The rows and rows of black digits before her were starting to blur. Ali needed to take a break.

Picking up her phone, she scrolled through her contacts, looking for a distraction. Sam would have been her first choice but he was currently on a flight home.

He'd tried to rationalize staying longer, but Ali shot all his arguments down. At least this time they had a plan. Sam would come back in two weeks. It would give him enough time to move things around at the Harrington Foundation. Talk with Leif about his role in his campaign. He would stay longer next time. A test for working remotely. A trial run for their potential new living arrangements.

A pang of guilt stabbed at her heart. Sam was rearranging his life. All for her.

"You did it for me, without hesitation," he'd argued. "Picked up and moved to New York. This is a compromise."

She reminded him she'd had little to lose. Whereas he had a lot.

"Let's try. See if we can make it work."

Ali needed it to work.

Her thumb scrolled by Emily's name and without hesitation she texted her friend to see if she could talk. The two women had a lot in common these days, planning weddings, dealing with moving their lives. But also, Emily Montgomery was a lawyer and Ali could use a sounding board right now. One not connected to Stinson Studios.

All morning she'd been trying to get a handle on the financials. Spencer had all but come out and said something was going on. It was time to put on her accountant's hat.

Her mother had encouraged Ali to take English literature in college. Complying with her wishes, Ali loaded up her schedule with writing and reading courses. When she needed to fill an empty spot, she took an economics course on a whim. It had shocked Ali to discover she liked it.

Growing up she had somehow picked up her mother's devil may care attitude to finances, money and numbers in general. But here she uncovered the beauty in the symmetry of a balance sheet, the in and out, the rightness of math. It was solid, stable. Like filling in a puzzle to get a bigger picture.

During her marriage, Jack insisted on controlling their finances. It embarrassed her now to think how easily she had let him, turning a blind eye. All to avoid confrontation. When she so much as questioned anything about money, he flew into a rage demanding to know if she was not satisfied with every possession he gave her. Eventually, for the sake of peace, she stopped asking.

When her money mysteriously disappeared last year, it had taken a while but she sat down and did the work. Sorting out the situation, tracking where every penny came and went. She never stopped. Today she was completely in control of her money. And she liked it.

She wanted that same control with the family business.

A melodic tone drew her attention to her phone. Emily hadn't texted back, calling instead.

"Hey, you," Ali answered. "I didn't disturb anything did I?"

"Nope. You're actually saving me. Finn's trying to get me to take a nap. Insists I need to rest. He barely lets me lift a finger."

"A man that wants to take care of you. Sounds like quite the predicament."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I love him for it. He's just a bit overprotective right now."

"It's understandable, given what you two have been through."

"I guess. Maybe I'm being too hard on him." There was a slight pause. "Ali. How's your father?"

"No change, unfortunately."

"I'm sure it's the body taking its time to heal. He will come through this." Ali couldn't help but smile at her friend's optimism. Emily always saw the bright side of things. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not with my father. But I could use some perspective on a business matter. It's confidential though."

"Got it. You're officially my client. What's up?"

As she filled Emily in on the situation with Stinson Studio's she still couldn't believe what she had discovered so far. The company was on the brink of bankruptcy. Not for the first time. There had been lean years, times where economic recessions had caused a pinch. All part of the ebb and flow of business.

Not expected was the extravagant spending her father had indulged in for the last 5 years. Raiding the company's coffers like they were a bottomless pit. But then there was evidence that it might have been the case.

After a careful analysis, she discovered three incidents where the company had almost gone under. And even more troubling was the three big influxes of cash that miraculously appeared afterwards. Essentially restoring the company and bringing its finances into the black.

Her blood had turned cold when she routed out the sources of those massive deposits. A wholesaler called International Consultants Ltd.

"Am I supposed to know this company?" asked Emily.

"No. But I do." On his desk in their mansion in the hills, her ex-husband kept a leather-bound book, sealed with a golden lock like a middle-school teenager's diary. It was labelled International Consultants Ltd. "Jack owns it."

"Your ex-husband has been clearing your father's debts?"

"It gets weirder. The timing of each payment was... odd. The last was two days after our wedding day. The one before that came the month we started dating."

"Strange. But it could just be a coincidence."

"Agreed. But my gut says otherwise."

"Okay. What about the first payment?"

This had turned her blood cold. The first payment was in the summer between high school and college for Ali. Long before Jack Blackhorne had come into their lives. Or so she thought. "It happened before I met Jack."

"But that means..."

"My father was being bailed out by Jack long before I knew him." The fact sent chills up Ali's spine.

"But why? Why would Jack ... save your family's business?"

"I don't know. But it wasn't out of the goodness of his heart." Everything Jack did, he did for a reason.

Talking with Emily solidified Ali's determination. Jack had to go. They needed another source of cash. A partner. Route out this disease from their lives.

Taking a sip of her coffee, Ali thought of Nora. The woman had to be over 60. She'd worked here for the last 25 years. It would be hard for her to find another job. Harder still would be for Lester. There were only so many furniture designer's positions out there and they were dwindling all the time.

No, the business had to be saved.

Once again, she toyed with the notion of using her own money to prop up the company. It would leave her practically penniless but worth it if they could hold on long enough to turn the ship around. Channelling her inner Spencer, she knew it wasn't logical. It was better to reserve her money for severance packages for the employees if it came to it.

"Can you ask your mother about it?"

The snicker escaped her lips. "My mother has always made it her business to know nothing about... the business."

"Maybe your dad can explain it when he wakes up."

"Maybe."

There was a rustling on the other end of the phone and Ali could hear a deep voice saying, "I brought you some tea – are you on the phone?"

"Ali, I'm busted."

"Tell Finn it's all my fault."

Emily teased the man in the room with her, "Ali wants me to blame her."

Ali heard the short laugh in the background. "Give your partner in crime a hello from me."

"Did you hear that Ali? Finn thinks were criminals."

"How ever did your fiancée get such a bad impression of me? I mean you I understand. But I'm practically an angel." Ali joked, knowing full well Emily was the cherub in this situation.

"Next time you and Sam come for dinner we'll have to set him straight."

"I look forward to it. The dinner at least."

"Finn's giving me those big baby blues he knows I can't resist. I think I should go. Talk soon."

As she put the phone down a soft bing emanated from it. A text from Brenda asking if they were still on for drinks tonight. She started typing her reply.

Staring at the screen, Ali realized the solution to her Stinson Studios problem might be right in front of her.