Keep reading to see what happens in the next chapter...

The scene inside the glass atrium of the Vizcaya Museum devolved into a masterclass in total societal destruction.

As the cold steel handcuffs clicked around Grant’s wrists, his mother, Mavis Holloway, threw herself past the security line, her silver evening gown trailing through the spilled water on the floor. She fell to her knees at the base of the stage, looking up at Seraphina with tears streaming down her heavily powdered face.

"Seraphina! My dear child! Please!" Mavis sobbed, her voice ringing with desperate, pathetic begging. "You can't let them do this! We are family! I was only trying to teach you how to run a proper home! Everything I did was for the good of the family!"

Seraphina looked down at her mother-in-law. There was no hatred in Seraphina's eyes—only a vast, empty void that was infinitely worse than anger.

"Family, Mavis?" Seraphina asked softly, her voice carrying through the quiet room. "Is family what you called me when you dropped a plate on the floor tonight and forced me to pick up the glass while you complained about my presence? Is family what you called me when you told Grant to take another woman to this event because I belonged in the kitchen?"

"I was wrong! I was confused!" Mavis cried, grabbing at the hem of Seraphina's emerald dress with trembling fingers. "Grant was misled by that awful woman Delaney! Please, Seraphina, call off the banks! They are taking the house! Where are we supposed to live?!"

Seraphina gently pulled the fabric of her dress out of Mavis’s grip.

"Before I met Grant, I lived in a small rented apartment and drove a ten-year-old car," Seraphina quoted Grant’s earlier words with terrifying precision. "Perhaps you and Brielle should try it. I hear it builds character."

Brielle Holloway let out a shriek of indignation, her face contorted in rage even as tears ruined her makeup. "You hypocrite! You lied to us for seven years! You let us think you were poor! You enjoyed watching us look down on you!"

Seraphina turned her eyes toward Brielle, her gaze sharp as a diamond blade.

"I never lied to you, Brielle," Seraphina said coldly. "I simply never corrected your arrogant assumptions. When you demanded I clean your room, I did it. When you demanded I pay for your boutique shopping trips with Grant's corporate card, I authorized it. I gave your family seven years of absolute grace to show me even one shred of genuine kindness or respect. You failed every single day."

Grant, his arms pinned behind his back by the federal marshals, looked up at Seraphina as he was being led away toward the exit. The press cameras flashed relentlessly, capturing every second of his humiliation.

"Seraphina..." Grant choked out, his eyes filled with a desperate, pathetic plea. "Please... I love you... I made a mistake... Delaney meant nothing to me!"

Across the room, Delaney let out a harsh, bitter laugh as officers placed her in handcuffs. "Shut up, Grant! You spineless coward! You begged me to help you hide those funds from her!"

Seraphina stood at the edge of the stage, her posture straight, her emerald gown catching the golden glow of the chandeliers. She watched as her husband, his mistress, his mother, and his sister were ushered out of the grand atrium in front of the most powerful people in Florida.

She turned to Julian Vance, who was standing beside her with a secure digital tablet.

"Is the acquisition finalized?" Seraphina asked quietly.

"Yes, Chairwoman," Julian replied, handing her the stylus. "Bellamy Holdings has officially acquired one hundred percent of Holloway Meridian Group's defaulted assets for one dollar. The firm has been dissolved, and its real estate portfolio has been transferred directly into your foundation for sustainable public housing."