A.When I looked in the mirror and saw what had happened to my hair, I didn't scream.

The shock wave that hit Carter Global Logistics was instantaneous.

In a matter of thirty minutes, news spread through the twenty-story corporate headquarters like wildfire. Security guards stood at the entrance of the executive elevators, turning away anyone without high-level clearance.

In the lobby, employees gathered in hushed, excited huddles, staring as two security guards escorted Daniel Carter and Vanessa Brooks toward the glass revolving doors.

Daniel was pale, his tie loosened, holding a small cardboard box containing a few personal desk items. Vanessa walked beside him, clutching her designer handbag, her face twisted in a mixture of rage and humiliation.

"Daniel, do something!" Vanessa hissed loudly, grabbing his arm as employees watched them pass. "You're the CEO! You can't let these rent-a-cops push us around! Call the board! Call the mayor!"

"Shut up, Vanessa!" Daniel snapped, his voice cracking with panic. He pulled out his cell phone, frantically dialing the number of the board chairman, Richard Vance.

The call went straight to voicemail.

"Richard, it's Daniel!" he yelled into the phone, standing on the curb outside the skyscraper while passersby stared at him. "There's been a crazy mistake! Emily has lost her mind! She used some old legal loophole from her father's trust to lock me out of the accounts! Call me back immediately!"

He slammed his thumb on the screen and dialed Emily's number.

“The number you have dialed is no longer in service or has been blocked.”

"Dammit!" Daniel roared, slamming his fists against the side of his luxury sports car. He grabbed the door handle, but when he pressed the key fob, the car’s lights didn't flash. The engine wouldn't respond. A sleek black tow truck pulled up right in front of his parking spot.

A man in a navy jumpsuit stepped out with a clipboard. "Daniel Carter?"

"What do you think you're doing with my car?" Daniel shouted.

"It's not your car, sir," the driver replied calmly, attaching heavy steel chains to the front axle. "Vehicle lease is registered under Sterling Logistics Corporate Treasury. Lease canceled as of twenty minutes ago. We're repossessing it."

Vanessa gasped, stepping back onto the sidewalk. "They can't do that! Daniel, where are we supposed to go?"

"We're going to the house," Daniel said, his teeth grinding together. "She thinks she can kick me out of my own company? The estate is in my name! I bought that house!"

He pulled out his phone again to order an expensive private ride service, but his transaction was instantly declined. Every single card linked to his name was frozen solid.

Thirty minutes later, after being forced to take a public taxi and paying the driver with the last fifty-dollar bill in his wallet, Daniel and Vanessa arrived at the iron gates of the Carter Estate in the affluent suburb of Oak Ridge.

The massive wrought-iron gates were shut tight. Standing outside the guard house were two stone-faced private security guards in black uniforms.

Daniel jumped out of the taxi and stomped up to the gate. "Open the gate, Greg! It's me!"

The guard leaned out of the window, looking at Daniel with a look of quiet pity. "I can't do that, Mr. Carter."

"What do you mean you can't?!" Daniel screamed, grabbing the iron bars. "I live here! This is my home!"

"Not anymore, sir," the guard said, holding up a legal notice pinned to his clipboard. "Mrs. Emily Sterling-Carter has filed a temporary protective order and changed all security codes. She also provided us with court documents proving the property deed is held entirely by the Sterling Estate Trust. You are prohibited from coming within five hundred feet of this property."

"She can't do this!" Vanessa yelled from behind Daniel, her voice shrinking as she looked at the heavy iron gates. "Daniel, tell him!"

Before Daniel could reply, the heavy front doors of the mansion opened.

Emily stepped out onto the wide stone porch.

She had changed out of her ruined clothes into a sharp, tailored black suit. A professional hair stylist sat in a van nearby, but Emily hadn't tried to cover her hair with a wig. She had instructed the stylist to cut the rest of her hair short—a clean, razor-sharp pixie cut that framed her cheekbones and emphasized her fierce, striking dark eyes.

She walked down the gravel driveway, stopping twenty feet behind the iron gate.

Daniel stared at her through the iron bars, stunned by her appearance. The quiet, compliant woman he had married was completely gone. Standing before him was Marcus Sterling's true heir.

"Emily!" Daniel pleaded, his voice trembling through the gate. "Emily, please! Listen to me! This has gone too far! We can talk about this! Whatever Vanessa did, I had nothing to do with it!"

"You stood there, Daniel," Emily said softly, her voice carrying easily through the cold air. "You stood beside her, watched her tear my hair out, and asked her what she was thinking, instead of asking if your wife was okay."

"I was in shock!" Daniel lied desperately. "I was going to fire her, Emily! I swear to God, I was going to fire her today!"

Vanessa’s head whipped toward Daniel, her face instantly turning pale. "What?! Daniel, you promised me—"

"Shut up, Vanessa!" Daniel yelled, turning on her violently. "This is all your fault! You ruined my life!"

Emily watched the two of them turn on each other like wild animals. A cold, bitter smile touched her lips.

"You have four minutes left on your taxi meter, Daniel," Emily said calmly. "I suggest you use it. Because by tomorrow morning, the forensic accountants will finish auditing the secondary offshore accounts you thought I didn't know about."

Daniel froze, his heart dropping into his stomach. "What... what accounts?"

"The ones you used to buy Vanessa her luxury condo in downtown Chicago," Emily replied softly. "The ones you funded using forged signatures on Sterling Logistics invoices."

She turned her back on them and walked toward the mansion.