417 I Brought My Little Daughter to Surprise My Husband at His Company Gala. Before We Even Reached the Elevators, His Secretary Smiled Coldly and Said, “His Wife and Son Are Waiting Upstairs.” I Quietly Covered My Daughter's Ears, Called My Third Brother, and Gave One Order That Changed Every Life in That Building: “Take It All Away.”

The elegant ballroom had transformed into a scene of chaotic ruin.

Guests were frantically whispering, some of them already heading for the elevators to distance themselves from the impending corporate nuclear fallout. The venture capitalists who had been raising toasts to Dominic minutes ago were now huddled in corners, furiously typing on their phones to order their fund managers to liquidate any association with Harlan Nexus.

"Madelyn, listen to me," Dominic begged, reaching out for her hand, but she slapped it away with a stinging crack that echoed through the quiet room.

"Get away from me!" Madelyn shrieked, her voice cracking with humiliation. "You used me! You used my father's name! You lied to me for three years!"

"I loved you, Madelyn! I did it for us, for Leo!" Dominic lied, his voice desperate as he tried to claw his way out of the trap.

"Don't you dare bring my son into this!" Madelyn roared. She turned to her father, Harrison Vance, who had finally walked over, his face flushed with a terrifying, patriarchal rage. "Father... tell me this isn't true. Tell me our family isn't ruined because of this... this fraud!"

Harrison Vance didn't look at his daughter. He looked at Victor Sterling, his voice shaking with a mixture of anger and fear. "Victor... we had no idea. The Vance Group has over thirty million invested in Harlan’s new data center project. If his accounts are frozen, our primary development fund will be dragged down with him."

"Then I suggest you start writing off those losses, Harrison," Victor said, his tone completely unsympathetic. "Because by tomorrow morning, the land that data center is being built on will be seized under a foreclosure petition. You chose to partner with a thief. Now you get to share his fate."

"Please, Victor," Dominic pleaded, dropping to his knees on the polished hardwood floor, his expensive suit wrinkling as he looked up at the older man. "Please. Let me talk to Vivienne. Let me see Sophia. I can explain everything. I was going to tell her, I swear! I just wanted to secure the future for all of us!"

"Do not speak my sister's name with that mouth," Victor said, his expression filled with absolute disgust. He turned to the two police officers standing behind him. "Officers, Mr. Harlan’s personal residence—the penthouse in Back Bay—is currently under a court-ordered seizure. He has no legal right to enter the premises. If he attempts to do so, please arrest him for trespassing."

"Wait!" Dominic cried as the officers stepped forward, grabbing him by his arms and pulling him to his feet. "My clothes! My passport! My personal files!"

"Your personal files have already been secured by our forensic team, Dominic," Victor said, turning his back on him. "And as for your clothes... I believe my sister left a few trash bags of your things on the curb in Brookline. You might want to get there before the garbage truck arrives."

As Dominic was led out of the ballroom in handcuffs, his desperate cries echoing down the hallway, the remaining guests stood in stunned silence.

Madelyn Vance slowly collapsed into a nearby chair, her face buried in her hands as her father frantically made phone calls to his legal team, trying to salvage what was left of their family’s reputation.

Victor Sterling stood by the window, watching the rain beat against the glass. He pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Vivienne," he said softly as the call connected. "It’s done. He has nothing left."

On the other end of the line, in the warm, quiet library of Victor’s townhouse, I sat on a plush velvet sofa. Sophia was fast asleep beside me, her small head resting on my lap, her lips still stained with a faint trace of chocolate.