“Jocelyn, don’t do this,” he begged, his forehead sweating under the stage lights. “They’re going to audit my books next week. If you don’t back me, I’m going to jail.”

“Then I suggest you hire a very good lawyer, Graham,” I said.

Gloria looked as if she might strike me, her face flushed red, the gold necklace shaking against her collarbone.

“You think you’re clever,” Gloria spat. “But you’re still just the quiet girl we let into our home. We can still fight this. The Highland Park house is in my name.”

I smiled slightly, a small, cold movement of my lips.

“Check your mail tomorrow morning, Gloria,” I said. “The holding company that actually owns the deed finalized the foreclosure transfer this afternoon. You have forty-eight hours to pack your things.”

Gloria’s eyes went wide with pure terror.

She stumbled backward, nearly tripping over the hem of her gown.

Graham looked at me, his eyes hollowed out by the sudden realization of his total ruin.

He looked like a man who had just watched his entire life vanish into thin air.