Chapter 10
Audrey never forgot the contract.
Forty-one percent.
The number that told her exactly what Dominic thought she was worth.
Not as a woman.
Not as a partner.
As an opportunity.
He had dressed greed in a white tuxedo.
Victoria had called control a family agreement.
They had chosen the yacht because they thought the sea would make Audrey feel trapped.
They had chosen the guests because they thought shame would force her hand.
They had chosen the wedding because they thought love would make her surrender.
But Audrey chose herself.
She chose the company her father built.
The employees who trusted her.
The name she had protected through debt, storms, and doubt.
She chose the truth over appearances.
Evidence over silence.
Freedom over a marriage that began with a threat.
Dominic wanted a bride who would sign.
Victoria wanted a daughter-in-law who would kneel.
But Audrey was neither.
She was the woman who rebuilt Crestwood Maritime when everyone expected it to fail.
She was the woman who heard the betrayal before the vows and still walked down the aisle with her head high.
She was the woman who turned a wedding trap into a legal record.
And one year later, when she stood on that same yacht under the same white roses, she finally understood what she had really lost that day.
Not love.
Not family.
Not her future.
She lost a man who only wanted her when ownership came with her name.
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And that was no loss at all.
If you were Audrey, would you have walked away from the wedding the moment Dominic demanded 41% of your company?
