“You need my name on that account tonight.”

“No,” I said, my voice firm.

“She is not signing anything tonight, Thomas.”

He turned to me, his jaw clenching.

“You do not understand the real world, Mother,” he said.

“You have kept her in this little bubble in Fredericksburg.”

“But five million dollars changes everything.”

“It certainly seems to have changed your schedule,” I said.

Just then, Thomas’s phone began to ring in his coat pocket.

He did not answer it.

He pressed the silence button through the fabric of his coat.

Two seconds later, it began to vibrate again.

He pulled it out, and before he could hide the screen, I saw the caller ID.

It read: *Lafayette Holdings – Urgent*.

I knew that name.

Lafayette Holdings was the primary creditor for his commercial real estate developments in Richmond.

“Excuse me,” Thomas said, his face turning pale as he stepped back into the hallway to reject the call.

I looked at Caroline.

She was already reading the fine print on the third page of his document.

“Section four,” Caroline murmured.