Sophia looked at me with admiration. “Grace, you’re amazing.”

“It’s not that I’m amazing,” I replied. “The part of that company’s money was mine to begin with. And Michael wasn’t wrong, if they could hold on for another six months and get the product tested and finalized, your investment could multiply thirty or fifty times. But as things stand, their new product might never make it to market.”

I turned to Sophia. “This was supposed to be ...