Terrence’s jaw tightened.
“Then maybe your office processed it.”
“My office doesn’t sign my name.”
Stephanie whispered, “Terrence?”
He turned on her instantly.
“Do not start.”
The contempt in his voice made her recoil.
For the first time all night, I felt sorry for her.
Not because she had been kind to me.
She had not.
But because I recognized the expression on her face.
It was the look of someone realizing that the person beside them had been living in a different version of reality.
Thomas picked up the page with both hands.
“Caroline,” he said, “how much?”
I answered carefully.
“I can document the transfers I found.
I can’t tell you the final loss until every connected account is examined.”
“How much did you find?”
I told him the amount represented in the records I had traced.
He closed his eyes.
Stephanie sat down without looking for a chair first.
Terrence remained standing.
“You people are unbelievable,” he said.
“I made that company money.
Thomas knows that.
You can’t isolate a handful of transfers without accounting for gains.”
“Then the records will show that,” David replied.
Terrence pointed at him.
“You’re her husband.
You’re not neutral.”
“No,” David said.
“That is why Caroline’s analysis doesn’t depend on my opinion.”
I turned another page.
Dates.
Transaction numbers.
Entity names.
Invoice references.
No speeches.
No revenge.
Just a trail.
Terrence stared at the pages as if he could make them less real by looking angry enough.
Then he made his worst mistake.
He looked at Thomas and said, “You wanted this.”
My father froze.
Terrence continued, speaking faster now.
“You wanted higher returns.
You wanted to show everyone you weren’t some dinosaur retiring while the world passed you.
You told me to be aggressive.”
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“I never told you to forge my signature.”
“I didn’t say I did.”
“You just told me I authorized it.”
“I said you authorized the strategy.”
Richard, the board member, was already speaking quietly into his phone.
Terrence noticed.
“Who are you calling?”
