I told him that I would not take original company documents without legal advice, and he nodded as if he had been hoping I would say that.

Wayne had spent twenty years managing job sites.

He knew the difference between a legitimate change order and an invoice written to disguise a personal purchase.

He had watched Brandon shift payments between projects and call overdue supplier bills temporary timing differences.

At first Wayne had trusted his brother’s explanations because the company had survived difficult seasons before.

Then a subcontractor named Elena Morales called him about missing payments for steel that had already been installed on a school renovation.

Brandon’s ledger showed the invoice as paid.