“Can you?”
Clara hesitated before taking it.
Her bloodstained napkin left a faint mark against her palm.
Richard spoke before she could answer.
“Clara, there is no need.”
For years, those words had worked.
No need to explain.
No need to defend yourself.
No need to make your sister uncomfortable.
Clara opened the folder.
She recognized her tables immediately.
Her breathing steadied.
“The original construction schedule assumed the eastern access road would be available during phase one,” she said.
“But the permitting documents placed that road in phase three.
That forced heavy equipment through the commercial district and created additional transport costs.”
Dante watched without interrupting.
Clara continued.
“I moved the storage site, changed the delivery sequence, and separated the financing draw into two stages.
That reduced the amount of idle capital during permitting.”
A man standing behind Richard slowly lowered his drink.
Dante asked, “And the duplicate contractor expense?”
“Pier reinforcement.”
“Where?”
“Page forty-two in the engineering estimate and again in the marine contingency schedule.”
Dante closed the folder.
Madison’s face had become rigid.
Richard said, “She assisted Madison.
That is what families do.”
Clara looked at him.
Something in her changed then.
Not dramatically.
She did not shout.
She simply stopped helping him lie.
“I didn’t assist Madison with that version.”
Evelyn finally spoke.
“Clara.”
One word.
A warning wrapped in silk.
Clara turned toward her mother.
Evelyn’s face was controlled, but her fingers were pressed hard against the pearls at her throat.
Madison stepped closer to Clara.
“You’re really doing this here?”
Clara looked around the ballroom.
The same people who had watched her kneel among broken glass were now watching Madison.
“You did this here,” Clara said.
Madison’s eyes flashed.
“I gave you something useful to do.”
“You took my work.”
“I used family work for a family company.”
Richard cut in sharply.
“Enough.”
Dante looked at him.
Richard lowered his voice.
“This is a domestic disagreement.
Surely you understand that large families sometimes have complicated internal dynamics.”
“I understand complicated families extremely well.”
