“You know,” she began, her voice trembling and eyes swimming in the pool of tears, “I just realized… you didn’t even ask if I did it. You didn’t even ask if I defrauded my own company.”

Romero let out a breath of relief. “Babygirl, for a minute I thought it was serious, I—”

“It is serious.” Aliyah’s voice broke as she cried. “It is serious.” This time, she said it louder.

Romero smiled faintly and rose to his feet. “My babygirl would never stoop so low to ...