My mother’s face flashed across the display for the seventh time. Loretta. I pressed "Answer" and held the phone to my ear. I didn't say a word. I just listened to the harsh, shallow breathing of the woman who had brought me into the world.

Seraphina shrieked like a wild animal as the officers pulled her hands behind her back. "Dad! Do something! Tell them I didn't do anything! It was all you! It was Mom!"

"Shut up, Seraphina!" Arthur spat, struggling against the heavy grip of two officers.

Loretta was on her knees, sobbing violently, pulling at the detective’s coat. "Please! I'm just a mother! I didn't know anything about this! My husband forced me! It was Arthur! Take him, not me!"

I watched in cold silence as my family tore each other apart in seconds, exposing their pathetic, spineless cowardice. They had spent eight years living off my flesh and blood, but at the first sign of danger, they turned on each other like starved rats.

As they dragged Arthur out the door, he looked over his shoulder, his eyes gleaming with malicious triumph. "Check the news, Elena! Check it!"

The door slammed shut. The hallway echoed with Seraphina’s fading screams.

"Daniel," I said, my heart pounding against my ribs. "Get your tablet out. Now."

Daniel quickly pulled out his iPad, his fingers flying across the screen as he accessed the financial news network. Within seconds, a breaking news banner splashed across the screen in bright red letters:

BREAKING NEWS: VANCE GLOBAL HOLDINGS SUFFERS MASSIVE DATA LEAK—BILLIONS IN ALLEGATIONS OF CORPORATE ESPIONAGE & FRAUD.

My eyes scanned the screen. My company—the multi-billion-dollar logistics and real estate conglomerate I had built from the ground up with Julian—was being dismantled live on television.

"How?" I whispered, my vision blurring. "How did they access the internal servers?"

"The login credentials used for the leak," Daniel said, his voice trembling as he read the technical report, "were master level admin keys. Elena... someone inside your executive board leaked the proprietary source codes and financial ledgers to the press twenty minutes ago."

"Who?"

Daniel swiped to the next page. A photo appeared on the screen. It was a handsome man in his late thirties, with sharp blue eyes and a cold, calculating smile.

Marcus Vance. Victor Vance’s son. Julian’s former business partner.

"Marcus," I breathed.

"Marcus Vance held five percent of non-voting shares," Daniel explained rapidly. "When your father was arrested tonight, a dead-man's switch script executed automatically from Marcus's private server. He dumped all of your company's classified patents and client databases onto the dark web. Stock value is down forty percent in after-hours trading."

My phone rang. It was the Vice Chairman of my Board of Directors. I declined the call.

Then it rang again. An unknown number.

I pressed answer and put it on speaker.

"Hello, Elena," a smooth, velvety voice echoed through the hospital room. Marcus Vance.

"Marcus," I said, my voice as hard as flint. "You collaborated with my father to sabotage my car. You killed Julian."

A soft, amused chuckle came through the speaker. "Oh, Elena. Always blaming the wrong villain. I didn't kill Julian. Julian was weak. He thought he could use your money to buy his way out of the debt he owed my family."

"What do you want?" I demanded.

"I want what Julian promised me before he died," Marcus said smoothly. "The ownership rights to the Sterling Logistics Network. The software that controls sixty percent of shipping on the East Coast."

"That software belongs to my children's trust," I spat. "You'll never touch it."

"I already have it," Marcus replied, his tone dripping with arrogance. "Or rather, I will have it by morning. You see, your father signed over the temporary corporate power of attorney to me three hours ago while you were in surgery. While you were lying unconscious, I assumed operational control of Vance Global Holdings."

My breath hitched. "That power of attorney is invalid! I am alive!"

"It was valid while you were under anesthesia," Marcus countered softly. "And during those three hours, I transferred the software patents to my holding company in Panama. You're broke, Elena. Your company is a hollow shell. Your parents are in jail. And your babies... well, let's just say child protective services is currently on their way to your hospital room."

"What did you do?!" I screamed, trying to force my body out of the hospital bed. Sharp, blinding pain exploded across my spine, tearing a scream from my throat.

"I filed an anonymous report stating that you are medically unfit, emotionally unstable, and facing corporate bankruptcy," Marcus sneered. "CPS will place Leo and Maya in state custody by 2:00 a.m. Unless..."

"Unless what?" I wept, tears of pure rage burning my face.