Damon buttoned his coat. “Then you’d better decide whether this company is strong enough to survive without one terrified man controlling every minute of it.”

“You’ll lose everything.”

Damon looked at the snow falling beyond the glass. “No,” he said. “I almost did that three years ago.”

Chapter 7 — Christmas Morning

Damon returned to Lakewood at 1:17 on Christmas morning. The house was dark except for the tree lights glowing through the living room window. He expected the door to be locked.

Instead, Cassandra sat on the front steps, wrapped in her father’s heavy coat, snow gathered in her hair.

“You came back,” she said.