“As of the birth,” he said, “fifty-two percent of the voting shares.”

The breath went out of me.

Fifty-two.

Not a piece.

Not a seat at the table.

The table.

Chapter 5 — Exposure

I lay very still and let the number rearrange the room around me, and then I asked the question that turned it from a fact into a weapon I might never have wanted but was going to need.