He opened the second binder, and it held land deeds, commercial leases, financial portfolios.

My father had transferred forty-seven commercial properties throughout the town’s historic district into my trust before I turned thirty-five.

I had always known the land was there.

I had simply instructed Gabriel to reinvest the dividends into local development, and had never once felt the need to announce it.

“The downtown hotel, the shopping plaza, three residential subdivisions,” Gabriel said calmly, “all pay monthly ground leases directly into Thomas’s trust.”

Veronica stared at me as though I had transformed into a stranger.