I took the paper from him with fingers that would not hold steady, and I unfolded it under the buzzing fluorescent light, and I began to read.

The first thing I saw was the letterhead at the top, elegant and embossed and instantly, sickeningly familiar.

It was my father’s law firm.

His prestigious, respectable, private law firm.

The second thing I saw was a payment schedule, meticulously detailed, laid out across five full years, and beside the schedule, a number, a single large six-figure number, a sum of money.

And then I understood what I was holding, or thought I did.