"You are a shrewd woman," Dominic said calmly. "Do you think I would want to spend the rest of my life with someone like you?!"
Dominic Blackwood didn't raise his voice. He never had to.
The hall fell silent.
Arianne stood at the center of the hall, the space around her subtly widening as guests instinctively stepped back.
She didn't answer. Instead, she watched the way his arm set protectively around the woman beside him. Delicate. Pale. Clinging to him as though she belonged there.
What was meant to be an engagement banquet had become something else entirely.
"This is Diana," Dominic continued. "And she's carrying my child."
A sharp intake of breath rippled once through the hall—then vanished into silence.
No one spoke—like the room needed a second to understand what it had just heard.
Even the servers froze, hands hovering over silver trays.
No one seemed sure what to do next. Conversations that had filled the room earlier never returned, as though sound itself had been stripped away.
Arianne felt something break inside her. It was not pain, but a hollow stillness.
"Seven years," Arianne finally said after a moment of silence. Her voice didn't tremble. "Was she worth that?"
Diana flinched while Dominic's jaw tightened.
"If you hadn't humiliated her—"
The slap came without warning. The sound was too loud, loud enough to stun the rest of the crowd in their places.
Suddenly, Arianne's head snapped to the side. She could taste blood in her mouth.
She didn't move.
For a brief moment, even Dominic looked surprised by his own hand.
Slowly, Arianne turned back to face him and ignored the painful sting in her cheek.
"That's the last time you would lay a hand on me," she said, defiant, in the tone she reserved only for her enemies.
Her Uncle Stuart chose that moment to step forward. The smile on his face was wide and mocking as he looked at his niece.
"The board has reached a decision, Aria," he announced. "As of tonight, Arianne Summers is no longer CEO of Summers Corporation."
A low murmur spread, uncertain and restrained.
Someone laughed nervously. No one joined in.
Arianne became aware of how far the room had pulled away from her. Faces turned, some out of courtesy, others out of discomfort. No one stepped forward. No one spoke on her behalf.
"Give up now, Arianne. You aren't the CEO of the board as of this moment," her uncle scolded her. "Had you submitted yourself to Dominic, would things be this way?"
"Funny you would say that, Uncle," Arianne retorted with a hint of mocking in her tone. "My grandfather built this company. I do not know you are so eager to hand over our family business to an outsider."
Her uncle's face contorted with anger, but Arianne didn't care at all. Instead, she returned her cold gaze to the man she once loved.
"I would have to congratulate you, Dominic," she said. "For your tramp, you are willing to burn bridges and ruin me to save her."
Dominic's jaw hardened.
"I didn't know you had such an uncouth mouth and this vicious, Aria," Dominic said coldly. "You could have talked to me instead of making a scene and humiliating Diana."
Arianne wanted to laugh at his audacity. He was concerned over Diana's reputation and safety, but he didn't care one bit what she would feel about his affair.
A shrewd woman?
Arianne's eyes darkened. She had heard worse from people who mattered less.
Sentiment had never saved anyone in her world.
No, she would not show her weakness.
"Don't blame us for being ruthless, Aria," her aunt said with a mocking smile. "The board cannot allow you to pull the company with you."
"You should have stayed away overseas," her cousin Julia added mockingly.
It's not like Arianne never thought of it. In fact, she knew her life would have been easier if she had stayed overseas and severed all ties with her relatives.
Her blood boiled with anger. She clenched her fists and bit her inner cheek as she struggled to keep her composure.
She gave them a mirthless laugh.
"Even if you have the company in your hands," she asked calmly, "how long do you think it would last?"
"That's not your business anymore, Aria," her Uncle Stuart scoffed arrogantly. "Let your elders handle the company from now on."
Arianne then gave Dominic a cold look. He probably had ulterior motives for helping her relatives keep her from the Summers Corporation.
Her chest tightened, feeling as if the world was crushing her. The future she planned to share with Dominic disintegrated before her eyes.
Oh, how wrong she was.
The truth settled with quiet certainty. Not as pain, but as clarity. Whatever they had shared no longer existed, and whatever remained was not worth reaching for.
Her eyes conveyed the words she couldn't utter.
You betrayed me.
But if he thought she would break down, cry, and beg for his mercy, he was sorely mistaken.
Arianne met his cold gaze.
Something flickered in his eyes. Was it unease or fear? Arianne didn't know or didn't care.
She smiled.
It was not warmth. It was control returning to its proper place.
"All right." The words sounded like finality.
"I, Arianne Summers, hereby sever all ties with the Summers family and Summers Corporation."
Her eyes swept the room.
"Whatever happens to it from this day forward—its success or its ruin—has nothing to do with me."
She then turned back to Dominic.
"As for you," she said, voice cold and precise, "we're done. I wish you and Diana every happiness you deserve."
Then she turned on her heel and walked out.
Arianne did not rush. She had nothing left to chase.
Dominic Blackwood had taken everything from her tonight. She would remember that.
The empire he thought he had taken?
It had already begun to crumble.