The fallout from that morning in the hospital room had been, in the end, absolute, and it had gone entirely our way.

Faced with Luca’s airtight evidence of years of financial fraud, evidence that could have sent her and much of her operation to federal prison, Wendy Vance had been forced to the negotiating table, and there had been nothing smooth or icy about her by the time it was done.

In exchange for Luca’s agreement to keep the offshore ledgers sealed and out of the hands of federal prosecutors, Wendy signed a legally binding, irrevocable renounce-and-release agreement, drafted by our attorneys and reviewed by hers, executing a complete and permanent waiver of all familial, all financial, and, most importantly to me, all custody claims regarding Fiona and our family.

She cut herself off from us, by her own signature, forever.