“Whitmore Holdings will offer no new exemptions, extensions, or capital assistance.”

Charles exhaled.

“So,” he said.

“That’s it.” “Yes,” Robert said.

Victoria gripped the back of a chair.

“We could lose our home.” And Robert looked straight at her and said the sentence that Emily, when she heard it later, would understand was the true center of everything.

“My wife lost her sight,” he said.

“And even after that — even after losing something most people cannot imagine losing — she never once decided that her pain gave her the right to treat another person like garbage.” Victoria could not answer.