She was wrong.

Evelyn had totaled the women’s statements.

$4,830,000.

Almost five million dollars.

Lucas looked at his mother.

And something strange happened.

He looked genuinely shocked.

“Five million?”

Beatrice turned toward him.

“Shut up.”

Lucas’s expression changed.

“How much?”

“Lucas.”

“You told me it was eight hundred thousand.”

My heart stopped.

There it was.

The fracture.

Lucas knew about fraud.

But not all of it.

He stepped toward Beatrice.

“You said these were bridge loans.”

“You idiot.”

“You said we were paying them back after the property closed.”

“Stop talking.”

“How much did you take?”

Beatrice slapped him.

The sound cracked across the room.

Serena covered her mouth.

Lucas touched his cheek.

Beatrice had made her first real mistake.

She had forgotten there was always someone greedier than the accomplice.

She had stolen from Lucas too.

Mina quietly said, “Nobody leave.”

Beatrice looked at her.

“And who exactly is going to stop me?”

Evelyn answered.

“The people outside.”

Two investigators from the San Diego County District Attorney’s office entered the restaurant.

Beatrice’s lips parted.

I looked at Evelyn.

She shrugged faintly.

“We called them yesterday.”

Beatrice ran.

She actually ran.

Not toward the front door.

Toward the kitchen.

Perhaps she thought there was another exit.

Instead she collided with a busser carrying a tray of empty glasses.

Crystal exploded across the floor.

Beatrice fell to her knees among the shards.

For years, she had entered rooms as though every person inside existed to admire her.

Now thirty-eight women watched her kneeling on the floor of the restaurant she had claimed belonged to her son.

An investigator helped her stand.

She looked at me.

“You did this.”

I shook my head.

“No.”

Then I looked around the table.

“You did this to everyone in this room.”

Lucas tried to leave fifteen minutes later.

He didn’t get far.

The investigators didn’t arrest him that afternoon.

But they took his phone.

They took copies of the statements.

And two weeks later, they took him.

The story should have ended there.

My marriage collapsed.

The investment scheme made local news.

Reporters stood outside Lumina for six days.

We closed for two.

Then I reopened.

Some customers came because they were curious.

Others came because they wanted to support us.

For the first time since opening Lumina, every table was booked for three straight months.

Lucas eventually pleaded guilty to fraud, forgery and theft.

He insisted Beatrice had designed the scheme.

The evidence suggested that was partly true.

Beatrice received money from thirty-four women.

Lucas created shell corporations.

He forged my signature.

He moved restaurant funds.

And Serena?

She cooperated fully.

She had believed Lucas was separated.

She had received jewelry and trips but knew nothing about where the money originated.