Victoria: Ethan! You can't leave me like this! Dad, call our lawyers!
Richard: Officer, unhand my daughter this instant! I'll have your badges for this!
Officer Davis: Mr. Vance, if you continue to interfere with a police arrest, you will be placed in handcuffs right beside her for obstruction of justice.
The crowd cleared a path as the police officers led a sobbing, hysterical Victoria out through the double doors of the country club.
Reporters who had been attending the gala were already outside, snapping dozens of photos as she was pushed into the back of a police cruiser.
Inside the ballroom, the board members of Vance Industries were already crowding around Richard Vance with furious expressions.
Board Member 1: Richard, is this true? Were you receiving stolen documents from Ethan Sterling's desk?
Richard: It's a conspiracy! Sterling modified those video files to tank our stock price!
Board Member 2: The District Attorney wouldn't suspend our corporate license over modified files, Richard!
Board Member 1: We are calling an emergency board meeting right now to vote on your immediate removal as chairman!
Richard: You can't remove me! I built this company!
Board Member 2: You built it on fraud and child abuse cover-ups! You're done, Vance!
Ethan watched calmly from the center of the room as Richard Vance's empire crumbled to dust in a matter of minutes.
Arthur Vance stepped up beside Ethan, closing his leather briefcase with a satisfying snap.
Arthur: The judge signed the temporary restraining order, Ethan. Victoria cannot come within five hundred yards of you, Leo, or your home for the next five years.
Ethan: What about the corporate fraud charges against Richard?
Arthur: The federal prosecutor is already issuing subpoenas for his private server. He'll be facing grand jury indictments by Friday.
Ethan: Good. Make sure Clara's visa paperwork is filed first thing tomorrow morning.
Arthur: Already taken care of. Clara's permanent legal residency will be approved within thirty days.
Ethan: Thank you, Arthur. You've been a true friend to my family.
Arthur: Your father was a good man, Ethan. He would be proud of how you protected his grandson today.
Ethan walked out of the country club into the warm Dallas sunshine, breathing in the fresh air for the first time in weeks.
He got into his SUV and drove straight back to the Sterling mansion, pulling up the long oak-lined driveway.
As he opened the front door, the house felt light, warm, and peaceful.
From the living room came the sound of sweet laughter and the soft plinking of piano keys.
Ethan walked quietly into the living room and stopped in his tracks.
Clara was sitting on the piano bench with Leo in her lap, gently guiding his tiny fingers across the keys, playing a simple nursery rhyme melody.
Leo turned around, his face lighting up with a massive, toothy grin as soon as he saw his father.
Leo: Daddy! Music!
Clara: Look who's home, Leo! We were practicing our songs!
Ethan walked over with a gentle smile, crouching down beside the piano stool and taking his son's tiny hand in his own.
Ethan: It sounds beautiful, buddy. Absolutely beautiful.
Clara: Is everything... taken care of, Mr. Sterling?
Ethan: It's completely over, Clara. Victoria and her father will never bother this family ever again.
Clara: Thank goodness... This little boy deserves to grow up in a house filled with love and safety.
Ethan: And that's exactly what he's going to have from now on.