But the most damning evidence was digital. We subpoenaed the cloud logs from the smart speaker in our living room. It had passively recorded thirteen uninterrupted minutes of Adrian’s threats—detailing exactly how he planned to break my jaw—before he realized it was active and ripped the cord from the wall.

With the criminal case armored, we turned our crosshairs on his firm.

For years Adrian had mocked my insistence on rigid financial protocols, especially my requirement for dual-signature approval on any corporate transfer over ten thousand dollars.

He called it paranoid bookkeeping.

I called it a tripwire.

Six weeks before the assault, he’d finally managed to bypass it. He had set up a new vendor in the company’s payment system.