She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small, silver USB drive.

“I have emails,” she said. “I have recorded phone calls where Gavin admits to forging your signature on the transfer deeds.”

I stared at the silver drive in her hand, then at her desperate face.

“And what do you want for this sudden burst of sisterly devotion, Brooke?” I asked.

She swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling rapidly under her coat.

“My house,” she said. “The mortgage on my property in the hills. It’s six hundred thousand dollars.”

I did not answer, keeping my face completely blank.

“If you agree to pay off my mortgage, I will hand this drive over to the police tomorrow morning,” Brooke said. “I’ll tell them Gavin forced me to sign as a witness.”

She looked at me, her eyes pleading for a liferaft in the storm she had helped create.

“It’s a small price to pay to get your empire back, Emily,” she said. “Otherwise, Gavin’s defense attorney will drag your name through the mud too.”

I looked down at the First Star land deeds in my hands.