Jade Cabral strides into the 21st century as a golden guy. Brilliant and beautiful, with a California cool and a Harvard education, he is poised for wealth and success in New York’s Financial District.<br><br>But Jade harbors a secret flaw, a thirst for revenge against Se?or Rodriguez, the California landowner who deprived his father – Se?or’s out-of-wedlock son, John Virgil -- of his family’s rightful inheritance and place in the world. Jade thinks if he succeeds in New York, he can make up for every loss and humiliation his family has endured at the hands of Se?or. That searing quest leads him into the arms of Nan Spencer, a lovely, fragile socialite, and to the top of the financial world, the Twin Towers, on September 11, 2001.

Seamless Sky

Knowing the two skinny Minnies were watching, he approached the woman.


“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she said, without turning around. “It’s a grave stele for a girl who died, too young. Look at how the curve of her bowed head mimics the slope of the bird she nuzzles. He must’ve been her pet, and her parents wanted to remember her that way. To think: She died so long ago, and yet there’s more feeling here than in many of the people I know.”


She turned to him now, eyes glistening, and he realized that the excitement in her face mirrored his own.


“I’m sorry,” she said, dabbing her eyes and laughing. “But this is so much better than listening to a bunch of boring corporate types. Forgive my manners. Nan Spencer—opinionated socialite and frustrated art critic. And you would be?”


“Oh, dear, I’m always doing that. Open mouth. Insert foot.”


Chapter 14