I did not blame her.

Trust, I was learning, was not a speech delivered by a woman with fifty-two percent of the shares.

It was a record of promises kept after the speech ended.

PART 12: THE NAME ON THE SECOND ACCOUNT

Three days later, the outside audit team presented an interim finding.

The $2.4 million was not a single transfer.

It was a web of payments through two vendors, a marketing subcontractor and a lender reimbursement account.

The auditors were careful about their limits.