At the family banquet fallout, a woman publicly confronts Steven White—accused of swallowing Cronin's business and killing her family—and his heir Sam for humiliating her. Audrey Lucia, the widow now running the Lucias, is named Steven's protector. The woman admits she ran from the wedding because she didn't want to marry, but hotel surveillance was deleted and she returned without phone or wallet, fueling suspicion. Allies threaten Sam with violence and demand proof of her story. Surrounded and accused, she faces an ultimatum as one challenger snarls, "Are you stupid, or do you take me for a fool?"