Phase One."
"Phase One?"
"I'd like all his business associates he worked with when we were together called. He used my work, John. My research, my contacts, my hours of hard labour and gave me no credit. That makes me a whistleblower, not an accessory."
He nodded, fireburns now in his eyes. "We'll freeze him out of every group he's used to working in."
I gazed past him out the window as the sun came up over the horizon, staining the sky in broad brushstrokes of crimson and gold.
Let Dominic's world burn with it.
Dominic's POV
I had struggled to finally catch some sleep at about 4am but it didn't last long. I had a feeling that something else had gone wrong the moment my phone started ringing at 6:58 a.m.. First Ethan from corporate legal, then my PR, and next Stephanie, my assistant.
By 7:10 a.m., the world I thought I knew had shattered.
I glared at the titles streaming across my screen. My jaw dropped as I scrolled through the stories line upon line, they wrote about the deals I had struggled to keep secret. The tech corporations. The company memos. The fake documents. And then…
That bitch! The prenup?
I slammed my fist onto the desk hard enough to rattle the crystal decanter sitting on the edge. Liquid splashed furiously within.
"Sir," Langley's alarmed voice broke over the speakerphone. "This is bad. Bad… very bad. We must have a board meeting immediately."
"Who's the leaker?"
"We traced the document packet back to Davids. She signed it herself. It's real. All of it."
I could barely gasp for air. Not from embarrassment, hell no. From the sheer fucking audacity.
She'd been quiet for three years. Quiet as I tidied up the wreckage of her emotions. Quiet as I negotiated the corporation into foreign partnerships. And after she returned, I knew she would fight, but this? she had been quiet as she played in the backyard in that simple house with that smug mother of hers.
And this… this treachery!
I ripped my coat and bolted out of the penthouse, through the already packed paparazzi at the front entrance of the building. Blinding flashes exploded like firecrackers. Questions shouted one over the other.
"Mr Dominic, did you launder money during your marriage?"
"Are you off to prison?"
"Is that the official answer to the prenup scandal leak?"
I shooed them aside and scurried into the back of my car.
"To the office," I barked at my driver.
The ride there was an interrogation of my own mind. I replayed every step, every conversation. I'd always been so cautious. Always had someone to point the finger at. Always had hierarchies. And now the one person I'd never thought I'd underestimate had become the catalyst.
Liana. I should have crushed her when I had the chance to. I should have never let her slip through my fingers. Now she was dragging me in public, piece by piece, and with surgical precision.
Arghhhh that bitch! I wasn't finished yet.
No! If she wanted war, she was going to get it.
And I'd make sure that she'd regret even thinking that she was going to win.