I left the hospital carrying my daughter’s ashes when my husband finally called from wherever he was with his mistress and coldly said, “The bill has been taken care of. Stop bothering me.” I didn’t argue with him. I didn’t allow him to hear my voice break. Instead, I pulled out the old phone my father had given me three years earlier and called the number stored inside. The man on the other end had been silently preparing a legal case powerful enough to bring my husband and his entire family crashing down.

Samantha turned around, her face pale with fury and panic. She looked at Brendan, expecting him to fight back, to order his legal team, to do something.

Brendan was standing frozen, his eyes hollow as he stared at Nora.

"Brendan!" Samantha yelled, her sleek composure entirely shattered. "Do something! Tell them they can't do this! You promised me my agency’s funding was secured for the next five years!"

Brendan didn't answer. He couldn't.

Ximena was frantically frantically trying to delete files from her laptop, but one of the officers stepped forward and firmly closed the laptop lid, pulling it away from her hands.

"Miss Ximena," Raymond said, pulling a second, smaller folder from his stack. "Federal financial fraud investigators are waiting downstairs in a squad car. A criminal subpoena has been issued for your personal and corporate communication logs regarding the deliberate denial of medical care claims."

Ximena sank into her chair, burying her face in her hands as she began to sob hysterically. "He told me to do it! Brendan told me to keep the fund balance zeroed out! I was just following orders!"

"You made your choice for four thousand dollars a month, Ximena," Nora said from across the room. "And my daughter paid for it with her life."

Nora turned toward the grand staircase, leaving the chaos behind her. Brendan stumbled after her, his gait uneven, his hands reaching out toward her black dress.

"Nora! Nora, wait!" he pleaded, his voice breaking into raw, ugly sobs. "Please! Talk to me! We're married! We can rebuild this! I'm sorry... God, I'm so sorry about Chloe!"