“This was in Abigail’s private safe at the Sonoma ranch,” Ana said. “I took it before Mark’s people could lock the house down.”

She placed the ledger on my lap.

The cover was stained with grease and dirt, and the pages were yellowed at the edges.

“What is this?” I asked.

“It is the original purchase ledger for the Sonoma property from forty years ago,” Ana said.

I opened the cover.

The handwriting inside was Abigail’s, written in her sharp, elegant cursive.

I turned the pages, my eyes scanning the old dates and numbers.

“Look at the entry for nineteen eighty-four,” Ana said, pointing to a page near the middle.

I looked at the name written in the margin.

*Evelyn Vance.*

“Who is Evelyn Vance?” I asked.

“She was the original owner of the agave fields,” Ana said. “And she was Mark’s biological mother.”

I stared at the name, a cold sensation settling in my stomach.

“I thought Mark’s mother died when he was a child,” I said.

“She did,” Ana said. “But not before Abigail took everything she had.”