My husband stripped the rifle armor from my vest and gave it to his mistress, then sent me straight toward an active shooter and called me “dramatic” when a bullet tore through my chest. He took my radio, let Clara keep my trauma kit, and walked away while I bled against a concrete barrier, never realizing the insignia hidden inside my collar was transmitting every second live.

Julian’s knees visibly buckled at the sight of his grandfather.

"Grandpa..." Julian whimpered, his arrogant posture completely collapsed. "Listen to me... she set me up! Kalin staged the whole thing! She used military technology to fabricate—"

SLAP!

The sound of Arthur’s palm striking Julian’s face echoed across the quieted room like a gunshot. The force of the strike turned Julian’s head completely, knocking his expensive designer glasses off his face.

"Shut your mouth, you pathetic worm," Arthur said, his voice quiet, trembling with a fury eighty-two years in the making. "I built this company with sweat, blood, and integrity. My father died in uniform. And I allowed a spineless, greedy coward like you to wear my family name."

"Grandpa, please!" Julian fell to his knees on the stage, clutching Arthur’s trousers. "I made a mistake! Clara manipulated me! She convinced me Kalin was auditing our accounts to destroy us! It was all Clara!"

Behind him, Clara let out an outraged shriek from her handcuffs. "You lying bastard! You were the one who altered the route! You said you wanted her dead so we could take her share of the equity!"

"Quiet, both of you," Marcus Vance commanded, stepping forward with two federal warrants. "Julian Croft, Clara Bennett, you are under arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Defense. Charges include attempted grand treason, federal wire fraud, conspiracy to commit murder of a active clandestine operative, and theft of classified military hardware."

"Kalin! Tell them!" Julian scrambled on his knees toward me, grabbing at the hem of my tactical trousers. "We're married! You loved me! You can't let them take me to a federal facility! I won't survive in there!"

I looked down at him. There was no anger left in me. No grief. No regret. Just a vast, cold expanse of absolute indifference.

I reached down, took my wedding ring off my left ring finger, and dropped the small gold band onto his trembling palm.

"I divorced you in that alley, Julian," I said softly. "You just forgot to sign the papers."

The federal agents pulled Julian to his feet, pulling his arms behind his back and pinning him in double-locked steel cuffs. As they dragged him down the aisle alongside Clara, the entire auditorium erupted into applause, shareholders and reporters alike watching the disgraced heir lose everything in real-time.