“The big guy is originally from the Philippines. His mother started like fifteen charitable orphanages all over Africa and Asia for AIDS and war orphans. WCO, I think.” Deya scrolled through pictures of a thin blond woman with her arms wrapped around three children. They looked like Colors of the World skin-tone crayons.

“WCO?” Years ago, Liza had written her senior thesis on Patricia Fitzgerald. She had even applied to serve in one of their orphanages for two years, but unrest broke out in Ghana. “Wow, his mother is Patricia Fitzgerald?” Liza couldn’t hold back her astonishment. WCO actually did great things. They had pioneered nonexploitative international adoptions and had incredible women-centered initiatives all over the world. The apple fell pretty far from the tree.

“His parents were like the nineties version of the Jolie-Pitts. He has a little sister from Kenya and another brother from like, Russia someplace, but the brother died along with the parents in this big accident.”

They all paused for a moment of genuine sadness—to lose one’s mother, father, and brother in one accident sounded terrible. They all avoided Janae’s eyes.

“Anyway, he’s loaded, dude. Like, he spells his millions with a B,” LeDeya said. “And, Janae, your David is big shit in society with old, old money. He and his sister live in New York but they’re all from Maine. Like his granny came over on the Mayflower. But they’re trying to get their money to stack like Dorsey’s—which is why they’re partnering with Pemberley.”

“So, the Bradleys aren’t developers?” Liza asked.

Janae shook her head. “They’re financiers. They manage and count the money.”

“Wow, so David understands your inner math nerd,” Liza said to Janae. “How sweet.”

“I’m an outer math nerd. People just refuse to see it because of this.” Janae flitted her hands around her face.

“ ‘Oh, I’m so beautiful. If only I could be plain so people could let me do math in peace,’ ” Liza teased.

Janae punched her sister. “I know how it sounds, okay?” In fact, finance whiz was only the tip of the iceberg for Janae. In another life, before tragedy struck, Janae had been part of a committee sent to investigate a major bank opening accounts for clients and moving money illegally. She knew all the ways to detect fraud on a financial account. Janae was appalled at how easy it all was. From that point on, she demanded to handle all of Bev’s and Granny’s finances. They had seen their savings grow and Granny even had a tiny bit to retire with. It was scary that the sweetest one of them all had the mind of a heist flick hacker.

The plates clinked noisily in the sink as Liza lazily ran dish detergent over them and returned to the table. “Imagine if you used your snooping skills for good, Deya.”

“She’d be unstoppable,” Maurice added.