“No.

She was asking you to live.”

I stared at the soup cooling in its bowl.

For years I had treated our father’s empire as a burden that gave me the right to burden everyone else.

Paige was the first person to make me see that loyalty could be another name for fear.

“Tomorrow,” I said, “I’m going to meet with Celeste and begin handing over records.”

Paige reached for my hand.