Now, she was the one who had to ask a judge for permission to spend a single dollar.

“This is just the first step, Emily,” Richard said, sitting down in the chair opposite me. “Margaret is not going to go quietly. She is going to fight back with everything she has left.”

“What does she have left?” I asked, looking up. “Her reputation is ruined.”

“She still has influence,” Richard warned. “And she still has Thomas Vale.”

Almost on cue, my phone on the desk began to buzz.

The screen lit up with Margaret’s home number.

My heart did a familiar, painful flip.

“Do you want to answer it?” Richard asked softly. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to hear what she has to say,” I said.

I walked over to the desk and swiped the screen.

I put it on speaker.

“Emily,” Margaret’s voice came through, but it did not sound like the polished, elegant woman from the television.

It was raspy, thin, and filled with a quiet fury.

“Margaret,” I said.

“You think you are clever, don’t you?” she hissed. “Using this billionaire’s lawyers to embarrass me in public.”