She Was Humiliated and Fired While Pregnant — Then the Most Feared Man in Chicago Arrived and Revealed She Was Carrying His Heir.
PART 3
“May I?” Damian asked.
Elena hesitated, then nodded. He placed his palm gently against the curve of her stomach, and when the baby moved beneath his hand, he inhaled sharply, holding perfectly still for several seconds before he finally rose and turned toward Preston.
“What did you say to her?”
Preston forced a laugh. “This is clearly a personal matter, but as chief executive I have an obligation to protect this company.”
Damian looked at one of his men. “Silas.”
The man stepped forward.
“Call our general counsel. Freeze every transfer out of Wexley Meridian. Notify the lenders we’re exercising the default provisions of the Cross financing agreement.”
Preston’s mouth fell open. “You can’t do that.”
Cross Logistics held nearly half of Wexley Meridian’s secured debt. A default notice would put the company under immediate financial review.
Damian continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “Send forensic accountants to this floor. No documents leave the building. No servers get wiped. No executive account gets touched without supervision.”
“This is my company.”
“For the moment.”
He turned to Diane. “You’re head of human resources?”
She nodded, shame flooding her face.
“Did you witness him announce her pregnancy to the entire office?”
“Yes.”
“Did you witness him physically remove her?”
“Yes.”
“Document it.”
Preston stepped closer, gathering the last of his nerve. “You’re going to destroy a hundred-year-old company over a secretary?”
“No,” Damian said. “You may have destroyed it yourself.”
He took the ultrasound photo from Elena’s shaking hand and set it carefully back inside her box, then offered his arm. She didn’t take it.
“I’m not going anywhere until I have my phone and my purse.”
“Of course.”
The answer surprised her. He looked at Preston. “She’s leaving because she chooses to leave. Not because you ordered her out.”
Security returned her belongings. As Damian guided her toward the elevator, Preston found one last scrap of courage.
“You think she came here by accident?” he shouted. “She was digging through records that had nothing to do with her. Ask her what she stole.”
Damian stopped walking. Elena’s blood went cold.
“There it is,” Preston said, smiling now. “She hasn’t told you.”
Damian looked at her but didn’t press her in front of the entire floor. “Silas — escort Mr. Wexley to the conference room. He’s suspended from all executive authority until the audit concludes.”
Preston lunged forward. Two men blocked him instantly, and his shouting faded as the elevator doors slid shut.
Inside, Elena leaned against the wall. “You cannot take me back to your house.”
“I’m not taking you anywhere against your will.”
“You had men searching for me.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“You would have locked me behind gates the second you found me.”
His jaw tightened. “Your apartment was broken into forty-three minutes ago.”
She stared at him. Silas held up a phone showing security footage from her building — two men in maintenance jackets forcing her door.
“Not mine,” Damian said. “Someone else found out who you are.”
The elevator descended. “You can go to a police station,” he continued. “A hotel with protection. My house. But you cannot go back to that apartment tonight.”
Elena put both hands over her stomach, hating that he was right.
“My conditions,” she said.
“Name them.”
“My own bedroom. My own phone. My own doctor. No one enters without knocking. No one follows me around the house. And I leave whenever I want.”
“Agreed.”
“If you break your word, I disappear again.”
Pain crossed his face. “I know.”
The doors opened onto the underground garage. “I will spend the rest of my life proving you never have to run from me again,” Damian said.
Elena wanted to believe him — but forty-five floors above them, Preston borrowed an employee’s phone and dialed a number belonging to a man Damian believed had been driven out of Chicago for good.
“I found her,” Preston whispered. “And she has the ledger.”