He stammered.

His lips moved without sound, and then found words, the wrong ones, the only ones a cornered man like Julian has.

“G-Genevieve — this is a misunderstanding — it’s a setup, it’s—” And Eleanor Thorne stepped forward and put a thick folder into his shaking hands.

“Mr.

Sterling,” she said, in a voice with no heat in it at all, which made it worse, “you are served with a petition for divorce on the grounds of marital misconduct, and with a civil action for grand larceny, breach of fiduciary duty, and embezzlement.

The board has been provided with the full evidence of your offshore accounts.” And Harrison Vance came to stand beside the process servers, and his voice rolled out across the stage.