At my husband’s company party, he struck my shoulder hard enough to send me stumbling toward a champagne table, then whispered, “Go home.

Audrey didn’t touch the earrings directly. She opened a small silk handkerchief from her purse and let Camilla drop the heavy diamonds into it, folding the fabric carefully.

“Thank you,” Audrey said coldly. “That adds grand larceny to the police report.”

Julian lunged forward, but the two security guards caught him by the arms, locking his elbows behind his back.

“Audrey! You’re destroying my life over a handful of corporate invoices and a pair of stupid earrings?!” Julian roared, struggling against the guards’ grip. “We’re married! Everything I have is yours! Everything you have is mine!”

“That’s where you’re mistaken, Julian,” Audrey replied, looking him dead in the eye. “You never owned anything.”

She turned to Priya Raman.

“Have security hold them in Conference Room B until the detective arrives.”

As the guards began dragging a shouting Julian down the carpeted hallway, Audrey walked out of the grand ballroom through the side exit.

She pulled her phone from her purse and dialed a number.

“Naomi?” Audrey said when the line connected.

“I watched the livestream from the office,” her attorney, Naomi Feld, answered instantly. “You were magnificent, Audrey.”

“Is the locksmith finished?” Audrey asked, leaning against the quiet marble wall of the hotel corridor.

“The locks on the main house, the gate, and the garage were changed twenty minutes ago,” Naomi confirmed. “Your mother’s estate trust holds the title to the house, so Julian has no legal right of tenancy. His personal belongings have been packed into four suitcases and placed in the pool house.”

“And his vehicle?”

“The lease on his Porsche was registered under Aurelia Systems,” Naomi said with a sharp laugh. “As majority owner, you revoked his corporate vehicle privileges ten minutes ago. A tow truck is picking it up from the hotel valet right now.”