“I brought it here the night he passed.”

“Before the doctor arrived.”

“Before anyone knew his heart had failed.”

I looked at the document that had cost my family twenty years of struggle.

My grandfather, Elias, had lived in a small apartment on the south side, watching the Sterlings build their empire on his stolen labor.

He had never given up hope that this day would come.

“You ruined my family, Miranda,” I said.

“Your family was already ruined,” she said, looking up at me with a faint spark of her old arrogance.

“We merely took what would have been wasted on them.”

“You took what was ours,” I said.

The phone on the desk rang again.

This time, the red light on the console began to flash, indicating an internal line from the security desk downstairs.

Julian reached out and pressed the speaker button. “Yes?”

“Mr. Sterling,” the head of security’s voice came through, sounding tense.

“There are three plainclothes officers at the main gate.”

“They have a federal warrant for Mrs. Sterling.”

“They are asking to come up.”

Julian looked at his mother, then at Investigator Vance.