“I have bills, Avery,” he said, his voice dropping to a desperate plea. “The new car lease. The deposit on the house in the hills.”

“That is no longer my concern,” I said.

I walked toward the door of the conference room, Jerome following close behind me.

As I opened the door, I heard Kayla’s voice rise in anger behind us.

“You told me we were rich, Scott,” she hissed. “You told me it was a sure thing.”

We walked out into the carpeted hallway of the probate office.

The heavy glass doors closed behind us, cutting off the sound of their arguing.

“That was exceptionally clean,” Jerome said as we walked toward the elevator.

“It’s just the beginning,” I said.

We stepped into the elevator, and the doors slid shut.

As the elevator descended, my phone buzzed in my hand.

I looked down at the screen.

It was a notification from our shared banking app, showing a series of declined transaction alerts.

Scott had just tried to use his platinum card at a luxury jewelry store, and the system had blocked it.