Born to Rule, Destined to Destroy Novel 3

Chapter 3
Valeria emerged with her belongings, leaving Camila and Natalia petrified, their gazes riveted to the divorce petition on the table—a silent thunderbolt. “She’s really divorcing Dominic?” Natalia muttered, suspicion threading her whisper. She snatched the document, rage twisting her features. “Ha! I knew it—she’s after the money! Half the Barnett assets—shameless!”
The front door creaked, snapping their trance. Dominic entered, fatigue etching his composed mask. Camila and Natalia pounced like hawks. “Dominic, stop this madness!” Camila shrilled, indignation sharp as a blade. “She’s bled us dry, and now she wants more—extorting us with this divorce!”
“She disrespected us!” Natalia’s voice quaked, venomous. “Threw the petition at us—unhinged! Let’s expose her, ruin her—force her crawling back!”
Dominic’s frown deepened, eyes narrowing to slits. “No,” he said, voice a steel wall. The Barnett Group teetered on greatness—top 100 globally, bolstered by Javier Mendoza’s titan sway in military and finance. A scandal now could topple it all. His phone buzzed, cutting through; irritation flared, then shifted to urgency. “What? A lead on Egret?” His tone sharpened, alive. “Keep digging—whatever it takes, I need them!”
That night, ten o’clock pulsed at Radiant Bar. “To Valeria’s triumph!” Diego hoisted his glass, grin wide as the horizon, joy a wildfire in his chest. His men echoed, glasses clashing in a raucous cheer. “Welcome back, Valeria!” “Egret’s return—people’s heads are spinning!” “Barnett Group offered a million—imagine Dominic’s face if he knew!”
Valeria’s expression iced at his name, a frost snapping through her calm. Diego caught it, pivoting swiftly. “A million’s chump change—someone bid fifteen to find her, seventy if she takes their case!”
She swirled her drink, sipping with detached grace. Such sums screamed complexity—power’s tangled webs. Freshly unshackled, she wasn’t ready for that snare. Sensing her quiet, Diego steered the chatter to lighter shores. Valeria lingered silent, thoughts drifting like smoke—until strangers edged in, their voices grating her frayed nerves. With a sigh, she tugged Diego’s sleeve. “Dance with me.”
On the floor, she shed years of Barnett chains, moving with a fluid, fierce elegance. Rock’s pounding pulse swallowed her, the world blurring into rhythm and release. Dancers faltered, ensnared by her magnetic pull—her black dress a second skin, each step a dance of power and poise under flashing lights, beauty blazing untamed.
“Is that… Valeria?” Dominic’s voice, faint over the music, halted at the bar’s threshold. Disbelief shadowed his stare, locked on her radiant whirl. He’d come with Natalia and friends to toast Adriana’s return, never expecting this—Valeria, dull no more, a captivating enigma. Adriana, clinging to his arm, felt him tense, her brows knitting with a quiet sting.