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

“I’m a mess,” he said. “Let me get out of these clothes and take a shower. Then we’ll figure out what to do.”


In the bathroom with the peacock-blue mosaics, he heard a stream of sounds mingle with the running water. The phone rang constantly, or maybe it was the radio. He thought he heard Bethany and her fiancé, Damian, come in.


In the hallway, Nan said to Mrs. S., “I’ll bag his suit for the cleaners.”


“No, my dear,” Mrs. S., said gently. “Let’s put it out with the trash. He has others. If there’s one thing I learned from the camps, it’s you don’t want souvenirs of tragedy.”


He turned the shower up full blast then and, sinking his face into his raised forearms, which rested on the shimmering tiles, he began sobbing, the muffled gasps drowning in the water.


Chapter 26