Chapter 17 - Before All the Men Who Shamed Her
Months later, Dominic hosted a formal dinner.
Businessmen.
Attorneys.
Community leaders.
People who once whispered about Beatrice.
She entered beside Dominic.
No cardigan.
No attempt to disappear.
The room noticed.
Of course it did.
But Beatrice no longer confused being seen with being judged.
One of the men from the charity gala approached.
The one who had mocked her.
He offered Dominic his hand.
Dominic ignored it.
Instead he placed his hand gently at Beatrice’s back.
“This is Beatrice Gallagher.”
The man gave an uncomfortable smile.
“We’ve met.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“You laughed at her from across a room. That isn’t meeting someone.”
The man flushed.
Beatrice touched Dominic’s arm.
She did not need revenge.
She did not need anyone humiliated.
She simply looked at the man.
“You don’t have to like how I look.”
He blinked.
“But you do have to understand that your opinion stopped controlling how I feel about myself a long time ago.”
Silence.
Then she walked away.
Dominic followed.
In the hallway he looked at her with unmistakable pride.
“You didn’t need me.”
Beatrice smiled.
“I never needed you to fight that battle.”
Dominic nodded.
“Good.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Good?”
May you like
“I’d rather stand beside you than in front of you.”
For a man who once solved everything with power, it was perhaps the most loving thing he had ever said.
