My son pressed his palms against the shark tank and pointed to the man on the other side. “Mom, why is Dad holding her hand?”

The next morning, the war officially began.

By 8:00 a.m. on Monday, I was sitting in the high-rise office of my sister's senior family law partner, Marcus Vance (no relation to Reid). Victoria was sitting beside me.

Over the weekend, Victoria and I had made an unexpected, ironclad alliance. We were two mothers who had been lied to, manipulated, and financially leveraged by the same man. We refused to let him destroy either of our children's futures.

"Here's what we have," Marcus said, laying out the bank statements on his desk. "Reid has been funneling money out of his employer’s regional operations account into a shell company registered under the name 'R&V Logistics.' He used that shell company to pay the mortgage on Victoria's apartment and fund his secondary lifestyle."

"Is that legal?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"It's corporate fraud and embezzlement," Marcus stated flatly. "And because your name is on his primary checking account, Claire, we need to file for immediate asset protection before his company conducts an internal audit and freezes everything."

"What happens to Lily?" Victoria asked softly, her hands trembling in her lap.

"We file for child support from Reid immediately," Marcus assured her. "And we make sure his personal assets—what's left of them—are allocated to protect both sets of children."

At 10:30 a.m., Marcus placed a call to the CEO of Reid’s HVAC company, informing them of the fraudulent shell company and offering full cooperation in exchange for civil immunity for me and Victoria.

By noon, two security guards escorted Reid Alexander Vance out of his office building in front of all his co-workers. His company email was shut down, his company car was repossessed, and a full forensic audit was launched into his service accounts.

I was sitting in my car in the parking lot across the street when it happened.

I watched through my windshield as Reid was marched out to the curb, carrying a cardboard box filled with his desk items. He looked small, defeated, and frantic, pulling out his cell phone to make call after call.

My phone rang two seconds later.

I answered it, putting it on speaker.

"Claire!" Reid screamed into the phone, his voice echoing with sheer hysteria. "What did you do?! They just fired me! They're talking about grand larceny! Are you out of your mind?!"

"You fired yourself, Reid," I said coldly. "The moment you stole money from your job to buy VIP tickets while telling your son he couldn't see the sharks."

"I did everything for you!" he wept, his voice cracking into pathetic desperation. "I was trying to keep everyone happy! You're destroying my life!"

"You destroyed your own life," I replied. "And Reid? Don't bother coming back to the house. The locks have been changed, and my attorney has served your temporary restraining order."

"Claire! Please! I have nowhere to go!"

"Try the client's building," I said softly. "I hear the cooling system is down."