“Adrian wants to keep this out of the precinct,” Cole said, stirring his coffee too fast. “He’s prepared to offer your client two hundred thousand dollars to walk away quietly and surrender her claim to the company.”

Mara, who had looped me in on a secure call, placed her phone on the table.

“The company he just raided for nearly half a million dollars?” I asked through the speaker.

Cole’s face changed, the color draining out of it. “What are you talking about?”

Mara said nothing. She slid a copy of the original incorporation agreement across the table, followed by the preliminary findings of the forensic audit.

“I own thirty-eight percent of that firm, Cole,” I said. “My documented consent is legally required for any major capital transfer, any assumption of new debt, or any sale of assets.