“Under the strict terms of clause fourteen, a final divorce or unapproved transfer of tenancy triggers full debt acceleration within seven business days.”

I touched the thin gold band on my right index finger, feeling the cool, familiar metal against my skin in the soft lamplight.

“He built his whole corporate expansion on my father’s land without ever knowing I held the key,” I said.

“He signed his family business away to a woman he thought was just serving him coffee,” Samuel said quietly.

By one o’clock that afternoon, Samuel and I were sitting in the executive suite on the top floor of the commercial plaza.