Eleanor pulled out a secure phone and issued a commanding order to tell her father she was done hiding and to lift all restrictions immediately.

Julian scrambled backward until his spine struck the marble base of the fountain. "Warrants? Warrants for what? I didn't hit anyone! Genevieve was the one who slapped the kid!"

Genevieve let out an ear-piercing shriek from the floor. "Julian, you cowardly piece of filth! You told me to handle her! You said, 'Get that brat out of my sight before she ruins my night!' You gave me permission!"

"Shut up, Genevieve!" Julian screamed back, spittle flying from his lips. "She's lying, officers! She acted alone! I'm the victim here! I'm being framed by my wife's billionaire family!"

The lead detective stepped forward, pulling a pair of heavy steel handcuffs from his belt. "Genevieve Sterling, you are under arrest for felony assault on a minor, reckless endangerment, and child abuse. Place your hands behind your back."

"No! Daddy, do something!" Genevieve wailed as two officers hauled her up by her bare arms, dragging her away from the ivory silk of her ruined gown. "You can't arrest me! I'm a Sterling! My grandfather was an ambassador!"

"Your grandfather was an embezzler, Genevieve," Eleanor said coldly as the handcuffs clicked shut around the woman’s wrists. "And you are going to spend the night in the county holding cell."

The detective turned his attention to Julian. "Julian Vance?"

"I told you, I didn't touch her!" Julian shouted, waving his arms frantically. "You have no probable cause to detain me! Call my lawyers! Call Vance & Sterling Legal!"

"Julian Vance," the District Attorney said, reading from the document in his hands. "You are under arrest for corporate embezzlement, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit interstate kidnapping, and aggravated tax evasion across four state jurisdictions."

Julian froze. The room seemed to tilt on its axis. "What... what did you just say? Kidnapping?"

"Did you really think we wouldn't find the Swiss boarding school contract, Julian?" Eleanor asked, shifting Maya into Arthur’s arms so she could step directly into her husband’s face.

She reached out with her right hand, seized Julian’s satin lapel, and jerked him forward until his eyes were inches from hers.

"You signed the transfer authorization for a private medical facility in Zurich," Eleanor whispered, her voice trembling with five years of suppressed fury. "You had a doctor on your payroll certify that our five-year-old daughter was mentally incompetent, so you could drug her, ship her across the Atlantic, and strip her of her legal rights before she turned six."

Julian’s face turned from gray to an ashen, lifeless white. "Eleanor... listen to me... it was a prestigious school... they had specialists..."

"You sold your daughter for a venture capital merger," Eleanor snarled, her hand tightening around his collar until the seam tore with a sharp, violent rip. "You sold my blood to buy a seat at a table you never had the talent to sit at."

With a single, brutal shove, Eleanor threw him backward. Julian collapsed onto the marble floor, his polished shoes kicking the air as the two police officers pounced on him, pinning his shoulders against the wet stone.

Click. Click.

The cold steel locked around Julian’s wrists behind his back.

"Eleanor! Please!" Julian sobbed, his face pressed against the spilled champagne and shattered glass. "Think of the five years we had! Think of our wedding day in Vermont! I loved you, Eleanor! I swear on my life, I loved you!"

Eleanor looked down at the man groaning on the floor. With slow, deliberate movements, she reached down to her left ring finger. She pulled the modest, thin platinum wedding band—the ring she had bought with her own savings five years ago—off her finger.