At eighteen, my father paid for my twin sister’s expensive university, apartment, laptop and car. He handed me $200 and said there would be no more because she was the better investment. I worked my way through college and built a life without him. Eight years later, his company desperately needed $40 million to survive. He entered the investment meeting, looked toward the person deciding his future—and dropped every folder in his hands.

I refused, and she called me selfish.

Three years later, Brooke and I graduated on the same Saturday. My parents attended her ceremony in Boston, even though I had informed them months earlier that I would receive River Valley’s highest economics award.

Professor Maxwell sat in the audience while I crossed the stage. Afterward, he introduced me to Eleanor Price, the founder of Calder Ridge Capital, one of the country’s fastest-growing investment firms.

Eleanor asked me three questions about distressed companies before offering me a place in the firm’s analyst program. I accepted before my parents had even finished posing for photographs with Brooke.

On my first morning at Calder Ridge, Eleanor placed a familiar file on my desk. Sullivan Commercial Flooring had survived the crisis I predicted, but only by taking on even more debt.

“They are applying for emergency financing,” she said. “I want you to determine whether this company deserves to survive.”