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

Yes, it was going to be a great day, a Krispy Kreme kind of day. First, he would organize the few co-workers he had become friendly with into a lunch party. Then he would work like mad, burrowing into phone calls and e-mail messages. Why, with any luck, he might go through the whole day without seeing Ken Doll or Malik.


He was flipping through his Rolodex when Lowell arrived.


“Hey, Lowe, just the man I want to see.”


“Someone’s in a good mood today.”


“A great mood. What do you say to capitalizing on that with a little lunch? Maybe ask Phyl and a few of the others?”


Phyl was Phylidia Law, who had worked for Brynner & Sons forever, or at least since she lost her husband to a subway mugger thirty years ago. Since her return from brain surgery for a nonmalignant tumor six months ago, Ken Doll had been putting the screws to her to get her to resign. Yep, what a guy.


“Did I hear my name being taken in vain?” Phyl asked.


“Only if you don’t want to go to lunch,” Jade said.


Chapter 22