Chapter 53 Chapter 53
Dominic's Pov
"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked, my hands tapping rhythmically against the dark oak conference table. The room was filled with the scent of fresh coffee, high-end leather, and cold calculation of risk.
My lawyer, Lester Vallin, a gray and white haired man with a gravelly voice and the audacity of an armed gun pushed a lock of grayish brown hair behind his ear and hunched forward. His tone was flat, confident. "Absolutely. You're not asking for full custody. You're offering a compromise. That makes you reasonable to her and to the court. It gives you access and it gives her peace, no drama."
I tightened my jaw, nodded. He was a senior associate so I believed him. Compromise was not something that happened in my universe of business, but this was not takeovers and mergers. This was Liana. And Cam. My child. My heart ached even as I tried to frame the word.
"And you think she will just let things go away?" I asked. "You think you can tell her to stand down and it will all disappear?"
"Well, just like me, I'm sure that she doesn't want to do this in public," I said to myself as much as to anyone. I settled back, the weight of it all pounding down onto my chest. "She's always avoided messes like this."
Lester leaned closer. "Right. Your strategy is to ride that. You ask for joint visitation, show her you're not a confrontational person. She relaxes. Then, if she signs the settlement and agrees to drop the charges…"
"We hit back at her," I finished quietly, the words on my tongue tasting like ash.
"Defamation. Emotional distress. Violation of private settlement. We use the contract she signs to flip the board."
The offer hung in my gut, but I didn't let it show. I couldn't. I had built my empire from strategy, from leverage, from knowing when to advance and when to pull back. But this… this was something else. This was like trying to cut myself in two.
I nodded anyway. "Run it by me again. From the start."
Lester gestured at the stack of mockup papers between us. "You walk into the meeting, ask for a settlement. Let her know you want peace, that you want to be a part of your daughter’s life. I am sure she will demand only restricted visitation, agree to it. Tell her you're trying to give her space, you just want to be a presence in the girls life. You're a dad trying to get back with your kid, not an ex husband with an agenda."
"And?"
"You ask her to, in the name of co-parenting, publicly retract any allegations. Not only waive the possibility of a lawsuit. She has to confess the allegations were untrue. Misunderstanding, a momentary lapse. You can use the child to emotionally blackmail her, the child wouldn't want to hear those kind of things about the father. "
My heart squeezed in my chest. The idea of Liana on camera confessing she'd lied, it twisted something within me I didn't realize was still vulnerable.
"Dominic," Lester stated bluntly, leaning forward in a tone of finality. "This is the only way you get out of this unblemished. If we let it go to the courts, it will turn nasty. Headlines, no bloody sympathy, prejudice. Her word against yours. You will lose your status, lose your money, lose your freedom… and your child."
I raised my hand intotal surrender. "I know, I just need to play this right."
"And you will. This is not poker, this is chess. She'll never anticipate the checkmate."
We practiced for the next hour. Every lie. Every smile. Every catch of breath was designed to look natural, human and honest. Judging by how well, I was catching up, if I wasn't a business man, I would have started acting.
"I only desire what is best for our daughter, I never meant to hurt you but atleast if I can'thavr you back, let me have my child. Let us not do it in front of the world. Let us resolve it between ourselves."
It felt like play-acting. Except for the fact that this audience had the ability to say no and destroy everything, in real life. Lester finally got up and yawned. "Perfect. You're ready to go. If she buys this and signs the contract, we switch immediately. The lawsuit is filed in 72 hours. We won't even let her blink."
I stood, adjusted my jacket, and took a deep breath. "Excuse me. I need the restroom." I turned away from the table and was halfway to the door before the conference room doors burst open with a crash that hurt like a slap on the back.
I turned around wondering who had the audacity to barge in like that and was shocked when I saw Liana.
She stood there, in a well tailored navy blue suit that didn’t just speak of confidence, it roared it. Her posture was sharp and her expression cool but unreadable. Beside her stood a woman in dark gray, a folder clutched tight to her chest she was her lawyer. Just not the one we had expected to see.
"We thought we’d come a little early," Liana said, crossing the threshold like a queen arriving at a war council. "Didn’t want to miss the opening act."
My entire team froze. No one said a word. But the tone wasn't confrontational. Her eyes weren't accusatory. If anything, she looked… put together. She was just a woman walking into a meeting she didn't even know had already been scripted behind her back.
"Shall we get started?" she said with a smile, and sat down as if she hadn't just altered the chemistry of the room. My mouth was dry. Lester looked at me as if daring me to speak, so I did.
"Of course, I just need to use the restroom," I said smoothly, returning to the table.
Liana looked me straight in the eye. And smiled.