Chapter 8: The Coward
All eyes instantly snapped to Julian. The young executive looked as though the floor had just dropped out from beneath him. His mind was racing, frantically trying to calculate how to salvage his relationship with the heir to the Vance empire.
"Mr. Vance, sir," Julian stammered, stepping forward with his hands raised defensively. He tried to muster his usual charismatic smile, but it looked sickly. "Arthur. It was a terrible misunderstanding. I was just trying to de-escalate the situation. I didn't want Vivian to cause a scene and stress the baby. I was protecting her."
Vivian let out a hollow, exhausted laugh. The sound cut through Julian’s pathetic excuses.
"Protecting me?" Vivian asked, stepping out from behind her father’s protective shadow. She clutched Arthur's oversized suit jacket tightly around her shoulders. "You watched your mother rip my dress open in front of two hundred people. You told me to just let them search me. You cared more about preserving your image in front of these people than you cared about the mother of your child."
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"Viv, baby, please," Julian pleaded, his voice cracking as he realized the magnitude of his loss. Not just of Vivian, but of the immense wealth and status he had unknowingly been adjacent to. "You're emotional. Let's just go home and talk about this."
"We aren't going anywhere together, Julian," Vivian said, her voice remarkably steady. With her free hand, she slid the modest diamond engagement ring off her finger. She tossed it onto the marble floor. It landed with a sharp clink that echoed in the quiet hall. "We are entirely done."
