Two hours after my ex-husband said “I do,” he walked into my hospital room with his bride still wearing her wedding dress. I had just given birth. He wasn’t there to meet our daughter. He was there to make me sign an NDA. But ten minutes later, his face went pale, his new bride looked terrified, and neither of them was prepared for what came next...

"Evelyn, please don't hang up," Dominic begged, his voice raspy and slurred. He sounded drunk. "Please, just give me five minutes."

"You have two minutes, Dominic," I said coldly. "And this call is being recorded by my attorney."

"I made a mistake, Evelyn," he sobbed into the receiver. "I was confused! Celeste's father pushed me into the merger! He forced me to move fast! I never wanted to hurt you or the baby!"

"You walked into my hospital room forty minutes after labor with an NDA, Dominic," I reminded him, my tone flat. "You didn't ask if I was okay. You didn't even look at your daughter's face. You looked at a piece of paper."

"I was scared!" he yelled, his composure cracking. "Everything was falling apart! Look, we can fix this! You and I were a team for seven years! Come back to the company. We can run it together! I'll acknowledge the baby! I'll put my name on the birth certificate!"

I let out a soft, dry laugh.

"You think your name on her birth certificate is a privilege for her, Dominic?" I asked. "Her last name is Vance. She has my grandfather's blood, my legal protection, and Victor Vance's financial backing. You have nothing left to give her."

"I'm her father!" he roared through the phone.

"You are a biological donor who tried to erase her before she took her first breath," I replied. "Simone has already served your attorney with a petition for total termination of parental rights based on abandoned support and corporate endangerment."