Chapter 3
“I think,” he said carefully, “we need to separate two conversations happening in this room. One is a criminal matter involving fraud, forgery, and possibly embezzlement, which is now a police matter and none of our business to resolve tonight. The other is whether Northline Logistics remains a trustworthy partner for Vantage, given that its president just testified he has never been a defendant, a suspect, or in any way connected to this fraud beyond having his identity stolen by his own brother.”
He looked at me.
“Daniel, I want to be honest. Ten minutes ago, half the people in this hallway thought you built Northstar. I need you to understand how bad this looked before that recording played.”
“I understand,” I said. “I understand better than you do, actually. I lived twelve years under the same shadow, just a smaller version of it.”
Preston nodded slowly. “Then you also understand why we’re going to need everything. Every document, every account number, every date. Tonight, if possible.”
“You’ll have it,” Claire said, before I could answer. “I’ve had four months to build a file most attorneys would kill for.”
Renata was already on her phone, speaking low and fast to someone about securing digital evidence and requesting a forensic accountant be pulled in overnight. Two uniformed officers appeared at the door a few minutes later, and I watched my brother — the man who had run our father’s company for over a decade, the man who had stood beside me at our wedding, at my father’s funeral, at a hundred family dinners — get read his rights in a hotel conference room while the sound of the awards banquet still drifted faintly through the walls, the DJ playing something upbeat, completely unaware that twenty feet away a family had just come apart at the seams for the second time in twelve years.
Adrian didn’t fight the handcuffs. He just looked at me one last time before they led him out.
“You have no idea what you just did to this family,” he said.
“No,” I said. “I think I finally understand exactly what happened to it. You did that twelve years ago. Tonight I just found out.”
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