Chapter 14
Richard turned forty-five on Thursday.
No balloons decorated the kitchen.
No reservation waited at an exclusive restaurant.
No expensive watch sat inside a velvet box.
The house was cold because Richard had reduced the heating to avoid another utility shutoff notice. S
Chapter 15
Vanguard Designs did not collapse with an explosion.
It disappeared through signatures, notices, and locked accounts.
By Friday afternoon, Richard sat alone in his glass-walled office.
The desks outside had been cleared.
Sarah, Liam, and Julian had a
Chapter 16
The notice attached to the oak double doors of the Oakridge estate was impossible to ignore.
It had not been printed on neon paper, nor did it contain the dramatic language Richard imagined the neighbors would enjoy repeating. It was a plain white legal document e