“Rosalie.

We’re insolvent.

We needed the Prescott merger to keep us out of a federal courtroom.”

I watched the truth arrive on my sister’s face.

The gleaming dynasty she believed she had married was a hollow shell, rotted through — she had not married a banking fortune, she had married a man handcuffed to a mountain of debt.

Zachary adjusted a cuff, unhurried.

“You’re quite right, Mr.