At our daughter's birthday party, my husband humiliated me by smashing my face into her cake while 47 guests watched. His mother laughed, and my little girl cried. They thought I was a penniless woman with nowhere to go. But my billionaire grandfather was already on his way.

Within forty-eight hours of the custody hearing, the final pillars of Daniel’s life collapsed.

The state financial regulator revoked Sterling Logistics’ operating license. Creditors seized all sixty-two freight trucks, chaining the terminal gates shut with heavy padlocks. Daniel’s luxury cars were repossessed from the impound lot, and Patricia was forced to move into a crumbling single-room motel on the outskirts of the industrial district.

Daniel was released on bail three days later, his bond paid by pawning the last family heirloom Patricia possessed—her diamond engagement ring from Daniel’s deceased father.

Sitting in the moldy motel room, Patricia slammed a lukewarm cup of tap water onto the rickety nightstand.

“Look at what you’ve done!” she screamed at Daniel, her voice shrill and trembling with hysteria. “You ruined everything! If you had just treated that girl with an ounce of decency, we would be dining with kings right now! We would have had access to billions! But you had to act like a petty tyrant! You had to shove her face in a cake!”

Daniel lunged out of his chair, his eyes bloodshot, his beard unkempt. “Shut up! You were the one who told me to keep her under my thumb! You were the one who said an orphan needs to be taught obedience! You drank her champagne! You mocked her every single day!”

“Because I thought she was a nobody!” Patricia shrieked back. “You were the idiot who married her! You should have known who she was!”

Daniel kicked the motel bed, sending a cloud of dust into the air. He gripped his hair with both hands, pacing like a caged animal.

His life was over. His business was gone. His reputation was ashes. Every bank in the state had blacklisted his name. He was thirty-two years old, and he was completely, irrevocably destitute.

“No,” Daniel whispered, his voice cracking into madness. “She isn't getting away with this. She took everything from me. My company. My home. My pride.”

“What are you going to do?” Patricia asked, suddenly frightened by the wild, manic look in her son’s eyes.

Daniel grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. “Lily. She loves Lily more than life itself. If I have Lily, she will have to negotiate. She’ll have to give me back my company. She’ll have to give me ten million dollars to let her go.”

“Daniel, are you crazy? That’s kidnapping! Walter Whitmore will kill you!”