“I’m so sorry, Sophie,” he whispered.

“I never should have brought you into this.”

“I thought I was protecting you by keeping the money a secret.”

“I wanted you to grow up grounded, not spoiled like the Collins family.”

“But she’s right about how it will look in the press.”

Ethan stood up and walked over to the window, staring out at the snow.

“She has a powerful PR firm on retainer, Daniel,” Ethan said without turning around.

“They’ve handled political scandals before.”

“If they spin this as a wealthy man playing mind games with his child, the media will run with it.”

“It’s a perfect tabloid story.”

I sat quietly, my hand slipping into the pocket of my wool coat.

My fingers brushed against the hard, rectangular edge of my phone.

The metal was cold against my skin.

I thought about last Christmas Eve.

I remembered the smell of the cheap pine candles we had lit because the heater in the rental house was broken.

I remembered my mother standing in the kitchen, screaming at my father because he hadn’t bought her the diamond earrings she wanted.