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

“Actually, this piece of paper says I am.”


“It’s not fair. I hate this place, and I hate you,” she shrieked before stomping off to her room and slamming the door, leaving Jade to clean up the wilted remains of a cold meal.


That night, tossing in his bed, he listened to her muffled sobs.


I could weep, too, Belle, he said to himself. But not tonight. 16


Like a recovering addict, Jade told himself each day that he wouldn’t succumb. He’d wait for yet another day to drink from the cup of grief. Mornings, he rose at four to pray, check the overseas markets, shower, make breakfast and lunch for Belle and set in motion the renovation of his parents’ home.


By seven, he was at work in the fields—planting, weeding, mowing, watering, sculpting the landscape, supervising the greenhouse, delivering the flowers that festooned the inn, hiring workers, dealing with the thousand little crises that arose and, of course, enduring his daily crucible at the Manor House.


Chapter 33