Everyone Thought the Millionaire Was Paralyzed—Until He Stood Up at His Own Banquet and Exposed the Woman Who Betrayed Him!

Vivian twisted her engagement ring until a red mark appeared beneath it. Julian remembered putting that ring on her finger during an afternoon when he believed he would never dance again. She'd kissed his forehead instead of his mouth. He had thought she was being gentle.

Now she kept turning the diamond as if she could unscrew the past and set it on the table.

The text beneath the photograph said: BRING JULIAN. NO POLICE. ELEVEN TONIGHT.

Vivian reached for the phone, but Arjun gently stopped her.

"We contact the authorities," he said.

"He'll kill Victor," she replied.

"Giving him Julian may get both of them killed."

Julian watched her as if seeing a stranger wearing a face he loved.

"Tell me exactly what you knew," he said.

Vivian sat. For the first time Maya saw how tired she looked beneath the makeup.

She admitted she'd helped Graham gain access to Julian's calendar and medical appointments. She'd accepted money from a family trust to keep the board from questioning his incapacity. She had believed Graham's claim that Victor had stolen from the company and fled, leaving Julian exposed.

"When I realized he was alive," she said, "I thought I could get him out."

"And the medicine?"

"I knew the doses were making you weaker. I asked Price to stop. He told me your condition would become dangerous without them. I should have gone outside the family. I didn't."

Julian's eyes filled. "You watched me cry because I couldn't climb three stairs."

"I know."

"You held my hand and told me to accept my life."

"I know."

"Then don't ask me to forgive you because you finally got scared."

Vivian bowed her head.

Arjun called the federal tip line through a known contact. An agent named Lena Brooks arranged a secure meeting. She had been working the Whitmore pension case for six months and already knew about Eli Torres.

"He's alive," Brooks said over the phone. "He gave us a statement."

Julian gripped the table. "And my father?"

"We have reason to believe Graham moved him this morning."