Chapter 6 - The Broken King
Dominic sat in his dimly lit office at the Caruso Tower, surrounded by empty glasses of scotch and mountains of legal papers. His legal team sat opposite him, looking thoroughly defeated.
"We can't fight the copyright injunction, Mr. Caruso," his chief counsel admitted nervously. "The original dates on her sketches are fully authenticated by blockchain timestamps she set up four years ago. If we attempt to show the winter collection in Paris, the French authorities will seize the inventory at the airport."
Dominic slammed his fist against the desk, shattering a crystal glass. "Then rebuild the collection! Fire Vanessa and hire a new team!"
"It takes months to produce a runway collection!" the lawyer pleaded. "Paris Fashion Week is in eighteen days! We have nothing to present!"
Dominic ignored him, reaching for his phone. He dialed Nora’s private number for the hundredth time. To his shock, she answered on the third ring.
"Nora," Dominic breathed, his voice rough and laced with exhaustion. "Nora, please. We need to talk."
"There is nothing to talk about, Dominic. Speak through my attorney."
"I made a mistake!" he shouted, his composure crumbling completely. "I was stressed, Vanessa was screaming, I didn't mean—"
"You meant every second of it," Nora interrupted coldly. "You struck me because you thought I belonged to you. You thought my talent belonged to you. You took my work and handed it to another woman to humiliate me."
"Bring Eli home," Dominic begged, his voice cracking. "I don't care about the collection, Nora. I don't care about the company. Just bring my son back. Let me see him."
"Eli is safe," Nora said. "He is happy, and he is drawing pictures of dinosaurs without hearing his mother cry in the next room. You will see him when the judge sets a court-monitored visitation schedule. Not a moment before."
"Nora, don't do this—"
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"Goodbye, Dominic."
The line went dead. Dominic stared at his phone, the silence of his vast office pressing down on him like a crushing weight. For the first time in his life, the feared Dominic Caruso felt entirely powerless.
