He wanted to know whether Edwin loved his daughter or only wanted the Stanford legacy.

Behind the scenes, the parent company quietly funded Edwin’s small firm through a web of shell corporations — ready to grant him real shares if he stayed loyal, and to strip every asset if he betrayed her.

The file held something far worse than infidelity.

Edwin had inflated invoices, opened dozens of fake vendor accounts, and embezzled more than forty million dollars from the corporate budget.

A large share of the stolen money had gone into a Midtown penthouse for his secret mistress and executive assistant, Kara.

“Your father uncovered the whole scheme two weeks ago,” Julian said quietly. “He spent sleepless nights going through the fraudulent contracts. It put a terrible strain on his heart.”