"Five years after my ex told me leaving me was his smartest decision, my four-year-old yelled “Mommy!”—and when my husband walked over, my ex went pale.

His hair was unkempt, his expensive tie was loosened at the collar, and his eyes were wild with desperation and rage. He looked like a man who had spent forty-eight hours watching his entire world crumble around him.

"Maren!" he roared, striding past my terrified receptionist toward the conference room. "Where is she?!"

I stepped out into the glass-walled lobby, flanked by Owen, Gabriel, and Vanessa.

Drew stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the four of us standing together. His eyes darted from me to Owen, then landed on his wife. "Vanessa? What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Saving my father's estate from your crimes, Drew," Vanessa said coldly, her voice echoing off the glass walls.

Drew’s chest heaved. He pointed a shaking finger at me. "You... you did this! You went to the Port Authority! You turned Vanessa's father against me!"

"You did this to yourself, Drew," I replied, standing tall, my hands folded neatly in front of me. "You forged my signature on over four million dollars in fraudulent loans."

Drew’s face went completely red. "That was corporate restructuring! You were my wife when I built the foundation of that company! You owed me that security!"

"I owed you nothing," I said, my voice cutting through his frantic shouting like a diamond blade. "I gave you five years of my life. I let you make me feel small, worthless, and incompetent. And when you walked away with Vanessa, I let you take everything because I thought peace was worth more than money."

"Maren, please..." Drew’s voice suddenly cracked, shifting instantly from rage to desperate begging. He took a step toward me, his hands raised in supplication. "You know me! You know I'm not a criminal! I was just trying to keep the shipping lines open until the market turned! Talk to Owen! Tell him to pull the federal complaint! We can work out a payment plan! I’ll pay back every cent!"

Owen stepped in front of me, placing his towering frame between Drew and myself.

"You don't talk to my wife, Drew," Owen said, his deep voice carrying an authority that filled the entire floor. "And you certainly don't negotiate with her."

"You ruined my life!" Drew screamed at Owen. "You took my venture capital, you turned my wife against me, and you took Maren!"

"I didn't take anything from you, Drew," Owen said calmly. "Maren built her own life. I was just lucky enough to become a part of it. And as for your life... you destroyed it the moment you decided to steal from the woman you betrayed."

At that exact moment, the elevator doors behind Drew chimed open once again.

Four uniformed officers from the Savannah Police Department, accompanied by two federal agents in dark suits, stepped out onto the carpet.

"Drew Halston?" the lead federal agent announced, pulling a folded document from his coat.

Drew spun around, his eyes wide with absolute horror. "No... wait! This is a corporate misunderstanding!"

"Drew Halston, you are under arrest for federal bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and corporate embezzlement," the agent stated calmly, grabbing Drew’s arm and forcing it behind his back.