Here is the exciting next part, everyone!

The glow of the laptop screen illuminates ETHAN’S pale face. On screen, CHARLES HALE (60s) leans toward the lens, his voice steady despite the tremor in his hands.

CHARLES (ON VIDEO) Ethan... If you’re watching this, I’m probably dead. And if you’re standing in a room with Victoria Whitmore, listen to me very carefully—do not let her leave.

Victoria bolts toward the double doors.

ETHAN Barton! Lock it down!

The SECURITY OFFICERS step into Victoria’s path, blocking the exit. She spins around, her white wedding gown sweeping against the marble floor, her polished facade completely shattered.

VICTORIA (screaming) This is a setup! He’s an old man with dementia, Ethan! You’re going to ruin my family over a fairy tale brought by your washed-up mistress?!

CHARLES (ON VIDEO) Richard Whitmore didn’t just siphon twenty-eight million from Hale Dynamics. He poisoned me. Slow-acting digitalis over six months. And the woman you’re engaged to? She wasn’t sent to invest, Ethan. She was sent to cover it up.

Silence drops over the room like a heavy shroud.

Ethan slowly turns his head toward Victoria. His pale blue-gray eyes—the same eyes as the child sitting silently behind him—are cold, hollow, and deadly.

ETHAN (quietly) Digitalis. That’s what the coroner found. He called it a pre-existing heart condition.

VICTORIA Ethan, please—

ETHAN (to Security) Hold her for the federal authorities. Marcus, call the FBI Special Crimes unit directly. Tell them we have state’s evidence on Congressman Whitmore.

MARCUS On it.

Victoria sinks to her knees in the middle of the ballroom, her silk gown pooling around her as Marcus steps aside to make the call.

Ethan turns away from his former bride and walks slowly toward ROSA and LILY. He drops to one knee, bringing himself eye-level with the three-year-old girl.

Lily clutches Rosa’s hand, staring at Ethan with wide, silver-flecked eyes.

ETHAN (CONT'D) (softly) Lily...

LILY Are you the man from Mommy’s pictures?

Ethan’s throat catches. A single tear cuts through his composure, but he smiles—a genuine, broken, beautiful smile.

ETHAN I am. I’m your dad.

Ethan looks up at Rosa. The pain of three lost years remains, but beneath it, the foundation of everything they built together stands firm.

ETHAN (CONT'D) You brought her home.

ROSA I brought us all home, Ethan.

Ethan takes Lily’s tiny hand in his, then reaches up to hold Rosa’s. Outside the high stained-glass windows, distant police sirens begin to wail against the midnight sky.