She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 468

Melanie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and immediately turned on her heel to leave.

"Where do you think you're going? Get over here and sit down."

Nathaniel's sharp, commanding voice cracked like a whip through the room.

Melanie let out a weary sigh and forced herself to walk over to the table.

"You didn't mention you had invited half the city to dinner."

Nathaniel scoffed coldly at her complaint.

"You have some nerve. This dinner was arranged specifically so you could apologize to Dominic. If you hadn't been so relentlessly stubborn, he never would have been thrown in lockup!"

"He brought that on himself. That's hardly my fault."

"Are you talking back to me? You're completely out of line!"

Seeing the explosive tension between father and daughter, Gregory quickly put on a warm smile and played the peacemaker.

"Alright, alright, let's calm down. Melanie is right, Dominic was far too impulsive... It's rare for all of us to sit down together like this, so let's forget about apologies. Melanie, do me a favor and just have a seat, alright?"

With Gregory framing it like that, Melanie couldn't easily refuse. She pulled out a chair and sat.

She didn't reach for her silverware, completely devoid of any appetite.

The only reason she was tolerating this was to figure out if her father was brewing up some new business alliance with the Hale family.

"Right, Melanie..."

Though Nathaniel was still visibly irritated with her, he didn't dwell on Dominic's time in custody.

"Since Aria doesn't currently hold a position at the Royce Group, Ms. Lowell suggested that she branch out and start her own independent studio. I've already given it the green light. I'm telling you this so that, as the COO of the Royce Group, you can provide her with the necessary support. Getting a new company off the ground isn't easy, understood?"

Meeting Nathaniel's gaze, Melanie remained dead silent.

She had to hand it to Sabrina—the woman truly knew how to play the long game. Classic mistress-turned-wife manipulation.

Since Nathaniel had promised that Aria wouldn't be allowed into mid-to-upper management for ten years, Sabrina simply convinced him to let Aria start her own venture.

Then, they would blatantly siphon the Royce Group's resources to fund and artificially inflate Aria's new studio.

"It's a great idea for Aria to step out on her own. If the studio takes off, it's essentially an expansion of the Royce Group's portfolio!"

"Exactly! And when the time comes, Dominic can act as a bridge between the two sisters, helping to facilitate business operations between both companies."

Camilla quickly piggybacked off Gregory's statement. On the surface, it sounded like a perfectly reasonable corporate strategy.

A bitter, agonizing regret washed over his tongue.

He was finally realizing...

He had missed out on so much.

He knew, deep down, that Melanie had once truly loved him.

Yet back when he had every right in the world to call her his wife, he hadn't done it even once.

Now that he was dying to say it, he had entirely lost the right.

The more Dominic thought about it, the tighter the lump in his throat became, drowning him in remorse.

"You haven't touched your food yet. Just try a bite, it's really good."

Hearing the raw, pathetic earnestness in his voice just made Melanie want to laugh.

This was supposed to be her home.

Yet here was Dominic, an absolute outsider, telling her that the food cooked by her own father's chef was delicious.

Without missing a beat, Melanie picked up her bowl and dumped the piece of pork belly straight into the trash can.