I caught him.

But I did not catch him foolishly.

I had not built a company over thirty years by being foolish about money, not even for my own son.

I bought the estate outright — ten million dollars, the Westside property, the great stone house with the wrought-iron gates — and I placed it inside Sterling Holdings, deeded to the company, deeded to me.

And then I let Steven and his new bride live in it under a residential agreement, a conditional tenancy, structured by my attorney Eric with a care that, at the time, felt almost paranoid.