I stopped to help a woman who was dy//ing on the side of the road and lost my job because I arrived late, but when I returned to collect my things from my desk, my entire life was about to change.

Eleanor turned toward Daniel.

“Daniel,” Eleanor said. “Find out.”

He nodded.

Several hours later, we had an answer.

My biological father was Thomas Vale.

He had been Marcus Vale’s older half-brother.

Thomas had died in a car accident when I was eight.

I’d never known any of this.

We initially assumed Marcus had also been unaware of my existence.

Then investigators examined the documents Claire had retrieved from his safe.

One contained an inheritance schedule.

Thomas Vale had owned shares in an early family real-estate partnership.

Under the relevant arrangements, those interests passed to his descendants.

Marcus had spent years trying to consolidate the old Vale family’s assets under his control.

But if Thomas had a legal heir, Marcus’s ownership wasn’t as complete as he believed.

I was that heir.

I stared at the paperwork.

“How much are we talking about?”

Daniel answered.

“Potentially tens of millions.”