The toys were still in my hands when I saw her. Barefoot on the cold marble, in her wrinkled yellow dress, picking dry dog food out of the bowl with fingers that wouldn't stop shaking.

Richard walked slowly across the ballroom floor, stopping exactly two feet away from the trembling, sobbing woman in the red dress.

"Richard, please," Eleanor begged, her voice dropping to a pathetic whisper. "I'm sorry. I was stressed. The wedding planning was overwhelming. I made a mistake."

"You didn't make a mistake, Eleanor," Richard said coldly, his voice echoing in the vast room. "You executed a plan. You starved my child to break her spirit while you siphoned my accounts with your lover on the floor over there."

He gestured vaguely toward Julian, who was groaning under the weight of the guard's knee.

"You are a thief, and you are a parasite," Richard stated clearly.

He held out his hand, palm up.

"Take off the necklace."

Eleanor froze, her hands flying to her throat to protect the five million dollars worth of diamonds resting against her skin. "What?"

"Take it off," Richard commanded, stepping an inch closer.

Tears streamed down her ruined makeup. With shaking, fumbling fingers, Eleanor reached behind her neck and struggled with the intricate clasp. She finally unhooked it, the heavy jewels sliding off her collarbone. She handed it to Richard like a defeated servant surrendering a crown.

Richard didn't even look at the diamonds. He slipped the necklace casually into his pocket.

He turned his back on her and addressed the silent, stunned crowd of Chicago's elite.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Richard announced, his voice projecting authority. "The woman standing before you is not Genevieve Ashworth. She is a professional grifter named Eleanor. The man bleeding on the floor is not her brother; he is her lover and accomplice. They targeted my family to steal my fortune and murder me."

The crowd gasped, the sheer audacity of the crime sending shockwaves through the room.

"I apologize for the disruption to your evening," Richard continued smoothly. "But I wanted you all to see exactly who she is, so that when she vanishes from this city tonight, no one will ever ask where she went."