Chapter 12 — Chapter Eleven

Two weeks later, Charles’s accountant placed a thick folder on his desk and said the words Charles had been dreading.

“Without new capital,” the accountant said, “we’ll have to consider Chapter Eleven.”

Victoria, who had insisted on being present, started to cry.

“Go see Robert,” she said.

“Apologize.”

Charles looked at his wife with an exhaustion that had settled into his bones over the past two weeks, an exhaustion that was not only financial.

“Do you know what the worst part is?” he said.