Chapter 7 - The Approach
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The walk across the ballroom felt like an eternity. Evelyn moved with a lethal grace she had suppressed for eight years. Every step she took felt like shedding a heavy, suffocating skin. The meek, compliant wife of Dominic Vale was dead, left behind in the sterile penthouse.
She felt the eyes of the elite tracking her. She saw the confusion, the shock, and the dawning terror on the faces of men who had ignored her at this very gala for the better part of a decade.
Gabriel’s presence beside her was a physical force. He didn't look at the crowd. He kept his amber eyes fixed on the man standing beneath the chandelier.
“He looks like he’s going to vomit,” Gabriel murmured, his voice so low only Evelyn could hear it.
“Let him process it,” Evelyn replied smoothly, keeping her chin high. “He spent years telling me I didn't have the venom for this life. I want him to taste it before he chokes on it.”
They stopped exactly ten feet away from Dominic and Vanessa.
The silence in the grand ballroom was now absolute. Even the waiters had frozen in place, trays of champagne hovering motionless in the air.
Dominic stood rigid, his face pale and slick with cold sweat. He released Vanessa’s wrist and instinctively took a half-step forward, a desperate attempt to assert the dominance he was rapidly losing.
“Gabriel,” Dominic said, forcing his voice to remain steady, though it cracked on the second syllable. “To what do we owe the honor of your presence in Chicago? If you had told me you were coming, I would have prepared a private table.”
Gabriel did not answer. He didn't even acknowledge Dominic’s words. He slowly reached into the inner pocket of his midnight-blue suit, pulling out a slim, black velvet box.
He handed it to Evelyn.
Evelyn opened the box. Inside was a massive, flawless diamond ring—not a wedding band, but a signet ring bearing the crest of the Moretti family, the original founders of the national syndicate. A bloodline Dominic had believed was eradicated twenty years ago.
Evelyn took the heavy ring and slid it onto her right index finger. The rubies at her throat flashed in the chandelier light.
May you like
She finally locked eyes with her husband.
“You told me to pack my things, Dominic,” Evelyn said, her voice carrying crystal clear across the silent ballroom. “I decided to come back for the rest of my property.”
