5. The mighty comeback

Dominic's POV

I rolled my eyes at the chairman's speech, tapping my feet in boredom and frustration. For God's sake, when was this meeting going to come to an end? I knew I should be more invested and concerned, but I just couldn't focus on anything else besides what had been bothering me for a while.

Ruby.

After she had left, I'd gone to the doctor to confirm my diagnosis and to affirm to myself that divorcing her was the right thing to do. But after carrying out several tests, they found out that my semen still indeed contained sperm cells—sperm cells that were capable of getting someone pregnant. I'd broken her, sent her far away because I thought she was just like other women, I thought she was lying. But now that everything was different, I tried to find her. I searched all over the country but got nowhere close to being with her.

The thought of my child being out there, being somewhere that I didn't know, was driving me insane. I don't evade responsibilities; I'm definitely not going to make a child fatherless. Frustrated, I sighed out rather loudly, attracting the attention of several people beside me.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the board," the chairman continued, "we have a major shareholder reveal today. We all know about the famous invisible, Mr. Gustavo, who holds about 30% of this company's shares. Although we have never seen him before, he contacted the company and is revealing himself today." He paused, his eyes darting towards the door. "Please welcome, Mr. Gustavo." The chairman cheered, walking towards the door to open it. Background clapping blurred in my head as the scene that played out fazed me.

I froze, my eyes stuck on the door as Ruby walked in. This wasn't a Mr. Gustavo. This was Ruby Brown, the mother of my child, the woman I had divorced six months ago saying I never wanted to see her again.

My breath hitched as I looked at her. What exactly was going on? Why is she here? Was this a mistake? My eyes roamed all over her body, unable to control my confusion. She looked so different; she was glowing, her skin looked so plump, and the red suit she wore accentuated her growing belly. My feet itched; I wanted to stand right there and claim my child, to tell her I was sorry, that I now believed her, but I knew things weren't going to go down easily.

The door opened again, and Ethan Grant walked in, his eyes searching the room until they landed upon Ruby. His eyes lit up immediately as he saw Ruby and he walked closer to her.

"Um... Mr. Grant, I don't understand what's going on here in any way. We were supposed to have Mr. Gustavo here today." The chairman paused, eyeing Ruby. "Who is this woman and why is she—"

"This woman inherited all of Mr. Gustavo's shares," Ruby said, cutting him off. "I am Ruby Brown and I'm now officially a major shareholder in this company." She said authoritatively, her tone and confidence holding the attention of everyone in the office.

She even sounded different, more confident, less afraid and bothered.

"While I'm pleased to meet you all," she smiled, "I hope we have a great time working together." She concluded and looked up in my direction, her eyes meeting mine for barely a second as the smile on her face wiped off.

Oh! This was not good at all. This meeting needs to come to an end.

"Alright, Ms. Ruby Brown, we're all very delighted to have you here as well and we assure you of a pleasurable ride with this company. One filled with profits for your shares." The chairman smiled, trying so hard to suck up to her.

"Now to the next agenda of the meeting, the marketing team has a presentation to—"

A presentation again! Oh come on. "The presentation can hold in the next meeting, or better still let the marketing team email me a good summary of their presentation and research."

"But sir," the head of marketing said, his shaky voice barely above a whisper, "we were informed about the importance of this study and we put in so much to make this presentation happen. It's a short presentation, we would be done in less than 15 minutes."

I looked at him in the eyes, unfazed by his explanations. I understand that they did a lot to prepare the presentation, but the woman who's carrying my only child is right in front of me. I need to talk to her.

"This meeting, unfortunately, has to come to an end." I said sharply, giving no one a chance to confront me. I immediately stood up but before I could even walk out from my seat area, Ethan was giving Ruby a hand, gently holding her to help her get up. She smiled at him, muttering a gentle thank you that churned my insides. But before I could say Jack Robinson, his hand was on her waist, guiding her towards the door.

My eyes rolled at his actions. What exactly did he want with Ruby? He is the richest and most eligible bachelor in town, he can have anyone, anyone but not Ruby. At least not while she's carrying my baby.

I followed after Ethan and Ruby, calling Ruby's name as I walked into the hallway. Aware of people's eyes from the boardroom, I tried to walk fast to act unbothered but I knew my desperation was simmering right in the surface and was obvious to all.

"Ruby!" I called out again, trying so hard to get her attention.

My voice seemed to reach them this time around as they both turned around and looked at me. I walked up to them, closing the distance between us.

Standing in front of her now, I had no right words to say. I nodded at Ethan, trying to acknowledge him without shoving a punch up his throat as I noticed his hand on Ruby's belly.

"Humm" he hummed rudely, barely answering me before settling his eyes back on Ruby.

Focusing on why I was here, I set my gaze on Ruby and asked, "can we talk?" My voice barely containing my desperation. "Alone?"

Ethan looked at Ruby, shaking his head in disapproval but Ruby nodded at him, signaling him to let her talk to me.

"I'll be watching you," Ethan said, his body towering near me before he turned and left us both alone.

My hand immediately grabbed Ruby's hand as I walked briskly into the nearest empty study room.

"Dominic, what are you doing? Why are you dragging me?" she asked, her voice tinged with annoyance.

"I need to talk to you," I said, releasing her hand but keeping my gaze locked on her. "I... I know the child is mine. I know I made a terrible mistake."

She looked at me dead in the eyes and started laughing.

Was I being funny right now? Is something on my face? I looked around and found nothing funny but Ruby kept laughing, so much to an extent that I walked backwards from her.

"What's so funny?" I asked, my voice laced with anxiety and confusion.

"Dominic, you think you can just waltz back into my life, claim the child, and everything will be okay?" she said between fits of laughter. Her tone shifted abruptly, turning cold. "You ruined everything. You didn't believe me when I needed you the most. Now you think a simple apology will fix it all?"