Coleton stumbled backward. His dress shoes scraped against the porch floorboards.

Hana reached out, her fingers brushing the fabric of his sleeve. "Coleton? What's wrong?"

He completely ignored her hands. His eyes were wide with raw terror.

"I have to go back," Coleton stammered, his words tripping over each other. "I have to fix this."

He didn't look at her again. He spun around and sprinted toward the Aston Martin.

The engine roared to life with a violent, aggressive growl. The tires spun, burning rubber against the asphalt and sending up a cloud of acrid white smoke. Coleton sped away from the house as fast as the car could go.

Hana stood alone in the freezing wind. The fragile, tear-stained mask melted off her face. She watched the red taillights disappear into the dark. Her eyes narrowed, turning dark and calculating.

Back at the Hampton estate, the bridal suite was silent except for the sound of zippers.

Katrina's face was completely blank. She pulled several expensive, tailored outfits from the closet and threw them into her Hermes suitcase. Her movements were sharp and efficient.

Outside the window, a sharp screech of brakes tore through the night.

Brandin's black Maybach ignored the security guards, swerving and parking horizontally right at the base of the main stairs.

Brandin kicked his door open. His tie was loose, his suit jacket wrinkled. He looked like an enraged bull. He stormed into the grand lobby.

His heavy footsteps pounded down the hallway. He reached the bridal suite and shoved the double doors open with all his strength. The heavy wood slammed against the wall with a deafening crash.

Brandin pointed a shaking finger right at Katrina's face. "Take that statement down right now! Tell them your account was hacked!"

Katrina stopped packing. She slowly pulled the zipper of the suitcase closed. She stood up straight and looked at her brother. Her eyes held nothing but pure, unfiltered disgust.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Brandin yelled, his face turning purple. "The stock price! The merger! You are risking hundreds of millions of dollars!"

Katrina let out a short, cold laugh. "You don't care if I'm humiliated. You only care about your CEO year-end bonus."

Before Brandin could scream another insult, the sound of multiple car doors slamming echoed from the driveway.

The Meyer family convoy had arrived.

Footsteps marched up the stairs. Adelbert Meyer walked into the room, flanked by Jovani and Rocco, the massive head of security. Every step Adelbert took radiated absolute, suffocating authority.

Adelbert stopped in the center of the suite. He slammed his solid silver cane into the hardwood floor. The sharp crack instantly silenced Brandin's heavy breathing.

Adelbert took a deep breath. The rage vanished from his face, replaced by a sickeningly fake, grandfatherly warmth.

"Katrina, my dear," Adelbert said, his voice smooth. "This is just a small misunderstanding between young people. Coleton is too kind-hearted. He made a foolish mistake."

Katrina didn't back down an inch. She stared right into the old man's eyes.

"He told me I was jealous of a sick five-year-old," Katrina said, her voice like cracking ice. "He pushed me out of the way to get to her. He put his hands on me and violently shoved me into the wall. That wasn't a mistake. That was a choice and an assault."

Jovani stepped out from behind Adelbert. He put his hands up, playing the reasonable peacemaker. "Katrina, please. As his cousin, I know Coleton. He just has a strong sense of responsibility."

Katrina snapped her head toward Jovani. "You can't even clean up the messes in your own department, Jovani. What gives you the right to define responsibility?"

Jovani's face flushed a deep, ugly red. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He awkwardly stepped back behind Adelbert, thoroughly humiliated.

Heavy, rushed footsteps echoed in the hallway.

Delmus Pennington, Katrina's father, rushed into the room. He was sweating, followed by a swarm of nervous assistants.

Delmus didn't look at his daughter with an ounce of sympathy. His eyes burned with the fury of a man whose property was acting up.

"You foolish girl!" Delmus barked. "You are dragging the reputation of this entire family through the mud over some petty female jealousy!"

Katrina's heart sank to the very bottom of her stomach. The coldness spread to her fingertips. She turned her head and locked eyes with the man who shared her blood.

"Does my dignity as a Pennington daughter mean less than the zeros on your contract?" she asked. Her voice didn't shake.

Delmus's face contorted with rage. Her defiance snapped his control. He raised his right hand high into the air, fully intending to slap her across the face to restore his absolute authority.

Katrina didn't flinch. She didn't step back. She tilted her chin up, her eyes blazing with absolute defiance, waiting for the physical blow.

Just as Delmus's hand swung down, Brandin lunged forward from the side.

Brandin's hand clamped down hard on his father's wrist, stopping the slap inches from Katrina's cheek.

"Dad, stop," Brandin hissed through clenched teeth. "Don't lose your temper in front of the Meyers! We must maintain the Pennington family's dignity. We don't resort to domestic brawls like commoners!"

Katrina looked at the two men. She knew exactly what Brandin was really doing. They weren't protecting her, and they weren't protecting their dignity. They were protecting their pristine corporate image and their stock prices. She let out a low, mocking laugh that chilled the room.

Delmus yanked his arm out of Brandin's grip. His chest heaved with angry breaths. He stepped back, his eyes still glaring at Katrina, but he kept his hands at his sides.

Adelbert watched the violence fail. He cleared his throat loudly, demanding the room's attention.

He leaned heavily on his cane and took a step closer to Katrina. The fake warmth was gone. Now, he was negotiating.

"Katrina," Adelbert said, his voice formal and stiff. "As the head of the Meyer family, I formally apologize to you. When Coleton is brought back, I will punish him severely. You will have your justice."

Katrina looked at him with dead eyes. "What kind of punishment erases the humiliation of a bride abandoned on her wedding night?"

Adelbert didn't miss a beat. He snapped his fingers. An assistant rushed forward and handed him a leather-bound folder. Adelbert held it out to her.

"I am prepared to add five percent of the joint venture shares directly into your personal name," Adelbert offered.

Katrina stared at the paper. The ink represented millions of dollars. Her stomach churned. In their eyes, her dignity was just a commodity with a price tag.

She reached out and pushed the folder away. The paper crinkled under her fingers. "Coleton broke the most basic vow of loyalty. You can't buy that back."

From behind Brandin, his wife Eleanor suddenly stepped forward. She crossed her arms, looking at Katrina with the arrogant superiority of someone who had survived years of misery.

"Men make mistakes, Katrina," Eleanor said, her tone dripping with condescension. "The most important thing a woman in our position can learn is how to shut her mouth and endure. Think of the bigger picture."

Katrina's head snapped toward her sister-in-law. Her eyes were like daggers.

"Shut your mouth, Eleanor," Katrina commanded. The sheer force of her voice made Eleanor flinch. "Don't project your pathetic life onto me. Everyone knows you beg for scraps of attention from Brandin just to keep up appearances. I am not you."

Eleanor's face turned a blotchy, embarrassed red. She gasped, stepping backward until she was hiding behind Brandin's shoulder again. She didn't say another word.

Brandin glared at Katrina. He looked at her like she was a rabid dog biting everyone in the room.

"Fine," Brandin snapped. He threw his hands up. "We do a compromise. We tell the press you two left early for a private, six-month honeymoon. We freeze the crisis."

Katrina stared at him. Then, she laughed.

It was a loud, bitter laugh that bounced off the walls of the suffocating room.

She stopped laughing abruptly. Her eyes locked onto Brandin's. "My marriage is not a prop for your PR department."

Adelbert's face darkened. The bribes didn't work. The compromises didn't work. A dangerous, violent shadow crossed the old man's eyes.

He realized normal tactics were useless against this woman. He needed to force her hand.

Adelbert turned his head slightly. He locked eyes with Rocco, the massive security chief standing by the door. Adelbert gave him a single, cold nod.

Rocco understood immediately. He turned and marched out of the suite.

Katrina ignored the exchange. She turned around and grabbed the handle of her Hermes suitcase. She was done talking.

She took one step toward the door.

Brandin lunged. His large hand slammed down over hers on the suitcase handle, pinning it in place.

He leaned in close, his breath hot against her ear. "If you walk out that door, Katrina, I will freeze every single family trust fund under your name. You will have nothing."

Katrina looked down at his hand. His knuckles were white from the force. She slowly lifted her head. There was zero fear in her eyes.

"I moved my core assets into independent offshore accounts three months ago," Katrina said, her voice a deadly whisper. "You don't control my money, Brandin." She watched the shock register on his face. She hadn't done it because she planned to leave Coleton. She had done it because she was a Pennington, raised in a world where trust was a liability. It was supposed to be a standard, paranoid insurance policy-a fail-safe she had desperately hoped she would never actually need to trigger. But standing here now, she was bitterly grateful for her own cold pragmatism.

Brandin's eyes widened in pure shock. His grip loosened for a fraction of a second.

Katrina ripped the suitcase handle out of his hand.

She turned to walk out.

Just as she took her first step, the heavy double doors were violently shoved open from the hallway.

Rocco walked in. His massive fist was twisted into the collar of Coleton's expensive dress shirt. He was dragging the heir to the Meyer empire like a stray dog.

Rocco shoved his arm forward.

Coleton stumbled into the room, losing his footing. His hair was a mess. His shirt was wrinkled and pulled tight across his throat. He looked absolutely pathetic.

The tension in the room instantly skyrocketed.

Coleton stumbled and barely caught his balance. He looked around the room, his chest heaving. He looked like a trapped animal surrounded by wolves.

His eyes met Adelbert's. The old man's gaze was murderous. Coleton flinched visibly, his shoulders shrinking as he quickly looked away.

Then, Coleton saw Katrina. He saw her hand gripping the handle of her suitcase. He realized she was actually leaving.

He scrambled forward, reaching out to grab her arm. "Katrina, wait. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Katrina sidestepped smoothly, avoiding his touch like he was diseased.

Coleton dropped his hand, but his mouth kept moving. "Leo's fever spiked to 104 degrees. It was an emergency. I had to go."

Katrina looked him up and down. Her expression was one of pure, unadulterated pity.

"When did you get your pediatric medical license, Coleton?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What exactly were you going to do to cure him?"

Coleton choked on his words. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. His face turned a deep, humiliated red.

Brandin watched Coleton stammer. The rage that Brandin had been suppressing finally boiled over.

This was the idiot who had just jeopardized a billion-dollar merger.

Brandin let out a furious roar. He charged forward like a linebacker. He grabbed the lapels of Coleton's custom shirt with both hands.

Before anyone could react, Brandin pulled his right arm back and drove his fist directly into Coleton's jaw.

The sickening crack of bone hitting bone echoed in the room.

Coleton screamed. The force of the punch lifted him off his feet. He crashed backward, hitting the hard wood floor with a heavy thud.

Blood immediately pooled in the corner of Coleton's mouth. It dripped down his chin and stained the collar of his white shirt. He groaned, clutching his face in shock.

Katrina stood perfectly still. She watched her brother beat her husband. Her heart rate didn't even spike. She felt absolutely nothing.

Jovani saw his cousin hit the floor. Family pride kicked in. He couldn't let a Pennington assault a Meyer on Meyer territory.

Jovani rushed forward and shoved Brandin hard in the chest. "Back off! This is Meyer property. You don't get to discipline our blood!"

Brandin shoved him right back. "He's a pathetic piece of trash who thinks with his dick!"

The two heirs grabbed each other's jackets. The room erupted into chaotic shouting.

"Enough!"

Adelbert raised his solid silver cane high into the air. He brought it down against the floorboards with all his strength.

BANG.

The sound was like a gunshot. Brandin and Jovani froze, instantly letting go of each other. The room went dead silent.

Adelbert glared at Brandin. "Step back. A Meyer made the mistake. A Meyer will handle the discipline."

Coleton heard those words. He looked up from the floor, wiping the blood from his mouth. A spark of hope lit up his eyes. He thought his grandfather was stepping in to protect him, just like he always did.

But Adelbert didn't look at him with love. He looked down at Coleton with the cold, calculating eyes of a man discarding a broken tool.

"Effective immediately," Adelbert announced, his voice echoing with absolute finality, "I am stripping you of all executive privileges and operational titles within the Meyer Group."

Coleton's eyes bulged out of his head. The color drained from his face. His pupils dilated in pure terror. The power he relied on to survive was gone in a single sentence.

Jovani's heart leaped with joy, but he forced a look of concern onto his face. "Grandfather, please. Isn't that too harsh?" He only said it to confirm the order was real.

Adelbert shot Jovani a look so venomous it made Jovani step backward. The authority was absolute.

Katrina crossed her arms over her chest. She watched the entire performance. A mocking smile touched her lips.

"Demoting him in your little corporate sandbox doesn't fix a marriage that is rotten to the core," Katrina stated, her voice devoid of any emotion.