I appointed an outside firm with board approval and recused myself from decisions involving my own personal claims.

The work took months.

It traced the original transfer through an account in Lauren’s father’s business name and several entities connected to family advisers.

The funds had returned to structures benefiting people close to Constance.

Documentation supporting the supposed agreement proved unreliable.

I sat with the findings one night and thought about the young woman Lauren had been when she entered my mother’s office.

She had been carrying a pregnancy she was frightened to announce, grieving her father, and hoping the man she loved would hear her.