Chapter 7 - The Bribe
The word hung in the sterile hospital air like a physical weight.
"Baby?" Alexander breathed, his eyes widening in absolute shock as he looked at me.
I nodded slowly, tears welling in my eyes as I placed a trembling hand over my stomach.
"I was going to tell you after the wedding weekend was over," I confessed softly.
Alexander let out a choked sob, burying his face in my neck as he held me as gently as humanly possible.
"We are going to be parents," he whispered, the sheer joy in his voice erasing the nightmare of the evening.
But the beautiful moment was abruptly shattered by the sound of a cane striking the hospital floor.
Victor Hale stood in the doorway, having followed us all the way from the rehearsal dinner.
He walked into the room, pulling a long, leather checkbook from the inside pocket of his coat.
"How convenient," Victor sneered, uncapping an expensive fountain pen.
"A pregnancy is the oldest trick in the book for a woman trying to secure a permanent payday."
Alexander immediately stood up, his fists clenching at his sides.
"Get out of this room before I throw you out myself," Alexander warned, his voice shaking with pure rage.
Victor ignored him, scribbling a number on the check and tearing it from the book.
He tossed the slip of paper onto my hospital bed, right over my lap.
"Ten million dollars, tax-free, deposited tomorrow morning," Victor stated coldly.
"You take the money, you sign the annulment, and you never speak to my son again."
Before I could even react to the insulting offer, the hospital door swung open again.
My mother burst into the room, her hair disheveled and her eyes manic.
She saw the check resting on my blanket and practically lunged across the room to grab it.
"She will take it!" my mother screamed, clutching the ten-million-dollar check to her chest.
"We accept the offer, Mr. Hale, she will sign whatever you want!"
I stared at my mother in utter horror, realizing there was truly no limit to her depravity.
Alexander reached out and snatched the check directly from my mother's hands, ripping it into a dozen tiny pieces.
"My wife is not for sale, and you are both entirely dead to me," Alexander snarled.
He turned to his father, his eyes burning with a dangerous fire.
"I resign from the company, effective immediately, and I will be selling all my shares by morning," Alexander declared.
Victor's smug expression finally cracked, replaced by a look of genuine panic.
"If you sell your shares, the board will launch an immediate audit of my personal spending," Victor barked, losing his composure.
"You would destroy your own empire over this girl?"
Alexander smiled coldly, wrapping his arm protectively around my shoulders.
"It was never my empire, and I know exactly what the board will find when they audit you," Alexander whispered.
May you like
Victor's face turned completely gray, but he managed one final, desperate sneer.
"You think you hold all the cards, Alexander, but you don't know the truth about Lucas's company."
