Daniel leaned over to Grant again, his voice a harsh whisper. “If those signatures are real, Grant, you are looking at twenty years.”

Grant didn’t answer.

He stared at his hands, which were now resting on the table, still wet from the spilled water.

“We can offer a tolling agreement,” Daniel said to Lena, his tone changing from defensive to desperate. “We can discuss a restructuring of the debt.”

“There is no debt to restructure,” Lena said, closing her folder with a sharp click. “This is a matter of asset recovery.”

She looked at me, then back at Daniel.

“We will be filing for a frozen asset injunction within the hour,” Lena said. “Every account associated with the Mercer family will be locked.”

Margaret stood up, her expensive pearls clinking against her collarbone.

“You cannot do this, Nora,” she said, her eyes flashing with anger. “This family built the foundation of this city’s hospitality industry.”

“You built it on my father’s money, Margaret,” I said. “And your son tore it down.”

The rain outside was coming down harder now, drumming against the thick glass of the high-rise.