The fifty elite Boulder guests who’d been hovering near the dining archway all turned their faces away, frantically pulling out their phones to scrub any digital association with the Vance family.

FINAL — The Sovereign Winter

Six months later, the bright summer sun broke flawlessly over the terrace of my corporate headquarters in downtown Austin. The stifling, exhausting shadows of the past eight years had been fully evicted, replaced by the clean, crisp scent of green lawns and fresh progress.

The wall clock in the executive suite chimed 11:47 a.m.

Exactly half a year since the helicopter rotors whipped the Colorado snow outside Victoria Vance’s mansion.

I walked out onto the private observation balcony, a mug of warm espresso in my hand, watching the city skyline stretch out beneath the bright Texas sky.

From the courtyard below came the clear, beautiful sound of real, unburdened laughter.