At my birthday party, my husband tied me to a ceiling beam and whipped me thirty times because I had stained his mistress’s dress. “Maybe now you’ll learn your place,” he laughed while everyone watched. I didn’t cry. When they finally cut me down, I picked up my phone and called my five gangster brothers. “Make his entire family beg for mercy,” I whispered. Then the front gates suddenly slammed shut.

Two days later, Clover Vance (formerly Clover Reed) sat in a small interrogation room at the county jail, wearing an orange jumpsuit identical to Isaac’s.

Facing severe federal fraud charges that carried a potential fifteen-year sentence, her public defense attorney had negotiated a plea bargain in exchange for a full, public confession.

A national news network broadcast her live press conference from inside the courthouse press room.

Millions of viewers tuned in to watch the former high-society socialite sit before a dozen microphones, her face pale and tear-stained.

“I am making this statement of my own free will,” Clover read from a prepared paper, her voice shaking violently. “For the past eight months, I conspired with Isaac Vance to defraud his wife, Flora Sterling, and steal her personal inheritance trust.”

She paused, wiping her nose with a tissue.

“Isaac lied to me, but I was blinded by greed,” Clover sobbed into the microphones. “Flora Sterling was a kind, quiet woman who never did anything to hurt either of us. The attack on her birthday was completely unprovoked and sadistic. I deeply apologize to Flora and the Sterling family for my unforgivable actions.”

In the executive suite of Sterling Enterprises, I sat watching the broadcast on the large wall monitor.

Noah stood beside me, setting a glass of iced tea on my desk. “Satisfied?”

I looked at Clover’s crying face on the screen.

“She chose her path,” I said quietly. “She thought ruining another woman’s life was the price of admission to high society. Now she knows the true cost.”

Caleb entered the office, holding a fresh legal document. “The judge accepted Clover’s plea deal. She’s taking seven years in state prison, with no option for parole for the first four.”