Six months earlier, Ethan Mercer pushed thirty-seven pages of divorce papers across the polished glass dining table of their Manhattan penthouse.

While Claire settled into the sunlit, spacious sanctuary of the Central Park West apartment, a legal storm of catastrophic proportions was being prepared in downtown Manhattan.

Inside Carmen Vance’s corner office, Julian sat across from a team of three private investigators and two forensic accountants.

"We hit the motherlode, Julian," Carmen declared, slapping a thick leather binder onto the glass table. "Ethan Mercer thought he was brilliant. He moved sixteen million dollars out of marital accounts into a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands three days before he served Claire with divorce papers."

"Is it traceable?" Julian asked, leaning forward, his jaw tight.

"It was meant to look like an equity investment into an offshore tech venture," the lead forensic accountant explained. "But we tracked the IP addresses and bank routing numbers. The shell company is owned by an entity controlled entirely by Ethan's new mistress, Sabrina Vale. He was literally siphoning Claire's life savings to fund his girlfriend's lifestyle."

Julian’s eyes turned cold as ice. "What else?"

"The building security footage," Carmen smiled, pulling up a digital file on her monitor. "Ethan's building manager was more than happy to turn over the lobby tapes once we slapped him with a court subpoena. We have timestamped footage showing Ethan ordering the door staff to revoke Claire's access cards, followed by footage of him walking into the elevator forty-five minutes later with luggage."

Carmen looked at Julian, her expression fierce. "We have him on intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious abandonment, fraudulent conveyance of marital assets, and reckless endangerment of a high-risk pregnancy. Judge Rebecca Montgomery has been assigned to the case. She is notorious for destroying wealthy men who try to starve out their wives."

"Good," Julian said. "File the emergency motion for temporary support, full temporary custody, and an asset freeze on all of Ethan’s personal accounts."

"There's one more thing," Carmen added, looking at Julian carefully. "Ethan has been completely out of the loop. He’s been in Aspen and Los Angeles for the past month with Sabrina, completely blissed out, assuming Claire signed the default papers or vanished into thin air. His PR team has blocked any news about Claire from reaching him to keep his image clean."

"He doesn't even know the triplets were born," Julian realized, a dark, satisfying humor lacing his voice.

"Not a clue," Carmen confirmed. "His lawyers haven't checked the court docket because they assumed Claire couldn't afford an attorney to file a response. They think this is an uncontested divorce."

Julian stood up, buttoning his suit jacket. "Then let's make sure his surprise is unforgettable."

"Where are you going?" Carmen asked.

"Claire and I are taking the girls home from the NICU next week," Julian replied. "And in two months, the annual Mercer Capital Wall Street Gala is being held at the Plaza Hotel."