I looked at Eleanor.
“You knew my father?”
She nodded.
“How?”
“Thomas worked for me.”
The room became painfully quiet.
“When?”
“Long before Halston Capital became what it is today.”
She looked down.
“Your father was one of the first people who believed my husband and I could build something.”
I slowly sat.
Eleanor continued.
“He was twenty-four when I met him. Brilliant. Reckless. Funny. Always late.”
Despite everything, I smiled.
“That sounds unfortunate.”
“He once arrived forty minutes late to a financing meeting because he stopped to help a man whose truck had broken down.”
My smile disappeared.
Eleanor noticed.
“Yes.”
She pushed the envelope closer.
“You’re more like him than you know.”
“Why do you have this?”
Her eyes filled.
“Thomas gave it to me after you were born.”
I stared at the envelope.
“He knew about me?”
“Oh, Christopher.”
Her voice broke.
“He loved you.”
The words hit somewhere deep.
