“Shut up, Julian,” Chloe snapped, her face pale.

“Don’t say another word.”

An agent took Chloe by the elbow and guided her hands behind her back.

The metallic click of the second pair of handcuffs sounded like a gunshot in the quiet afternoon.

“You are both under arrest for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, identity theft, and wire fraud,” Agent Miller said.

He motioned to his team.

“Take them down to the vehicles.”

Julian stumbled as the agent nudged him forward.

He looked at me one last time, his eyes wild and desperate.

“Natalie, please,” he begged. “I loved you. That part was real.”

I didn’t answer.

I just pressed my hand harder against my stomach, protecting the only real Callahan left.

Victoria watched them go, her face a mask of stone.

She did not shed a single tear for the boy she had bought, nor for the sister of her co-conspirator.

Once the glass doors of the terrace slid shut behind the agents and their prisoners, Victoria turned her gaze to me.

Adelaide was already on her phone, whispering frantically to someone, her voice hushed.