The Ashfords rarely apologized because purchases arrived faster than humility.

I went to my office rather than upstairs.

On my desk lay the finalized schedule for the Whitmore announcement, a six-page communication plan, and a note from our public relations director asking how to describe my sudden absence from the engagement event.

I told her to say simply that the engagement would not proceed and that Blair deserved privacy.

She stared at me as if I’d forgotten the most important part.

“But what about the alliance?”