“You cannot do this alone,” Harrison said.

“I am not alone,” Julian said, looking at me.

“I have the majority of the shares behind me.”

“Once Valerie’s claim is certified, we will hold sixty percent.”

“You are trusting a maid?” Harrison asked, his voice dripping with disbelief.

“She is not a maid,” Julian said.

“She is the future of this company.”

He hung up the phone without waiting for a reply.

He looked at me.

“We have two hours,” he said.

“Two hours to draft the statement.”

“I will help,” Nathaniel said, sitting down at the typewriter in the corner.

“We need to be precise.”

“The legal language must be airtight.”

I walked to the window and looked out at the city.

The lights of Chicago stretched out along the dark lake.

It was a beautiful, cold city.

And for the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged here.

“Valerie,” my grandfather said, coming to stand beside me.

He put his arm around my shoulders.

“We did it,” he whispered.

“We are not finished yet, Grandfather,” I said.

“The board will fight us.”