The cold morning air bit at my cheeks as I sat at my home desk, staring at the legal dossier Daniel had delivered at sunrise.

Two days later, the glass doors of my law firm shattered the afternoon silence as Diane and Madison stormed past the reception desk.

"Where is she?!" Diane’s shrill voice echoed through the marble lobby. "Where is my daughter?!"

My paralegal tried to intervene, but I stepped out of my corner office, raising a hand to stop her. "It's fine, Sarah. Let them in."

Madison looked disheveled, her designer winter coat unbuttoned, her face flushed with rage. Diane looked paler than I had ever seen her, clutching a crumpled stack of legal documents in her shaking, manicured hands.

"What is the meaning of this, Claire?!" Diane demanded, slamming the papers down onto my conference table. "Some process server showed up at my door demanding nearly four hundred thousand dollars! They say the mortgage was bought out by a private investment firm! They're threatening to seize the house!"

"Take a seat, Diane," I said smoothly, walking around my desk and sitting in my leather swivel chair.

"Don't you tell me to take a seat!" Madison shrieked, stepping forward. "Mom was in the middle of drafting the transfer deed to me and Trevor! This company is trying to steal our home!"

I opened the folder in front of me and slid a copy of the original mortgage agreement across the table.

"Apex Capital Holdings didn't steal anything," I said, my tone flat and professional. "Apex bought the defaulted note from First National Bank six months ago when Mom was three days away from being evicted. Apex covered the unpaid back taxes, halted the auction, and restructured the loan."

Diane blinked, her mouth opening and closing like a landed fish. "How... how do you know about Apex?"

I leaned back, resting my chin on my hands.

"Because I am the founder, sole shareholder, and managing director of Apex Capital Holdings."

The room went dead silent. The tick of the wall clock sounded like gunshot cracks in the stillness.