Chapter 48 · Ten Percent Shame

"Sign it, and walk away with something." Grant tapped the pen against the folder like he was doing me a favor. "Ten percent of book value. Cash. Today."

I didn't touch the pen. The conference table was cold under my palms, glass over dark wood, and every reflection in it was somebody who didn't want me there. "Ten percent of what?"

"Of your mother's shares." Bianca said it from the doorway, arms crossed, heels planted like she'd been waiting all morning to say the word *mother* in that tone. "Sentimental value included, I'm sure."

Corazon sat at the head of the table with her hands folded, watching me the way she watched a spreadsheet that didn't balance — patient, unimpressed, already three steps ahead. Nobody in that room was on my side. That much I understood before I even pulled the chair out.

"Ten percent," I said again, slower this time, "for shares you haven't even confirmed exist."

"They exist." Grant's smile didn't move, didn't crack, like it was stapled on.