He had stolen — millions — and used a marriage and a divorce as cover for it, and left me a footnote precisely because a footnote wouldn’t look too closely at the accounts.

Chapter 5 — The Invitation

When the invitation to the summer party came, I almost didn’t go.

It was ostensibly a family gathering, the kind of thing our old circle of suburban parents still hosted, and I knew Luke would be there, and I knew he would bring her.

He always brought her.

It was his favorite move — to appear in public with Camellia on his arm, radiant and young, so that everyone could see how well he was doing and how thoroughly he had upgraded.

He wanted witnesses.