Her husband, Commander Andrew Whitaker, stepped behind Serena and rested a hand against her waist.
The air left Olivia’s lungs.
Not grief.
Not yet.
Only calculation.
She escorted Ethan back to the parking lot, secured him inside the SUV, closed the door, and only then allowed herself to speak. She called her second brother, Marcus Langford.
He answered immediately.
“Liv?”
Her voice remained steady.
“Cut off all support immediately. No mercy.”
Marcus did not ask for an explanation. In the Langford family, those words carried only one meaning.
“Andrew?” he asked.
“And every account connected to Serena Vale.”
There was a brief silence.
“Done.”
Before noon, Andrew’s discretionary housing grant had been frozen. By midafternoon, Serena’s consulting invoices had been flagged for review. Before evening, the private foundation that had quietly supported much of Andrew’s professional rise withdrew every endorsement associated with him.
By 5:30 p.m., Andrew had called Olivia seventeen times.
