Chapter 8 - The Collapse of Confidence
The blood drained entirely from Preston Hale’s face, leaving him looking like a corpse under the harsh restaurant lighting. The casual arrogance that had defined his entire existence evaporated in a matter of seconds. "Mr... Mr. Vale, please," Preston stammered, taking a panicked step backward and knocking his wine glass over, sending red liquid spilling across the white tablecloth like fresh blood. "I didn't know... nobody told me she was your wife. She was wearing a uniform! She was serving tables!" Dominic slid his phone back into his coat pocket with deliberate slowness. "My wife chose to work under her maiden name to prove something to herself," Dominic replied, his voice dropping an octave into a register that made the surrounding patrons shudder. "She wanted to earn an honest living in a city filled with dishonest men. And in return, a pack of spoiled, talentless parasites treated her like garbage." Grant Whitaker tried to slide out from the other side of the booth, desperate to put distance between himself and the impending storm, but one of Dominic’s elite security enforcers stepped out from the shadows, pressing a heavy hand against Grant’s shoulder and forcing him back down into his seat with bone-crushing pressure. "Nobody leaves," the enforcer murmured flatly. Dennis Crowe, realizing his career, his reputation, and possibly his freedom were about to be obliterated, crawled out from behind the service bar on his hands and knees, dragging himself across the marble floor until he reached the hem of Dominic’s trousers. "Mr. Vale! I tried to stop them!" Dennis cried out, weeping openly in front of the entire restaurant. "I swear I did! I told them respect the staff! Please, don't ruin me!" Dominic looked down at the whimpering floor manager as if inspecting an insect crawling across his shoe. "You watched my wife get assaulted by drunken children because you were afraid of losing your restaurant's liquor license," Dominic said coldly. "You forfeited your right to manage anything in this city about ten minutes ago."
