MY BILLIONAIRE EX THREW $30 AT ME WHEN I WAS PREGNANT AND SAID: "TAKE IT AND DISAPPEAR!" 10 YEARS LATER, I SAW HIM ON TV TELLING MILLIONS: "MY GREATEST REGRET IS THAT I NEVER HAD CHILDREN." I LOOKED AT THE 10-YEAR-OLD TWINS SLEEPING BESIDE ME—BOTH CARRYING HIS UNMISTAKABLE FACE—AND LAUGHED. THEN I TEXTED MY LAWYER: "GET THE INVITATIONS READY. WE'RE ATTENDING HIS COMPANY GALA."

The heavy rain pounded against the reinforced roof of our underground sanctuary—an abandoned cold-war radar bunker fifty feet beneath a boathouse on the northern shore of Lake Michigan.

Ethan wrapped a thick woolen blanket around my shivering shoulders, handing me a mug of steaming hot tea. His hands were warm, steady, and protective as he cupped my face, his thumb gently wiping a trace of mud from my cheek.

"Are you hurt?" he asked softly, his voice trembling with a mixture of rage and profound tenderness.

"I'm fine," I breathed, leaning into his touch, closing my eyes for a brief second to absorb the reality that I was in his arms again. "You broke me out of a federal prison, Ethan. We're fugitives now."

"We're fighters," Ethan corrected, kissing my forehead gently. "The moment Cross sent a hit squad into your cell, he proved he was terrified of you. Marcus got Dr. Chen to sign a sworn confession admitting Harrison Cross paid him two million dollars to falsify your father's toxicology report."

Marcus walked over to the central tactical map, slapping a digital tablet onto the table. "Dr. Chen's confession is enough to clear Victoria's name, but Harrison Cross has already filed the final liquidation paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In forty-eight hours, Sterling-Vance will cease to exist. All sixty billion dollars in corporate assets will be wired to an untraceable bank in Zurich."

I threw off the blanket, my eyes flashing with dangerous resolve as I stepped up to the map. "Then we don't wait forty-eight hours. Veronica is hosting a private victory gala at our lake estate tomorrow night to celebrate the liquidation."

"You want to crash your own house?" Marcus smiled, a dark glint in his eye.

"I don't want to crash it," I said cold-bloodedly. "I want to reclaim it. Veronica thinks she took my life, my name, and my empire. Tomorrow night, I give her the one thing Harrison Cross forgot to prepare her for."