He dumped her on her birthday, then her dad’s billionaire best friend knelt to propose that night.

The storm returned with a vengeance as Richard’s armored Maybach sped through the rainy night toward his private estate in Greenwich, Connecticut.

I sat in the back seat beside him, clutching my hands tightly in my lap. Richard was on his phone, issuing cold, precise commands to his intelligence network across the tri-state area.

"Close every airport in a two-hundred-mile radius," Richard ordered into the receiver. "Put a border lock on all private charter flights leaving Teterboro. She has seventy-two hours before the document can be legally filed with the high court to contest my guardianship of the Sterling estate."

He clicked his phone shut and turned to look at me. Seeing my pale face and trembling hands, his hard expression softened slightly. He reached across the leather seat, pulling my hand into his broad palm.

"Don't be afraid, Daphne," he said gently.

"Victoria Vance was your legal counsel for eight years, Richard!" I cried out. "She was Julian Vance's cousin, wasn't she? This was planned all along!"

"Victoria was ambitious," Richard admitted, his eyes turning cold. "She believed that if she could destroy the Sterling Trust Deed, Julian could file for emergency receivership of your father's remaining assets through the corporate court. She used Tristan as a pawn to distract you while she gathered intelligence on my private security codes."

"They set me up..." I whispered, the realization hitting me like a bucket of ice water. "Tristan didn't just cheat on me... he was trying to ruin me so his family could steal my father's money!"

"Yes," Richard said plainly. "They thought you were weak, naïve, and easily manipulated. They thought that without your father, you had no one to protect you."

He leaned in close, his hand moving up to cup the side of my face, his fingers gently brushing through my dark hair.

"They forgot about me," Richard whispered, his lips brushing against my forehead in a lingering, fierce promise. "And that will be the last mistake they ever make."

The Maybach pulled into the grand iron gates of the Greenwich estate. Police cruisers with flashing red and blue lights were parked along the cobblestone driveway, surrounded by armed private security guards holding black umbrellas.

As we stepped out of the car, Vance rushed forward to meet us.

"Mr. Langum! We cornered her!" Vance reported, pointing toward the heavy mahogany doors of the secondary guesthouse near the estate's private lake. "Victoria locked herself inside the study with the original documents. She’s threatening to burn them if we breach the door!"

Richard didn't flinch. He adjusted his cuff links calmly, stepping past the police officers.

"Follow me, Daphne," Richard said quietly.