I chose you because for two years you brought me tea and listened to my stories without ever once asking what I had to give you in return. You have a good heart, Julian.

Now use my wealth to give them the reckoning they have earned.

I stared at the note, the weight of it settling over me. The sharp-tongued, lonely woman who used to argue with me about the temperature of her Earl Grey had just handed me a kingdom.

And a war.

PART 3

Three days later, I stood outside the glass-and-steel monolith that served as the headquarters of Sterling Industries.

I was no longer wearing my faded orderly scrubs. I wore a tailored charcoal suit, my hair neatly trimmed, the leather-bound journal tucked into my briefcase.