Chapter 4 - The Glass Boutique
Julianna’s heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. The midtown sun suddenly felt freezing.
"Vance?" she whispered, her hands clawing at the empty space on her left ring finger where the diamond had rested moments ago. "You're... Samuel Vance?"
The legendary founder of Vance Security Systems—the man who had vanished three years ago following a corporate sabotage trial that had destroyed half the banking sector—was sitting on a cardboard box outside her wedding dress fitting.
"Your father thought he could use you to marry into Ethan's family empire," Samuel said, standing up smoothly from the sidewalk. The stoop in his posture disappeared; he stood six-foot-two, his broad shoulders filling out the ragged denim jacket with quiet, lethal authority. "He spent two years fabricating your background, wiping your records, painting you as an innocent philanthropist."
Samuel dropped the stack of money Ethan had given him onto the cardboard box.
"A single test of basic human empathy," Samuel murmured, stepping so close she could smell the scent of copper and high-grade surveillance gear beneath his ragged appearance. "That's all it took to dismantle your father's twenty-year long con. You couldn't even fake it for ten seconds to save a multi-billion dollar merger."
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The glass doors of L'Aura Nuptials burst open. Two men in dark suits holding federal badges stepped out onto the sidewalk, positioning themselves directly behind Julianna.
"Julianna Sterling," one of the agents said coldly. "You're under arrest for corporate espionage, wire fraud, and the attempted poisoning of Arthur Vance."
