“Yes, I need the police at the Whitmore estate in Lake Forest,” I said clearly to the operator.

Daniel looked at me, then at Ethan, his chest heaving as he realized his career was over.

He grabbed his briefcase and ran out of the nursery, his footsteps echoing wildly down the hallway.

“Let him go,” Ethan said to me, his hand resting gently on my shoulder.

“He won’t get past the security gates. I locked them from my phone.”

We stood together in the quiet room, listening to the distant sound of car tires spinning on the wet gravel outside.

Within ten minutes, the blue and red lights of police cruisers washed over the nursery walls.

Officers found Daniel trapped at the end of the long driveway, his luxury sedan idling against the heavy iron gates.

They arrested him on charges of corporate fraud, embezzlement, and conspiracy.

The next several weeks were a blur of lawyers, police interviews, and state investigators.

I sat by Ethan’s side in the mahogany-paneled study as he turned over Claire’s actual medical files.