“You didn’t even try,” I said. “You stood on those courthouse steps right next to her. You wore your best suit. You smiled for the cameras while she called my career a joke.”

“Allison—”

“I looked at you from the gallery,” I said. “I was waiting for you to say something. Just one word to defend me. You stayed silent.”

The wind blew a spray of rain across my face, but I did not blink.

“Your silence on those steps told me everything I ever needed to know about you, Grant,” I said. “You chose the family empire. Now you get to fall with it.”

I began to pull the heavy door of the Suburban shut.

“Wait!” he yelled, lunging forward.

The metal cuffs clattered loudly against the seat frame as he reached the limit of the chain.

“Allison, don’t do this! Patricia has more than just the shipping files! She has the diplomatic correspondence!”

I paused, holding the door open by a few inches.

“What correspondence?” I asked.