He looked across the grass, spotted me on the bench, and started across the lawn with long, measured strides.

I closed the blue ledger, tucked it safely inside my jacket, and stood up to meet him.

Victoria stood at the foot of the long mahogany staircase, slowly turning the empty diamond setting on her ring finger.

“You have five minutes to sign sheet seventeen of Brandon’s loan agreement,” she said.

I slipped Walter’s blue pocket ledger into my coat pocket and zipped it all the way up to my collar.

“I’m not signing a personal corporate guarantee for four million dollars.”