“Jessica, have you completely lost your mind? You just take off with our daughter without leaving a note?”

"Turn it off!" Luke roared, lunging across the table to grab my phone.

Before his fingers could touch me, a massive hand grabbed his collar, shoving him hard back into his leather booth. David Vance’s lead security officer stepped into the lounge, his towering frame completely blocking Luke’s path.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Chloe shrieked, jumping up as her wine glass overturned, spilling red wine all over her crimson dress. "Jessica, turn that off!"

The lounge door opened, and a crowd of men and women in formal evening attire poured into the hallway from the main ballroom—Luke’s lead investors, his chief financial officer, and the managing partners of the logistics firm.

Standing at the front of the crowd was Arthur Pendelton, the eighty-year-old billionaire chairman whose signature was required to approve Luke’s multi-million-dollar merger.

Pendelton’s face was dark with absolute disgust as he stared at Luke.

"Arthur!" Luke stammered, scrambling to pull himself together, his voice cracking with desperation. "Sir, please! This is a private family dispute! My wife is unstable, she manipulated this—"

"I don't give a damn about your family disputes, Luke!" Pendelton’s booming voice cut through the room like thunder. "We just heard you confess on the main hall speakers to extortion, planting stolen hospital narcotics, and abusing your own five-year-old child!"

"It was a misunderstanding!" Chloe pleaded, stepping toward Pendelton, her voice trembling. "Mr. Pendelton, please, Luke is the brain behind this entire acquisition—"

"The acquisition is dead," Pendelton declared coldly, looking at Luke as if he were a cockroach. "And as of right now, the board is terminating your employment contract with cause. Our legal team will be conducting a full forensic audit of every transaction you touched over the past five years."

"No!" Luke gasped, stumbling backward, his hands grasping at his hair. "No, Arthur, you can't do this!"

"It's already done," Pendelton snapped, turning his back on them.

Before Luke could take another step, two uniformed officers from the State Police Department stepped into the lounge, flanked by a lead investigator from the State Narcotics Division and David Vance.

"Luke Vance? Chloe Miller?" the senior officer announced, pulling two pair of steel handcuffs from his belt. "You are both under arrest for conspiracy to commit grand larceny, illegal possession and framing using a controlled substance, and child endangerment."

"Wait!" Chloe screamed as an officer grabbed her wrists, forcing her hands behind her back. "I didn't do anything! It was Luke! It was all Luke's idea! He forced me to sign those papers! He took the drugs from her bag!"

"You lying bitch!" Luke screamed, spinning around to glare at Chloe as the second officer pinned him against the mahogany table. "You were the one who wanted the waterfront property! You insisted we lock Fiona out so she wouldn't see you!"

"Shut up!" Chloe wailed, her mascara running down her face in black tracks as the handcuffs clicked tightly around her wrists. "Jessica, help me! Please, I'm your sister!"

I walked over to Chloe, stopping just inches from her trembling frame. I looked into her eyes—the eyes of the girl I had sheltered, loved, and protected for twenty years.

"You stopped being my sister the moment you let my daughter sit freezing in the dark, Chloe," I whispered softly. "Enjoy the consequences of your choices."

As the officers dragged both of them out through the crowded lobby past horrified investors and flashbulbs from local news reporters who had been tipped off by David’s team, I walked out into the cool evening air.

Fiona was waiting near David’s car, holding her stuffed bear. When she saw me, her face lit up, and she ran into my open arms.

I scooped her up, holding her close against my chest, feeling her warm heart beating steady and strong against mine.