But enough.
“What did you just say?” he asked Khloe.
“Arthur believed someone inside the Romano organization was moving money to people who answered directly to Beatrice.
He believed your father had discovered part of it.
And he believed that once your father understood what the payments were for, he would be in danger.”
Silas stared at Beatrice.
She shook her head slowly.
“She’s manipulating you.”
“Then explain the records.”
“They’re fake.”
“Explain Arthur Harding.”
“He was a paranoid bookkeeper.”
“You said he was an employee.”
“He was.”
“You said he imagined evidence.”
“He did.”
Silas stepped closer.
“How do you know what he imagined?”
Beatrice opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Khloe felt something inside her finally shift.
For five years she had been the girl nobody believed.
Tonight she did not need anyone to believe her yet.
She only needed Beatrice to keep talking.
And Beatrice, furious at losing control, did exactly that.
“Your father trusted people he should never have trusted,” she said to Silas.
“Arthur was one of them.”
Khloe’s pulse jumped.
Silas noticed.
“So you did know him well.”
Beatrice realized the mistake too late.
“He worked around us.”
“You just said my father trusted him.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“Mother.”
Silas’s voice became almost gentle.
It was the most frightening sound Khloe had heard all night.
“Stop lying badly.”
Beatrice’s eyes hardened.
For the first time, the elegant mother disappeared and the woman beneath her emerged.
“You have no idea what your father left me to manage.”
Silas said nothing.
“He was sentimental,” she continued.
“Careless.
He believed loyalty could be purchased with kindness.
Men like that don’t keep power.
They invite betrayal.”
Khloe watched Silas absorb the words.
“Did you betray him?”
Beatrice looked at her son.
Whatever answer she might have given died when Khloe reached for the last item inside the folder.
A small digital recorder.
Beatrice took one involuntary step backward.
Silas saw it.
Khloe set the recorder down.
“This is why I came to Laura.”
