Chapter 5

The silence in my private study was heavy, smelling of old leather and the untouched Earl Grey tea sitting on the low table between us. Outside the rain-streaked windows, Manhattan was a blurred watercolor of gray and steel, but inside, the air was stiflingly clear.

Grandfather Edwards sat opposite me, his hands resting on the silver head of his cane. I had not seen him since the wedding, and the years had not been kind. The proud, iron-spined patriarch who had once commanded boardrooms now looked like a structure whose foundation had eroded. His skin was papery, translucent enough to…