“I give you the trust.

You destroy the Ashfords.”

He laughed softly.

“I thought you still loved your husband.”

“Love died on the floor of my house,” I said.

He looked at me a long moment, and then he put out his hand.

“Deal.” And the lights outside came up all at once — police vehicles, federal agents, the whole night turned to daylight — and Blackwood stepped back, and Sebastian came through a side door and said, quietly, “It’s over, Uncle.”

“Uncle?” I said.