When I recognized the forged routing numbers — when I saw my own name inserted, clumsily, beside transfers I had never made — I understood that Seraphina had decided to move against me publicly, and I understood that a woman like her would not do it quietly.

She would do it at a party.

She would do it in front of everyone, because for Seraphina the humiliation was the point; ruining me privately would have given her no pleasure.

And the moment I understood that, I stopped preparing a defense and started preparing a stage.

Because a public accusation requires a public gathering, and a public gathering is simply a room full of witnesses, and a room full of witnesses is exactly what a prosecutor needs.

Seraphina thought she was building a trap for me.