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Thomas looked uncomfortable.
“I work for Mrs. Hawthorne now.”
The name felt like a knife.
Not Reed.
Hawthorne.
Callie had erased him completely.
Dominic swallowed hard.
“I just want to talk to her.”
Thomas hesitated.
Then handed him an envelope.
Inside was a single document.
Full ownership transfer papers.
The brownstone was never jointly owned.
It belonged entirely to Callie through a trust connected to Hawthorne Holdings.
Dominic looked up slowly.
“She bought this house?”
Thomas nodded once.
“She bought almost everything.”
Dominic suddenly remembered every moment Callie pretended not to care about money.
Every time she smiled while he bragged about closing another deal.
Every time she acted impressed.
God.
She always knew exactly who he was.
And she married him anyway.
Not because she needed him.
Because she loved him.
Dominic’s chest tightened painfully.
“Can I at least see my son when he’s born?”
Thomas looked genuinely sympathetic.
Then handed him one final paper.
A restraining order connected to the active investigation.
Dominic closed his eyes.
That hurt more than losing the company.
More than losing the money.
Because for the first time, he realized the future he destroyed wasn’t his own.
It was his family’s.
Months passed.
Reed & Parker collapsed entirely by winter.
Arthur Parker resigned publicly.
Federal audits expanded.
Several executives faced criminal charges.
Dominic avoided prison through settlements and cooperation agreements, but his reputation was dead forever.
No major firm would hire him.
No investor trusted him.
The man who once controlled million-dollar negotiations now rented a small apartment overlooking an alley on the north side of Chicago.
Cheap furniture.
Silence.
Microwave dinners.
Sometimes he sat awake until sunrise replaying memories of Callie laughing barefoot in the kitchen.
And every memory felt like punishment.
Then one snowy evening in January, his phone rang unexpectedly.
Unknown number.
He answered cautiously.
“…Hello?”
A soft voice replied.
“It’s a boy.”
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